Gage Mardlin

2023 Fulbright U.S. Student Program Grantee

Hometown

Swartz Creek, MI

Major

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

 

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides post-baccalaureate funding for 8-12 months for individuals to study, research, or teach abroad while promoting cultural exchange and mutual understanding.

Accepting a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) grant to teach English in South Korea, Gage Mardlin takes the next giant leap on a career path teaching English around the world and later potentially pursuing a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). In addition to equipping himself alongside other English Language Learning teachers at Purdue, where he performed research in language acquisition and bilingualism, Gage completed two years of college level Japanese.

He speaks firsthand when he says, “I know that learning another language is very difficult and it is very easy to give up.” For this reason, Gage intends to create a classroom environment in which students find the courage to make mistakes through learning. While engaging in his community in South Korea, Gage looks forward to expanding his regional knowledge of East Asia through the cultural component of Fulbright.