Reka Clausen is an Assistant Professor of English as a Second Language and received her MA in TESOL from California State University, Los Angeles. Since joining the ALI faculty in 2002, she has taught both writing and oral skills courses, though her passion lies primarily in teaching oral skills courses for international teaching assistants (ITAs), combining language instruction with teacher training. She has also served as assistant coordinator of the ITA Summer Institute, co-chair of the CATESOL Regional Conference at USC, and liaison between the Viterbi School of Engineering Writing Program and the ALI. Prior to joining the ALI faculty, she taught ESL at UCLA Extension, Santa Monica College, and in Bologna, Italy, where she lived for nine years. She is fluent in Italian and Farsi and has studied French, Spanish and Portuguese, as learning foreign languages and traveling overseas have always been a passion.