Contact
Biography
I received my first degree, an MA in Indian Philology (Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit), from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. On moving to the UK I obtained a BA in Russian and Serbian/Croatian from the University of Nottingham. Since 1994 I have been teaching Russian and Polish at the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies as well as in the Language Centre at the University of Nottingham.
I have wide-ranging experience as a language teacher. As a qualified teacher of English I have taught English in Polish secondary schools and HE establishments and at a refugee centre in Nottinghamshire. I have also taught Polish, Croatian, Russian and Czech courses for MOD personnel and at NCN and West Nottinghamshire College.
I am also a sworn translator and interpreter. My professional qualifications include a PGCE FE/HE which I completed at Trent University and a Diploma in Russian and English Interpreting and Translating for International Business which I gained from Bradford University (the latter included a practical part which I completed as an interpreter and translator in St Petersburg). Based on these qualifications and my professional experience, I have taught community interpreting courses specifically for Polish and Bosnian speakers. I have also worked as an interpreter for Croatian refugees.
I am keenly interested in community issues, equal rights and human rights especially regarding persecution of minorities, such as the Roma. I am actively involved in SPS (Signpost to Polish Success), a Polish charity for immigrants from Eastern Europe, of which I am a trustee board member. I also contribute articles to the newspaper East Midlands Po Polsku covering current affairs and issues facing new immigrants to the UK.
I maintain a strong interest in the Roma language and its culture. To this end I presented a paper, 'Romani Language and People: Inclusion or Seclusion', at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 2003.
Teaching Summary
- R81100 Beginners Russian (a)
- R81101 Beginners Russian (b)
- LK11RA Inter Faculty Russian 1A
- Inter Faculty Russian 1B
- LK1 PLA Inter Faculty Polish 1A
- Inter Faculty Polish 1B
- Polish Language at level 1 (Evening Classes)
- Polish Language 2 (Evening Classes)