Profile
George received a Master of Arts degree in ESOL/Bilingual Education from UMBC in the spring of 2005. Presently, he is teaching English for Academic Purposes at UMBC and ESL citizenship class at the Carlos Rosario International School in Washington, DC, as well as working as a Graduate Assistant in the Language, Literacy and Culture program.
George’s previous education includes a Master of Social Work from University of Maryland Baltimore and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from University of Maryland, College Park. He worked for the Department of Human Services of the District of Columbia for several years after completing his first Master’s degree. In 1998, he became a US Peace Corps volunteer in Romania where he taught social work, psychology and sociology to college students as well as English to adults and teenagers. He also served as a consultant for governmental and non-governmental organizations on program and resource development, coordinated and participated in various trainings, and edited the volunteer newsletter.
Upon his return to the US in 2000, feeling somewhat more technically challenged than he had before the Peace Corps, George completed a certification program in web development and Internet technologies. He also obtained employment teaching English as a second language and computer-assisted language learning in the District of Columbia, during which time he was accepted into UMBC’s graduate TESOL program.
George sees the Language, Literacy and Culture program as a natural extension of his previous experience and education. His research interests include technology-enhanced language learning, computer-mediated communication in language learning, mobile-assisted language learning, online language learning and teacher training as well as the global digital divide. He is also interested in language preservation and cultural diversity on the Internet, and the effects of technology on the cultural adaptation (culture and reentry shock) of Peace Corps volunteers. After obtaining his PhD, George plans to continue working in education focused on aspects of culture and technology.
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News
George presented at the TESOL 2007 Convention in Seattle. In the Electronic Village, he presented his work in "English Communication for Professional Purposes". He also faciliated a workshop on "A Googol of Uses for Google".
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George was contracted by the US State Department as an English Language Specialist to Russia in October 2007. In the cities of St. Petersburg and Kursk, he conducted a series of workshops on e-language learning, and presented a plenary, From the lab to the MALL: Trends and challenges in e-Language Learning, at the biannual conference of the St. Petersburg English Language Teaching Association (SPELTA).
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George gave two presentations at the TESOL 2006 Convention in Tampa: "Internet Technologies for the Listening and Speaking Class” and "Task-Based Integrated Skills Development Using Instant Messenger."
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George was published in the January 2006 issue of the online journal Language Learning and Technology. The article, entitled 'Going to the MALL: Mobile Assisted Language Learning,' is posted in their Emerging Technologies column, and can be viewed here.
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George's article, "Speaking and Listening Online: A Survey of Internet Resources," was published in the most recent issue of the English Teaching Forum (Vol. 43, Number 3). The Forum, which is published by the English Language Programs Office of the U.S. State Department, is the most widely read journal related to English language teaching in the world. George received his MA in ESOL/Bilingual Education last year and is now enrolled in the LLC PhD program, as part of Cohort 8.
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