Blog 1 Self Introduction -Instructor - Eric Benson

Hello, Happy New Year and Welcome to our 106 class blog. Here you will practice writing on various topics related to plagiarism and digital storytelling as well as your own life experience. The purpose of the blog is to write for fluency, but please practice good format and correct and edit your blogs before you finally post them. I have lived all of my life in Ohio, which is a midwest state of standard English. This is a picture of my time over the break with my mother, brother and family. My mom lives in St. Mary's, Ohio. My brother lives in LA and my wife, Ryo (Korean-American) and my two boys, Joe and Dan, and I live in Dublin. During this break, we enjoyed eating together, playing card and board games, playing with our dogs, and talking about family and future. The only other place we have lived has been in downtown Columbus and Dalian, CHINA! We lived in China, where I taught for a year from 2002-2003. During my time in China, I got to experience the wonderful tastes and sights of China, its mix of old and new and also learn a lot about teaching across cultures, as well as work on my Chinese. I have also enjoyed my visits to Korea and Peru, in South America. After I returned, I completed my MA in TESOL and, at the same time began my teaching here at OSU in the ESL composition program, also teaching in the Spoken English Program and the American Language Program. Teaching and learning a language is hardwork, but I hope to help students reach their potential as academic communicators. I believe my diverse background as traveler, engineer, businessman and communicator helps me to do this. My resolution for this year is to help my family advance and continue our higher education. I also want to improve my health and become more fit as do many people in America. I enjoy jogging and working out and I also like playing jazz music. I participate in IFI as volunteer and have met and worked with students from many countries as well as volunteering in my international church. Now, go ahead and tell us a little about your self. Please discuss a little of your family background and anything interesting about your hometown, family or hobbies. Then talk about what your goals for the future are and what your personal New Year's Resolution is. Please post a relevant picture.