My interest in linguistics originates from my interest in languages which began at a very young age. I was enrolled in a French Immersion school in Kindergarten (in Saskatoon, where I grew up), and thus completed the majority of my pre-university schooling in French. I then studied German in high school, and Spanish during my undergrad, where I completed a Bachelors of Commerce in International Business. I loved learning Spanish, and was very interested in learning more about both the language and the culture. This interest ultimately led me to move to Granada, Spain for a short time, and later to Buenos Aires Argentina where I lived and worked for 4.5 years. In addition to living in Granada and Buenos Aires, I have also spent extended periods of time in Lima, Peru, and Madrid, Spain.
Before moving to Argentina, I took a TEFL certificate course, and through this I learned the basics of linguistics, which is where my knowledge of linguistics began. I then taught ESL in both Canada and Argentina, which further peaked my interest in linguistics, as a I began to understand language from a more structural perspective. By teaching a language I only knew (primarily) implicitly, I learned a great deal about English, and how interesting the phonology, syntax, and semantics were. I then decided to study linguistics at the University of Buenos Aires, and enjoyed it so much that I subsequently moved to Toronto to complete an MA in Hispanic Linguistics. While I knew I would enjoy the teaching (by this point I had taught ESL/EFL for several years), I learned during the program how stimulating the research was as well. This motivated me to complete a PhD (also at the University of Toronto) and now a postdoc (at the University of Victoria).
When I am not teaching or researching, I enjoy cooking, travelling, dancing (mainly Latin dances like Salsa, Bachata, Tango, and Forro), playing sports (currently hockey and beach volleyball), and learning new languages (I’m working now on Hul’q’umi’num’ and German).