Leslie Turpin, PhD
she/her/hers
After teacher-training in refugee camps in Thailand, Dr. Turpin began teaching in SIT’s MA in teaching programs in 1989. Her interests include refugee adjustment, cultural identity and memory, cultural and linguistic revitalization, reflective practice, classroom inquiry, teaching practice, literacy, and teaching supervision. She received her PhD in integral studies at the California Institute for Integral Studies in 2004. Her research on inter-generational passing of cultural memory within a Laotian-American community led her to an exploration of the relationship between heritage culture/language vitality and the support of artists in a community. She has served as the tour manager for a Laotian-American folk opera troupe, Sau Sing Pin; she has also worked as the managing director of Sandglass Theater, an internationally acclaimed puppet theater, where she produced two international festivals. She is the chair of the board of trustees of the Vermont Folklife Center and is a 1985 graduate of SIT’s MA in TESOL program.
See Dr. Turpin’s full list of publications
Courses Taught
Foundations to Teaching and Learning
Developing a Reflective Practice
Practicing Reflection (supervision of teachers)
Intercultural Communications and Ethnographic Inquiry for Language Educators
Teaching the Four Skills
Curriculum Design and Assessment
Sandanona Conference
Developing an Approach to Teaching and Learning
Thesis Preparation
Select Publications
Rodgers, C., Anderson, M., Burkett, B., Conley, S., Stanley, C., Turpin, L. (2021). “Reconstructing and Reorganizing Experience: Weaving a Living Philosophy.” In Teachers College Record. Volume 123, Number 6
Turpin, L. (2018). “Eclectic Pedagogy.” In J. Lionatas (Ed.), The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. Wiley & Sons. Published online 1/18/2018 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0845/pdf\
Turpin, L. (2017). “Using Metaphors: Rethinking ‘thinking’ in reflective practice. In IATEFL 2016 Birmingham Conference Publications Kent, England.
Durham, J. and Turpin, L. (2016). “Designing and Teaching an Online Teacher Training Course: Integrating Critical Thinking Skills into the Exploration of Culture in an EFL Setting.” In E-learn 2016 Proceedings. LearnTechLib–The Learning and Technology Library https://www.learntechlib.org/p/173950/
Blanchard, K. Healey, T. Tannenbaum, E, Turpin, L. (2015). “Mentoring Graduate Students to Participate in a Community of Practice.” In UNM Mentoring Institute Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Turpin, L. (2014). “Told Poems: How does a year studying peacebuilding change the way I think about my teaching?” In IATEFL 2014 Harrogate Conference Selections Ed by Tania Pattison, Kent: IATEFL pp. 211-213.
Turpin, L. (2014). “Told Poems: When the familiar becomes strange.” In The Language Teacher Vol. 38. No 4: 27-29.
Turpin, L. (2011). “I didn’t do it, you did! A great lesson learned” in The Gattegno Effect: 100 Voices on One of History’s Greatest Educators. Educational Solutions, Worldwide. p. 25
Select Presentations
Post-Memory Through Art “work.” Vth International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in Schools and Society, Loyola Marymount University School of Education held in Soria Spain (July 2019)
Post-Memory Through Art “work.” 15th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, (May 2019)
Rethinking Teaching-Learning Relationships in an MATESOL Hybrid Program. TESOL International Conference. Atlanta, Georgia (March 2019)
Going Hybrid While Finding What Matters in Teaching Intercultural Communications. 7th International IATEFL Poland Conference Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wrocław, Poland (September 2018)
Traces of Places: Understanding the Passing of Cultural Identity in a Laotian American Community IV International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in Schools and Society, Loyola Marymount University School of Education held in Soria Spain (July 2018)
Traces of Places: An intergenerational journey into memory of place in a Laotian American community. 13th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, (May 2017)
Interview Poems: Bridging Peace and Intercultural Communication. TESOL International Conference. Toronto, Canada (March 2016)
Understanding Relationship to Place in Laotian American Community. TESOL International Conference, Toronto, Canada (March 2016)
Using Metaphors: Rethinking ‘thinking’ in reflective practice. IATEFL
Conference, Birmingham, England (2016)
Research Interests
Cultural inquiry
Cultural memory
Intergenerational learning and change in refugee communities
Feedback and reflective practice
Collaborative learning
Education
- PhD, Integral Studies, Learning and Change in Human Systems, School for Transformative Learning, California Institute for Integral Studies
- MA in Teaching with Endorsement in Bilingual, Multicultural Education, School for International Training
- MA Certificate, CONTACT Conflict Transformation across Cultures, SIT Graduate Institute
- Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery Certificate, Harvard Medical School
- BA cum laude, Anthropology, Kenyon College