About the MAFLT Community
The Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching is the largest graduate program in the MSU College of Arts and Letters, with students and alumni who represent 20 different languages, about 40 U.S. states, and countries around the world.
Almost all of our students begin the program as experienced teachers, and many leave the program with new jobs, new leadership positions, and opportunities to share their work and train other teachers. Read student bios on this page or click a button below to connect with current students and alumni.
Current Students

Verónica Arriaga-Orts

James Ayres

Sofia Bacasen
Sofia is from the Philippines but considers Athens, Greece as her hometown where she was born and raised. She can speak Greek, English, Filipino, Korean, and is currently working on her fifth language, Vietnamese. After earning her BA in Social Sciences from the University of the Philippines in 2011, her language teaching journey began with an initial interest in learning about cultures. She then took a Post-Grad Certificate in Education and has taught students from South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Thailand. She is currently in Vietnam, teaching middle school ELLs and coaching and mentoring fellow teachers. She loves coffee, music, books, and her cat, Mearn.

Betty Brown

Andrew Burke

Megan Carmody
Megan began teaching language in 2016 after graduating from Stonehill College with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and French/Spanish. She is now in her sixth year of teaching middle school French at Gates Middle School in Scituate, Massachusetts. She is eager to apply what she learns to her language classroom, where she strives to engage students in activities geared towards building proficiency.

Christy Cheezum

Laura Cordova

Rebecca Diaz

Wendy Farabaugh
Salut! Wendy Farabaugh is a French teacher in Mentor, Ohio. She is in her second semester in the MAFLT program, and her fifth year as a teacher. She teaches French one (grades 8-12), and AP French (11th grade). She is currently a moderator of the online twitter chat for language teachers, #langchat. She’s been married to her husband for four and half years, though they met when they were both five years old.

Amanda Ferris

Bénédict Fils-Aimé
Bonjour! 안녕하세요! My name is Bénédict Fils-Aimé, 만나서 반갑습니다. I currently live and teach English in South Korea. I graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s to teach French, but it seems that I’ve focused on English instead by traveling to France, Japan and Korea to live and teach. I love communities where linguistic and cultural exchanges are constantly happening. I hope to learn a lot from MAFLT as Spring 2022 will be my first semester. It’s nice to meet everyone here.

Mikaela Filson

Shyann Gilkey

James Goetschius
James is currently teaching Italian 1, 2-3, 4 and AP at Lenape High School in Mount Laurel, NJ, a suburb of Philadelphia. He received his BS in International Business and Minor in Italian from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). He became a certified Italian teacher through New Jersey’s Alternate Route program in 2016. When he is not teaching Italian or travelling to Italy, James is passionate about cycling, meteorology, rooting for the Nets and Yankees, and spending time with his family and friends. He is excited to start his first semester in the MAFLT program.

Toni Stillman Greer

Kelsey Hasso

Teryn Henderson

Mahlon Kester
Mahlon has gone through one semester of the MAFLT program already and he loves it! He very recently got married to his beautiful wife and he also just graduated from Basic Training for the Air Force. It was a great experience, but he is extremely happy to be back at it learning more about foreign language teaching. He can’t wait to learn about the technological aspect of it since a lot of today’s world uses technology now. There are definitely many opportunities to be explored!

Grace Kim

Jenna LaVecchia
Jenna grew up in New Jersey and got her bachelor’s in Spanish and Secondary Education from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, where she was able to travel abroad to Spain. She lives in Milford, Connecticut and loves to travel. She traveled all Spain last summer! She’s in her 5th year of teaching Spanish in an urban pre-k-8 school. She’s taught Kindergarten and grades 3-5, but grades 6-8 are by far her favorite, and what she’s currently teaching. She not only loves teaching the language, but also teaching music and culture!

Laura Lopez

Anna Rose Moore

Kristin Mose

Mike Nunley
Mike Nunley graduated from Ball State University in 2017 and is currently teaching in Decatur, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta. He is currently in his fourth year of teaching Spanish 1 and second year of teaching Spanish 4. His passion for language developed when he realized how it can make positive connections with so many people. When he is not teaching, he enjoys cooking, cycling, and watching TV and movies with his girlfriend and two cats.

Cassidy Taylor Ott

Drew Peterson

Megan Leigh Peterson

Shanna Robinson
Shanna is a twenty-year educator who currently resides in China. She is a graduate of Hampton University (1999); Fayetteville State University’s Teacher Certification Program (2004), and a very recent Master of Arts in Teaching and Curriculum from Michigan State University (May 2021). She would eventually like to pursue a Ph.D. in either Social Studies Education with an international focus or International Comparative Education. She began the MAFLT program in summer of 2021 with a focus in teaching English to Bilingual Learners. She enjoys traveling, has been to all six inhabitable continents, and is planning a trip to Antarctica.

Haley Rooney
Haley is a Spanish and English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher in Williamston Community Schools in Michigan, USA. She has been teaching in Williamston since 2018. Haley has degrees in Spanish and Elementary Education from Michigan State University. She currently lives in Williamston with her two cats, Beans and Petunia, and spends her free time reading, working in her gardens, and listening to music.

David Sceggel
David grew up in Peoria, IL and got his BA from Illinois State University. He taught one year in London, England, four years in Normal, IL, he spent two years in Sonora, Mexico as a ‘houseparent’ in an orphanage, and he has worked the last nine years in a rural school outside of Peoria, IL teaching TPRS/CI Spanish as the only world language teacher in the district. He married his wife in 2009 and they have two kids under the age of 5. He likes playing musical instruments, hiking, reading, and traveling.

Amy Scott

Kari Seymour

Kaitlyn Spires

Edward Stanko

Myriam Stanwood
Myriam is originally from Lima, Perú. She has lived in the U.S. for 18 years but currently lives in Japan with her family. Her journey in teaching Spanish started with P.A. students at Methodist University in North Carolina. Since that experience, she taught and continues to teach online language learning courses for DOD (Depart of Defense) and DOS personnel. She is a fan of online education and takes pleasure in sharing her culture with students. This has become her passion through the years. She is always fascinated by how we can overcome obstacles to communicate. In her free time, she enjoys walking on the beach and practicing yoga.

Meghan Turske
Meghan is currently going into her second year of teaching, and will be teaching German grades 6-9. She went to Michigan State University for her undergrad, where she studied German and TESOL. She is looking forward to seeing how her teaching will improve from what she learns over the course of the program.

Melanie Vander Ploeg

Frank VanPelt

Kristi Waite

Letitia Wang-Moore

Patricia Wyza
Patricia Wyza is currently a Spanish teacher to grades 3-5 in Pontiac, Michigan. She is going on her third year teaching and she is in her second class in the MAFLT program. She completed her undergraduate degree in Spanish K-12 education, as well as a minor in ESL, and a Spanish translation certificate through Oakland University. She is excited to continue her education to become a better Spanish teacher. She likes to use authentic resources, and promote vocabulary acquisition through interactive games and activities. She also coaches the Color Guard and Winter Guard for her high school. She enjoys traveling, learning about new cultures, as well as attending sports games and hanging out with friends.

Makiko Yamamoto Border
Not Yet Pictured
If you are a Current Student and you would like to be pictured here, go to the MAFLT Community in D2L to submit your headshot and bio. If you would like to edit or update your bio or headshot, please send them to maflt@cal.msu.edu.
Madeline Alford
Jason Berrey
Brittany Brenner
Mari Brito
Katherine Byrne – Alumni
Jaime Danks
Amy Driskell
Yoshiko Himata Paris – Alumni
Yuriko Ishida
Matt Johnson
Petra Jones – Alumni
Mireille Maalouf
Cassidy Ott
Amanda Rich
Pablo Rocha-Vazquez
Eriko Takahashi Best