Makena James Sung Kong Liu
46-169 Aeloa Street
Kaneohe, HI 96744
makena23@hawaii.edu
Objective: To become a professional educator, engage in both local and international
encounters with professional peers and students to share knowledge and advocate
language learning internationally.
Education
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Department of Second Language Studies
Major in Second Language Studies (SLS)
September 2010 – Present
Professional Experience
Global Language Village
August 2015
English Teaching Internship
Interned as an EFL teacher at Global Language Village (GLV) in Zhuhai, China.
Taught three different ten-day sessions consisting of fifty hours each. Instruction
involved a communicative language approach with a focus of lessons in the
mornings and activities in the afternoon provided by both GLV and English teachers.
Expertise Education Co., Ltd.
June 2014 – August 2014
English Teaching Internship
Interned as an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher at Moshikou
Kindergarten (模式口幼儿园) in Beijing, China. Taught twenty-five hours a week for
five different classes with an assisted English language-learning program for
children. Lessons involved basic vocabulary and sentence forming.
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
March 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
Microteaching Lesson; speaking and writing focused
(Class requirement for SLS303)
 Conceived, planned, and execute a twenty minute Japanese language lesson
on the pragmatic use of Polite and Casual forms in Japanese.
 Required lesson planning and design.
M Liu CV
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
April 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
Microteaching Lesson; listening and reading focused
(Class requirement for SLS303)
 Conceived, planned, and execute a twenty minute Chinese (Mandarin)
language lesson on the topic of hobbies and the use of like/dislike
vocabulary.
 Required lesson planning, design, and a theoretical rationale explaining
theories in support of particular design elements
Relevant Coursework
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Fall 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
SLS 313 – Techniques in Second Language Teaching: Listening/Speaking
This course provided an overview of the theoretical and practical issues involved in
the teaching of second or foreign language listening and speaking. Theoretical and
empirical perspectives are integrated with practical experiences including teaching
practice, materials development and analysis, curriculum design, and critical
reflection.
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Fall 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
SLS 380 – Bilingual Education
This course provided a broad overview of theories and issues relevant to
contemporary bilingual/multilingual education. Examined bilingualism and
bilingual/multilingual education from historical, political, psycholinguistic, social,
cultural and pedagogical perspectives.
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Fall 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
SLS 430 – Pidgin and Creole English in Hawaii
This course provided a general understanding of Hawaii Pidgin English (HPE) and of
Hawaii Creole (HC) covered over these topics: sociohistorical background,
sociolinguistic variation, language attitude, social inequality, linguistic structure,
discourse processes and interactional styles, language acquisition and schooling,
and pidgin in literary and performing arts.
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M Liu CV
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Fall 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
SLS 480P – Introduction to Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)
This course helped provide understanding to the construct of task in second
language teaching and research. Defines and exemplifies the meaning of ‘task’ in the
second language field, offers a solid view of the educational foundations of TBLT,
and describes various uses of tasks in second language research and teaching.
Examples illustrate how TBLT can facilitate the learning of aspects of a range of
target languages within various instructional settings and contexts.
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Spring 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
SLS 303 – Second Language Teaching
This course covered topics such as institutional and curricular contexts of language
teaching, the history of language teaching methodologies, learner/teacher roles,
classroom management, syllabus/curriculum design, lesson planning, teaching
materials, and classroom assessment/evaluation.
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
Spring 2014
Department of Second Language Studies
SLS 302 – Second Language Learning
This course provided a broad overview of the field of second language acquisition
(SLA) covering such topics as first language, theories in SLA, factors affecting SLA,
learner language, and instructed SLA.
Volunteer Experience
Fern Elementary
March 2015 – June 2015
Teacher Assistant
 Assist teacher in tutoring student ELLs and with clerical tasks
Work Experience
University of Hawaii at Mānoa,
September 2014 – Present
Student Housing Services
Student Assistant
 Assist students in inquiries about their student housing and meal plans
 Answer phone calls and e-mails
 Receive and handle sensitive information
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M Liu CV
Windward Mall,
July 2013 – January 2014
Airbrush Hawaii
Sales Associate
 Responsible for giving overall design advice to clients, managing the register,
keeping the store tidy, and working on projects given by clients. Projects
comprised of custom embroidery (i.e. shirts, hats, and other personal items),
custom print (i.e. shirts), banner design (i.e. vinyl banners), and sticker
design (i.e. stickers for cars).
Achievements
Aloha Council,
Boy Scouts of America
Eagle Scout Rank
2004 - 2009
Awarded November 2009
Associations
Windward YMCA
Member
2006 – present
Languages
English (native language);
Japanese (novice);
Mandarin (novice)
Special Skills

Digital Art Program Software; competent in the use of Corel Draw, and Corel
Painter.

Shirt printing; competent in the use of a Brother (model) shirt printer;
experienced with shirt design.

Embroidery; competent in the use of a Brother embroidery machine and its
basic maintenance; competent in digitizing and design with Brother
embroidery software.

Experienced with both Macintosh and Windows operating systems;
comfortable with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
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M Liu CV
Interests

Learning new languages and cultures, reading fictional novels, drawing and
digital painting.
References
Available upon request
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