Meet Dr. Z
My name is W. Aaron Zimkowski, and my passion and devotion to language education began over 15 years ago.
Language learning and teaching have allowed me to work with incredible people worldwide and transform lives through immersive language programs. My passion started as an Arabic and Mandarin Chinese learner in 2008. I quickly fell in love with the language learning process and the fantastic cultural experiences I shared with other language learners. The opportunities multilingualism opens for learners drives my passion for creating immersive language programs supporting every aspect of language acquisition, including cultural immersion and integration.
I have a doctorate in second language instruction and over a decade of experience in language acquisition educational programs in private and public institutions. I obtained my master’s in teaching language and an undergraduate degree in Arabic and Mandarin Chinese from the University of Delaware. Before teaching English to speakers of other languages in public schools, I began my educational career by learning Arabic and Mandarin and teaching different languages in the United States and overseas. These experiences, combined with providing learners with the opportunities that come with bilingualism, have driven my passion to improve language educational programs for multilingual learners. In recent years, my focus has been providing English language learners with intensive language programs that quickly integrate them into the general student populations while developing a culture that celebrates the language learning process and the culture of others.
Ma Yi Ping is an Imam at the Great Mosque of Xi’an in central China. He is a master of Arabic calligraphy. I met him in January 2013 and he made Surah An-Nasr (Devine Support) beautifully right before my eyes.