Pauline E. Herpy

Pauline E. Herpy (Polly) has been employed at VIU since January 2005 as an ESL instructor, teaching Intermediate Grammar and Advanced Listening and Speaking. She completed her TESL Graduate Certificate at George Mason University in May 2004 and has been teaching and tutoring ESL to students for over 20 years in the U.S, Japan and Singapore.

Polly graduated from Baylor University, Waco, Texas, with a BA in Foreign Service and spent her junior year abroad at Seinan Gakuin Daigaku in Fukuoka, Japan where she studied Japanese. While living in Singapore in the early 1980’s Polly continued her study of the Japanese language and was enrolled in graduate school at the National University of Singapore. There she began her study of the Japanese expatriate community living and working in Singapore and took courses on the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities living on the Malay Peninsula and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Living and studying in foreign countries has helped Polly understand what challenges her students here at VIU. Polly encourages her students to ask questions and not be shy. “If you have a question about the language or culture in the U.S., someone else in the class is probably wondering the same thing.” Polly, who resides in Centreville, Va., is married, has two sons ages 19 and 15, and enjoys swimming and Japanese flower arranging. She also continues her study of the Japanese language with the Fairfax County Adult Education program in the evening.

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