Swahili Level 1
In 2019/2020, Twalha taught Swahili (Kiswahili) at IU as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching scholar. He continued teaching Swahili at IU until 2024 and is excited to return to the Summer Language Workshop. He is interested in languages and storytelling.
Kyrgyz Level 1
Aiperi Aitbaeva has been with IU since 2021 when she came to teach the Kyrgyz language and culture at the Hamilton Lugar School. She has taught Kyrgyz in the Language Workshop and is developing an Intermediate textbook and research-driven teaching materials to respond to their shortage in the US and Kyrgyzstan.
Arabic Section Head
Professor Alramadan is a specialist in teaching Arabic as a foreign language and well-versed in Arabic grammar, morphology, and literature and has led many workshops on language pedagogy. She teaches intermediate, advanced, and global classroom and content classes such as Arab women and Arab culture through music. She is the director of the cultural and co-curricular activities at the Arabic Flagship.
Lithuanian Level 1
Jura Avizienis grew up speaking both Lithuanian and English. She received her M.A. in Lithuanian Literature and has taught Lithuanian for several years. Since 2020, she has been teaching Lithuanian in the Indiana University Summer Language Workshop and she is looking forward to welcoming new students of Lithuanian in 2025.
Latvian Level 1
Solvita has been with the Summer Language Workshop since 2019. Her teaching philosophy draws on her research. She focuses on language policies and practices in the Baltic States as well as the question of how to integrate interactive tasks and authentic materials into the Latvian language and culture classroom. Those insights are reflected in her teaching.
Chinese Level 1
Sydni (江红) aims to be an encouraging example to language learners through thoughtful and effective teaching practices. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in language pedagogy, her professional experiences as a teacher and her own experiences as language learner. Sydni is excited to return to the Summer Language Workshop to teach this year’s first-year students.
Chinese Section Coordinator
Yunwei Chen graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with an M.S.Ed. in Secondary Education in Fall 2019. He is currently a 5th-year Ph.D. student in the Literacy, Culture, and Language Education program. He is returning to the Summer Language Workshop as Section Coordinator, helping with planning and implementation of events.
Supplementary Course
Eric Connelly holds a B.A. in Russian and International Studies, an M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies, and a Master of Public Administration. He has incorporated his Russian language and area studies in his professional career through several years of teaching and developing cultural exchange programs for the Russian American Foundation. He now leads a team of Foreign Language-Enabled Research Analysts at Riverside Research, a nonprofit focused on the nation's security.
Turkish Level 1
Dr. Sibel Crum specializes in designing and delivering both residential and online courses on Turkish language and culture at IU with an interdisciplinary focus on technology-enhanced learning. Her teaching reflects insights from her own research. She incorporates inclusive instructional design and creates immersive and adaptive learning environments.
Arabic Level 1
Batool has taught Arabic for the Peace Corps in Jordan and designed and delivered Arabic language curricula for the Qasid Institute from 2014-2024. She is passionate about teaching Arabic through cultural immersion. Cultural elements are central to her teaching, both during the academic year and in the summer.
Arabic Level 2
Lamia Djeldjel is an associate instructor of Arabic at IU and has taught the beginning and intermediate levels of Arabic in the Summer Language Workshop and the Middlebury Arabic Language School. Her range of experiences combined with her compassionate and enthusiastic side make her an inspiring teacher in the Arabic teaching community.
Russian Level 5
Elena is a dedicated language educator with a rich academic background. She is looking forward to returning to the Summer Language Workshop. Her teaching is informed by her research. For Elena, seeing her students' hone their critical thinking and problem-solving skills and gathering profound insights into the foreign as well as their native language is the most fulfilling aspect of teaching.
Japanese Section Manager, Japanese Level 3
Keiji has been teaching Japanese since 2020. He joined the IU Language Workshop in 2021 and has been the Section Manager of the Japanese program at the IU Language Workshop since 2023. Before coming to IU, he was an elementary school homeroom teacher at the Japanese Supplementary School in Mississippi.
Korean Level 1
Weejeong Jeong is Lecturer in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). She teaches all levels of Korean language courses, and has been with the Language Workshop since 2019. Her teaching is informed by her research interests in academic literacy development, language assessment, language pedagogy, and bilingual/multilingual literacy.
Arabic Level 3
Dr. Ahmad Karout is a distinguished academic and linguist with decades of expertise in Arabic language education. He has led Arabic language programs across the world, authored Arabic textbooks and brings a multilingual perspective to his work. His career reflects a lifelong commitment to excellence in language education, teacher training, and advancing Arabic proficiency for students and professionals worldwide.
Kurdish Level 1
Dr. Hewa S. Khalid is a visiting lecturer at Indiana University and currently developing the Level 2 Kurdish textbook for language teaching. His teaching is informed by his research focusing on the Kurdish language, Kurdish dialects and language policies of the Middle East. He has taught in the UK and the US as well as in multiple Kurdistan regions in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Estonian Level 1
Piibi-Kai Kivik has been teaching Estonian in IU's Central Eurasian Studies and the Summer Language Workshop for several years. Her studies on how adult second language learners make meaning in spontaneous conversation practice activities inform her teaching. She is excited to be returning to the Summer Language Workshop in 2025.
Korean Level 3
Joungmok Lee is a lecturer of Korean in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington. For many years before joining the EALC department at IU, he taught Korean language courses across the world. His experience and and research interests are reflected in his teaching practices and he is looking forward to joining the IU Summer Language Workshop again in 2025.
Mongolian Level 1
Tserenchunt teaches Mongolian in IU's Department of Central Eurasian Studies and the Summer Language Workshop since 2007. Her experience developing proficiency-oriented programs for foreign language learners of Mongolian and developing new textbooks and online course materials inform her teaching.
Chinese Level 2
Before joining Indiana University, Mengjie taught Chinese at Macalester College, Peking University, and the Princeton in Beijing summer workshop. She is excited to return to the IU Summer Language Workshop in 2025. Her teaching philosophy is guided by her research on language ideology and language identity, especially regarding Chinese heritage speakers' language identity in relation to their language classroom experiences.
Chinese Section Head
Xiang Lyu is a senior lecturer at Indiana University and a language consultant at IU Chinese Flagship Program. He has taught all levels of Chinese language classes, both heritage and non-heritage tracks in the US. Previously, he has worked as a lecturer at UW-Madison, Princeton University and as leading instructor and admissions committee member at the Princeton-in-Beijing Intensive Summer Program.
Polish Level 1
Agnieszka Makles teaches Polish in the Department of German and REELL (Russian and East European Languages and Literatures) at Rutgers University, NJ and she directs the Kościuszko Squadron, a Polish culture club for students at the United States Military Academy West Point and her research interests into authentic texts and corpus linguistics in language teaching inform her teaching. She is looking forward to teaching in the Summer Language Workshop in 2025.
Ukrainian Level 1
Svitlana Melnyk is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at Indiana University. She teaches Ukrainian, Introduction to Ukrainian Culture and Russian courses. Her international teaching experience includes teaching the Ukrainian language in Ukraine, Hungary, Canada, and US.
Japanese Level 2
Yu Murakami is currently pursuing an M.A. in Japanese Pedagogy in East Asian Languages and Cultures. She has extensive teaching experience, including as an Associate Instructor for first- and second-year Japanese in EALC and as a K-12 Japanese instructor in California. Yu is passionate about creating engaging, culturally rich learning environments and brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to Japanese instruction through her academic and professional background.
Supplementary Course
Dr. Parks spent most of his 30+ year active-duty Army career focused on the Soviet Union and later Russia. He studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute, attended the Russian Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, served as a Liaison Officer (LNO) to the Russian Separate Airborne Brigade in Bosnia, coordinated US arms control missions as the Chief, Arms Control Implementation Division in Moscow, Russia; served with a Former Soviet Union (FSU) Republic as the LNO to the 3rd Georgia Brigade in Iraq, and worked in another FSU country as the Defense Attaché in Yerevan, Armenia. His passion about Russian diplomatic and foreign policy continues.
Russian Level 1
Throughout her career as a language educator, Natalia has taught Russian at multiple levels - from absolute beginners to heritage speakers. Apart from teaching in the IU Summer Language Workshop, she studies second language acquisition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she has also taught Russian and worked as a tutor in the Russian Flagship Program.
Vietnamese Level 1
Thanh Phan has worked as professor of English and Business at USSH from 2002-2023 and is now professor of Vietnamese Studies at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). He is excited to return to the IU Language Workshop. His teaching is informed by his research on the Vietnamese language, culture, and civilization.
Russian Level 3
Iuliia has taught Russian at Lawrence University in Appleton, where she also furthered her own studies. Apart from teaching in the IU Summer Language Workshop, Iuliia is also a Russian Language Tutor for the Russian Flagship Program at UW-Madison, where she teaches and support Flagship students during the Academic Year.
Russian Level 2
Dmitry has worked as educator and academic supervisor for over 10 years. He aims to create a student-centered learning environment through authentic content and immersion with a strong emphasis on developing communication skills. In his teaching, he uses best practices that support student language acquisition. His teaching philosophy centers around immersion learning and teaching in the target language.
Pashto Level 1
Dr. Farid Saydee has significantly contributed to advancing Pashto language education in the United States. As Director of Instruction at San Diego State University’s Language Acquisition Resource Center, he developed one of the nation’s most comprehensive programs for Dari and Pashto. He has taught all levels of Pashto and developed curricula for various languages. His work reflects his unwavering commitment to promoting linguistic proficiency and fostering cross-cultural understanding.
Persian Level 2
Pouyan Shahidi has taught Persian courses from the elementary to the advance level at McGill (Montreal, Canada) University and at Indiana university. He is a native speaker of Persian and an avid reader of modern and medieval Persian literature as well as Middle-Persian texts of the late antiquity both for his research and personal leisure. In both his research and teaching, Pouyan is interested in digital humanities approaches and has worked as digital methods specialist and fellow in the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities at IU.
Russian Section Head
Maria has taught all levels of Russian, as well as courses on Russian culture and teaching methods. She led the Russian Language Program at the University of Pennsylvania (2003-2010) and has been with Indiana University since 2010, where she is Director of the IU Russian Flagship Program. She is committed to creating a welcoming program with inclusive learning environments that empowers students and motivates faculty.
Norwegian Level 1
Berit graduated from Luther College with a B.A. in history and Nordic studies, with minors in Africana studies and religion in 2023. She received the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant fellowship for Ås, Norway for the 2023-2024 school year. She has taught introductory level Norwegian both in-person at the college level at UW-Madison and virtually for older adult learners through Vesterheim Folk Art school. She is existed to join the Summer Language Workshop this year.
Japanese Level 2
Aya is currently completing an M.A. in Japanese Pedagogy in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University. She has taught first- and second-year Japanese at IU. With a passion for promoting cross-cultural understanding, she aspires to support learners from diverse backgrounds in developing not only linguistic proficiency but also a deeper appreciation for Japanese culture.
Chinese Level 3
Yawen Tsai is a Visiting Lecturer in the Chinese Program of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University Bloomington. Before joining IU, she taught general Chinese classes at all levels for international exchange students at National Taiwan University and as a visiting Lecturer at Takushoku University in Tokyo. She has also taught and held administrative roles in intensive programs such as Project GO.
Japanese Level 1
Shoichi Ueda is a Lecturer of Japanese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University in Bloomington. He has experience coordinating first through third-year Japanese Language programs and his research primarily focuses on the practical application of culturally authentic language learning approaches. He strives to develop language courses and pedagogical materials that prepare students to interact in global contexts utilizing Japanese.
BCS Level 1
Aida Vidan is excited to return to IU this summer to teach BCS (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian). During the academic year, she teaches film, literary theory, and translation in the Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies at Tufts University. She has also served as a faculty member at Harvard University, University of Maryland and Boston University. She is the author/editor of four books, numerous articles, and several short and feature-length documentaries.
Russian Level 4
Olga Volkova graduated from Indiana University with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in 2014. She has taught literature, culture, film, and language courses in North America, Russia, and China. Olga has taught in the intensive language programs at IU and Middlebury College. She lives in Greenville, SC, with two teenage sons. She is an avid long-distance runner.
Chinese Level 2
Yuan-Chia Yang has experience in the Huayu BEST Program at Indiana University (2022–2023) and in the Hamilton Lugar School's 2023 Summer Language Workshop. Additionally, she was an online tutor for the Chinese Language Program at Harvard University for several years, teaching students from first-year to fourth-year Chinese. She is currently a Lecturer for the U.S. Language Flagship Overseas Center in Taiwan and looking forward to joining the Workshop again this year.
HAMILTON LUGAR SCHOOLBLOOMINGTON
355 North Eagleson Avenue