Alejandro Azocar

I have been involved in this ESL program for more than 20 years, with a 5-year gap working in a small university in Alabama. I was born and raised in Chile, so I am bilingual in Spanish and English. I started to learn English when I was 12 years old. I came to Madison in 1997 as an undergraduate student majoring in English education. After completing my TESOL Certificate, I became a TA in this program. I pursued a master’s degree in Applied English Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at UW-Madison. From the outset of my teaching career, I became fascinated by academic reading and writing, specifically how both skills are taught, learned, and put into practice at different levels of American higher education. My goal is to help my students become successful academic readers and writers. In doing so, I help them appreciate the importance of the two skills to succeed in college in the U.S. I also enjoy teaching pedagogical skills to international teaching assistants.