Office hours with Vicki DeTal
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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C: Have you taught elsewhere? What sort of classes?
VD: I’ve taught this Technical Writing class at Washington State, many sections of Writing 121 at OSU, I used to teach English as a Second Language, and I teach Fiction and Creative Writing at Linfield College.
C: When teaching English as a Second Language, do you have to pick a particular first language to teach from?
VD: No. I worked for the American Language Institute at San Diego State, and I had students from all kinds of places in the same class. It depends on the level. If they’re really beginners, you have to start with flash cards and pictures. Obviously, the better they speak, the easier it is. What was interesting is that I lived in Mexico for a while, and I taught English to Japanese corporate members of NEC [a Japanese multinational IT company], but the only way we could communicate was in Spanish. So I’m teaching them English, but we had to communicate in Spanish.
C: What sparked your passion for writing and teaching?
VD: Oh gosh, when I was a kid, what I wanted to do when I grew up was to be the person that read all the novels and wrote the little blurbs for those books, because that meant that I would get paid to read. I just loved literature and creative writing. I don’t live to teach the other things, but I enjoy teaching them because they’re all writing. My passion is fiction, creative writing and literature.
C: How did you end up with the technical writing focus?
VD: Now that’s a good question. When you get a degree in English, you have to figure out what to do with it. Writing is a great skill in any business, and I happened to fall into a job with a consulting company as their documentation specialist. Then I went through all sorts of companies; I wrote for Nike, AT&T and all kinds of businesses. I sort of fumbled my way through and learned the lingo. When it came time to teach, I had lots of experience.
C: If you weren’t teaching, what would you be doing instead?
VD: Obviously I’d be writing if I could get paid. I mean, I’d be writing fiction. I wrote freelance for a long time, but nothing interesting; so if I had my choice I would be paid to write fiction. I just got my most recent graduate degree as an MFA in fiction writing, and my thesis is a collection of linked short stories. Now I’m trying to send them out individually and putting them together in a book.
C: Outside of teaching and writing, what are some hobbies?
VD: My hobbies? You’d be surprised by how much time I spend reading and writing. I’m big on restaurants. I live in Portland so I have lots of choices.
C: What’s your favorite kind of restaurant?
VD: My favorite kind? That’s tough. It’s really more of favorite restaurants: Three Doors Down, this sushi place that I really like and just anything that’s really well made. I’m a total food snob [laughs]. So eating, yeah, that’s my hobby.
C: Anything else you’d be interested in telling us about yourself?
VD: Well, I have two sons that are also amazing writers. My younger son is just 15 so he’s in high school. My older son is in the MFA fiction-writing program at OSU right now.
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