Welcome everyone to the final student spotlight of the 2023 LTS program, and congratulations to the cohort for completing their Master’s portfolios! You all have done such impressive work during your time at UO, and we know that you will only continue to do great things in the future.

Joining us today as our last (but not least!) student interviewed is Miranda Dufour. 

– blog post by Emma Snyder, LTS student

Welcome Miranda; please, tell us a bit about yourself!

I am 23 years old and was born and raised in Southern Oregon. There, I played soccer from the 1st grade to the 11th grade. I have a close relationship with my grandparents. I was fortunate to be able to go on many trips with my grandparents both domestically and internationally. Through this, I became more interested in other cultures and traveling to new places. I have a twin sister named Marissa who is my best friend. I also have a beautiful baby kitty named Mika (Meek-uh) who I have had for about a third of my life (she’s turning 8 in August).

Happy birthday to Mika! You’ve spoken about what brought you to your interest in travel and other cultures, but what brought you to language teaching? To UO?

I was always interested in being a teacher, but I didn’t like the way teachers were treated in the US. It wasn’t until my third year in high school that I discovered what Linguistics was (through Wired’s video series with Eric Singer). At the time I was also interested in the idea of teaching in a different country, so I decided to apply to the UO as a Linguistics major. Then, of course, I then applied for the LTS program during my last year of undergrad.

And we are so glad you did! Have you had any past experiences with language teaching? Anything that was particularly meaningful, or stood out?

A rewarding experience I had was working with Pranali Garud with her English Bootcamp (featured in Eugene Weekly: https://eugeneweekly.com/2021/12/23/pranali-garud/). Working with middle-school-aged girls from underserved communities in India gave me a broader experience with students of a different age group and background. Being able to provide at least some schooling for girls who (many of them) were not going to school because of COVID and the lack of infrastructure for remote classes was a very rewarding experience. I was also interning in a class at the AEI as a part of my LTS requirements, and a student came up to me and said that she appreciates how understanding and kind I was to her and her friend. That was the first time a student has done that, and it was really impactful to me.

That sounds so incredibly rewarding. Now that you have gone through the LTS program, what was a highlight that you can recall?

Probably the stories in the previous question’s answers. On the learning side, I think my time with the faculty and instructors has also been not only very useful but also a highlight.

That is fantastic to hear! Do you have any plans for how you are going to be working in the language teaching field in the future?

I am in the process of getting an English teaching job in South Korea. I hope to work at a Korean university some day.

We wish you all the best! Finally, what is something outside of language teaching that you are passionate about? A fun fact about yourself that others may not know?

Besides language teaching, I like to play the Sims 4. Something people may not know about me is that I have collected nesting dolls since I was little. I also love either miniature versions of items or large versions of typically small items. My retirement activity would probably be building miniatures or dioramas (which I don’t have the time, money, or space to do currently).