WHY ME?
Magdalena Szczeponek-Kłoda
My background is in English philology. I have an MA in English (American Literature) from the University of Silesia and I’m a certified English teacher. I lived and studied in Canada and earned a graduate degree in interdisciplinary theological studies at Regent College (a University of British Columbia affiliate). I taught college-level American literature, history, and cultural studies, introduction to translation and communicative skills, and I tutored undergraduate students in a range of English as a Second Language subjects. Beyond that I have a lot of experience teaching English one-on-one, leading discussion groups, seminars and workshops, in formal and informal settings; I’m an occasional translator/editor.
I’ve always appreciated English as such – I enjoy its rhythms, tonalities and variations. I’m equally drawn to it as a means of exploring and constructing worlds of experience and of thought. I love engaging people over literary texts in English, contemplating and discussing them, pondering their creative contributions to who we are, to how we make sense of the world together.
WHY IN THE FIRST PLACE?
What we are after in English with Literature is not merely upskilling when it comes to language, or checking off when it comes to literary texts.
→ we are after staying curious, diving into instances of human creativity and passion and exploring them with intellectual honesty and care; we are after being sharper thinkers and better readers and listeners
→ we are after practicing attentiveness, cautiously vulnerable and open to awe and insight, without hurry or pressure to see or say the right thing or to impress
The texts we read are not a random selection. They come from diverse periods and cultures of the Anglophone world, they differ in form, style, tone, and, of course, subject matter, but they are all “real presences” – precious instances of, and contributions to, who and how we are in the world. They are sourced with care and curated for you based on my years of experience reading and working with literature, my individual sensibilities and a take on quality and worth.
We don’t often read to talk, but here we do.
Get immersed, think deep, feel passionately, hope for enrichment and wonder as we engage the worlds of the texts, of others and of ourselves. Let’s contribute to a space where we don’t merely develop, but thrive. In English, too.
