About Me:

My name is Patrick Dane Carson (I go by Dane) and I am from Santa Cruz (Aptos), California. I am a California kid at heart and have a strong "homing device" so to speak, in that despite living in Hawai'i for the majority of my adult life...the Monterey Bay will always be home (read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (1939),Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1955), to understand why).

Apart from my adoration for California's Central Coast, I also have a love for language.  Since my childhood I have been a learner of languages, in that my language learner history has been, well, a bumpy road.  As a learner with dyslexia I surprisingly did not learn how to read until I was in the fourth grade.  Yet, with a dedicated support team (mom, dad, and my tutor Melanie Larson) I was afforded the opportunity to finally see.

As an aspiring scholar I am fascinated by motivation, identity formation, and language as power in light of my personal experience.  To this day, I still face processing issues (e.g. I have no auditory discrimination so I can't take notes, listen, and simultaneously participate in seminar.  Despite this issue, I have taken advantage of the accommodations provided by institutions for learners with disabilities, figured out who I am as a learner, and have made it work.

In terms of academia, I am also fascinated by intercultural communications, plurilingualism, translanguaging, language education policy, cognitive science (philosophy), and psycholinguistics.  

As such, provided my general interest in linguistics, I am enthralled to be volunteering with the VITEL Project in Vanuatu (1/14 - 3/16)...the most language dense population per capita in the world, i.e. there are 113 vernacular languages spoken among a population of approximately 247,000 (UNESCO, 2014), and approximately 30 spoken on Malekula (where I live in Vanuatu) in addition to both French and English.

Currently, I live at Brenwei Centre School, which is just north of Brenwei Village and across from Tulewei Village, on Malekula Island.  At Brenwei Centre School I volunteer as a Teacher-Trainer and work with teachers grade one through three.  As a Teacher-Trainer, my primary responsibility is co-teaching, thus I spend the majority of my time modeling different teaching techniques in attempt to  foster a learning environment that encourages English language acquisition and production for both teachers and students alike. 


Upon return from Vanuatu, I hope to begin an interdisciplinary PhD program where I can draw upon my academic interests.  With the expert guidance and support of my PCMI Advisory Team at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), I am confident that I will be able to make this daydream a reality.

Education:

B.A. International Studies, Hawai'i Pacific University, 2009

M.A. Communications, Intercultural, Hawai'i Pacific University, 2012

M.A. Peace Corps Master International in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Monterey Institute of International Studies, - anticipated graduation: 2016

Languages:

English

French

Spanish

Bislama

Social Media:

Feel free to add me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Interests:

General: Bikram yoga, beach volleyball, surfing, travel, food, running, and equestrian sport.

Myers Briggs:

INFJ

Disclaimer:

This blog contains solely my opinions that do not reflect or express any position(s) of the U.S. government, the government of Vanuatu, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the United States Peace Corps or the opinions of any individual people within or associated with these institutions.