I've taught English for 22 years, beginning after graduating from college. After graduation I taught for two and a half years in south India and then I taught at the university level at the Ohio State University.

I've also worked as a tutor and tutored students from elementary and middle school all the way through high school and college.

But I think of myself primarily as a writer and a poet. That's my daily work. Just as one of our students today says she looks forward to doing her studies daily, which I think is lovely, every day I look forward to, first thing in the morning, when I read and write and translate.

At the moment I'm working on a big translation of a Tamil classic from the 5th century, a book of poetry and wisdom, and also a non-fiction work on what it's like to be associated with a yurt.

But as a writer and a poet who is also a teacher I'll say that one of the things I love about talking about grammar and sharing grammar as a writer is that for me grammar is not a school subject. I mean we speak about it in school, but for me, grammar is something that I use every day. It's a tool with which I understand the inner workings of language.

I get quite excited about it because it's through the use of grammar and the insights that can come from studying grammar and from studying language that we find ourselves able to express ourselves more fully, deeply, persuasively, and movingly.