Jeffery Maloney, a new professor in the Faculty of Education & Social Work at BYU–Hawaii from Ohio, said when he was younger, learning languages was his superpower because it came easily to him. After serving a mission in Brazil and developing connections with people through language, he said he knew he wanted to do something with language in his professional career.
He said he talked to his wife after graduating with a communications degree about his desire to teach English and help others take advantage of the opportunity to gain an education.
“[Teaching at BYUH is] an overlap of my professional interests and personal desires and faith. It covers all the most important things outside of my family,” he shared. Communication and learning languages leads to understanding people, cultures and seeing all people as God’s children, he added.
Before coming to Hawaii, Maloney said he taught Native Americans while working in the Department of Languages and Literature at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. He added he was involved in the Fulbright Program, which flies English-speaking teachers to other countries to have an immersive cultural experience. He said the program is crucial to improving foreign language programs in the United States.
In addition, he said communicating with others in their native language can help people understand the hopes, dreams and goals they want to achieve. “Sometimes there are certain aspects of a culture where knowing the language can help you see why things are done a certain way. … It humanizes people,” he said.
Through his experience teaching English to non-native speakers, he said people are often shy or think they will be judged. “The hardest part about learning a new language is getting out of your comfort zone and [being willing to] make mistakes.” He said the reason why he is here is language isn’t a struggle for him, and he can share it with others.
He said he will be teaching two EIL reading courses and one language acquisition course this Fall 2021 Semester.
Brent Green, associate professor in the Faculty of Education & Social Work, said, “Since our new faculty have gone through a very rigorous hiring process, we are confident they can contribute in positive ways to our program and BYUH.”
Green continued, “With the return of new students, and the addition of new faculty, we see great things on the horizon for our EIL and TESOL programs.”