Linguistics Jobs: Interview with an EMLS/Linguistics instructor & mother of four
This month’s interview is with Annie Masutsubo, a mother of four and EMLS and Linguistics instructor. Annie studied Linguistics and Anthropology, as well as several Asian languages during her undergrad and MA degrees. Annie has taught English as a second language in several places, including Fresno City College and the American English Institute. In this interview, Annie shares how her Linguistics training assists her daily in her roles and responsibilities as both a teacher and a full-time parent, including how discourse analysis is particularly useful for parenting in the age of social media.
What did you study at university?
Since I absolutely loved Indiana Jones going up, Anthropology was where I started, with a plan to get a minor in Linguistics to learn all the cool tribal languages that I was sure to come across. Six years of reality later, I ended up with a BA in Linguistics, with minors in Anthropology and South-East Asian Studies; and an MA in Linguistics, General Linguistics option. I took a lot of cultural Linguistics classes and a had roughly a year each of Lao, Hmong, and Japanese; and also studied a bit of Thai, Cambodian, and Khmu.
I am an adjunct EMLS/Linguistics instructor, which means that I teach English as a Second Language (ESL) a few hours a week at a local junior college with an occasional Linguistics class. I also taught ESL for several years at the American English Institute, which is an English prep school.
Before I got my degree in Linguistics, I also spent four summers interning at FIRM (Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries) volunteering with their Elderly Program, where I taught citizenship classes to elderly Hmong and Lao refugees, and working with their Summer Youth Project, leading programs for at-risk youth in inner city areas of Fresno's refugee community neighborhoods, here in California. During this time, I laid the groundwork to what would eventually develop into my signature teaching style -- working alongside students and communities, instead of teaching down to "them" as "the other."
Teaching part time fits in perfectly with my full-time job as a mother of four – ages 15, 13, 9, and 6 years old. I also have a Japanese husband who loves (I hope lol) having an ESL teacher in the house to help with his English whenever he needs.
How does your linguistics training help you in your job?
Having training in Linguistics is absolutely necessary to teach English to students with such diverse language backgrounds – this semester alone, I have students who speak multiple dialects of Spanish, Zapotec, Burmese, Vietnamese, Farsi, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Hmong. Linguistics also fits in perfectly with my full-time job of being a mother as I help my children with all sorts of things like essays for school or emailing teachers, Thank You letters to family, or even giving advice when they navigate the challenges of texting friends or posting to social media – my Discourse Analysis class was especially valuable in this.
What was the transition from university to work like for you?
The transition from being a student to teaching was quite seamless, but transitioning to being a mother while teaching part-time was very difficult. There is an expectation of large amounts of unpaid work, such as prep and grading, as well as being constantly available to answer student emails or calls. Teachers ask each other for professional favors, such as accommodating student observers, editing work, etc. all without additional pay. I needed to learn to balance adjunct teaching and being a mother by learning to say “no” and shutting down things like unpaid meetings or accepting classes that were at inconvenient times or had large amounts of grading or required extra paperwork.
Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?
Realize that while a degree in Linguistics will open doors for you to teach internationally, it is often difficult to score a full time position at junior colleges and universities in the US, and to try and support a family on an adjunct salary is nearly impossible. Realize that teaching, unless you open a private language school or supplement with tutoring/teaching online, rarely is very profitable.
Any other thoughts or comments?
I feel safe knowing that my Linguistics background and ESL teaching experience make me employable anywhere in the world. While I am currently focusing on being in one place for now as I raise my kids, it opens doors for me to travel all over the world and live anywhere I want as soon as I choose to. Having that freedom is, to me, the most valuable aspect of my career.
Interview with an ESL teacher, coach and podcaster
Interview with an English Foreign Language Teacher
Interview with a Dance Instructor and Stay-at-Home Mom
Interview with a Stay-at-home Mom and Twitch Streamer
Interview with a Performing Artiste and Freelance Editor
Interview with a Hawaiian and Tahitian language Instructor, Translator & Radio Host
Interview with a Customer Success Manager
Interview with an Impact Lead
Interview with an Online Linguistics Teacher
The full Linguist Jobs Interview List
The Linguist Jobs tag for the most recent interviews
The Linguistics Jobs slide deck (overview, resources and activities)
The Linguistics Jobs Interview series is edited by Martha Tsutsui Billins. Martha is a linguist whose research focuses on the Ryukyuan language Amami Oshima, specifically honourifics and politeness strategies in the context of language endangerment. Martha runs Field Notes, a podcast about linguistic fieldwork.
