My interest in teaching English
began when I landed a part time English tutoring job at Contra
Costa College in San Pablo, California. At the time, I was an
undeclared business major, but my love for literature blossomed
soon after I experienced my first college-level literature courses. In these classes, I was transported to worlds I had never known and discovered that I not only enjoyed reading, interpreting, and discussing literature, but that I was also actually good at
writing about it.
Not long after this "epiphany" of sorts, I
declared myself an English/literature major and transferred to U. C. Berkeley, eventually earning a B.A. in English, an M.A.T. in Education/English, and a high school English
teaching credential. I began teaching full-time at Skyline
College in the Spring of 1991
after serving as an adjunct instructor at several other Bay Area community colleges (San Jose City, Ohlone, and Diablo Valley).
Shipyard at Tarqui Beach (Manta, Ecuador, July 2010)
I teach a range of courses from developmental writing and transfer-level
composition to literature. In my classes, I rely heavily on discussions and collaboration to
foster critical thinking and to help students discover and
develop their own "voices" and ideas.
Some of my favorite authors include Milan Kundera, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Li-Young Lee, and Toni Morrison. A couple of my ongoing professional interests are reading Asian American
literature and researching special issues surrounding Asian
American culture. As far as literary themes and issues go, I don't like to box myself in, but I find myself often honing in on socio-cultural as well as gender-related concerns.
Mitad del Mundo--Center of the
World--The Equator
(San Antonio del Pichincha, Ecuador, July 2010)
Outside of teaching, you'll often
find me spending time in the East Bay with my family (along with my dog, Skipper), dragon boating in Lake Merritt with my team, the Oakland Renegades, hiking in the woods,
sitting near a body of water (ocean, river, lake), rooting for my
favorite teams, the Oakland
A's and Cal Bears, or working on house projects. Other interests include traveling to almost anywhere, playing
in the tropical Hawaiian
sun, listening to music
(traditional
jazz, classic rock, Latin jazz, R
& B/soul, oldies, classical), watching movies and plays, fishing, camping, reading, going for rides in my old Miata, day dreaming, and eating
different types of foods at different types of places. Next time you see me, be sure to ask me what I did over my vacation, how the Oakland A's are doing,
and/or what type of food I last ate!
Basilica del Voto Nacional Steeple and
View of Old Town (Quito, Ecuador, June 2010)
Nina L. Floro - 
