Open to opportunities

Elliott Gyll

@elliottgyll

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Linguist and educator specializing in multilingual education and research.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I seek a role that fosters collaboration and innovation in language education and research.

I am a linguist, researcher, and educator with field experience in over 73 countries. My specialization in Bantu languages, particularly Swahili, has allowed me to conduct sociolinguistic research in under-resourced, multilingual contexts. I have developed and led teacher training programs that utilize multilingual teaching methods and digital tools, funded by academic grants. My work aims to support localized primary education content and improve language access in schools.

In addition to my teaching experience, I have served as an intercultural consultant and language strategy advisor, enhancing communication for local businesses and improving their digital outreach. My freelance work as a language instructor has allowed me to deliver over 850 personalized lessons to learners globally, focusing on pronunciation coaching and exam preparation. I am also expanding my expertise into NLP and digital language resource development to support inclusive, data-driven language technologies.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Freelance Language Instructor

Current

Italki

Oct 2019 - Present (5 years 9 months)

Delivered over 850 personalized online lessons to over 140 language learners globally, using virtual learning platforms to scale pronunciation coaching and IELTS/TOEFL preparation. Developed data-informed, individualized curricula informed by learner needs, proficiency levels, and linguistic backgrounds.

Online Teaching Curriculum Development IELTS Preparation English French Swahili

Curriculum Developer & Teacher Program Coordinator

Youth English Camp (YEC)

Nov 2022 - Present (2 years 8 months)

Created and ran a multilingual teacher training program for five student groups, using digital tools and a flexible curriculum tailored to local needs. Designed and adjusted IELTS-focused English lessons based on student levels and learning progress, supporting a wide range of language backgrounds.

Curriculum Development Teacher Training IELTS Preparation

Intercultural Consultant & Language Strategy Advisor

Explore Hà Giang

Jul 2022 - Present (2 years 11 months)

Supported a local homestay in northern Vietnam by improving its website and digital outreach, helping boost visibility and guest engagement. Helped improve communication with international visitors by advising on cross-cultural interaction and multilingual service delivery.

Intercultural Communication Outreach

Teacher Trainer & Linguistic Field Researcher

Hirwa Children's Foundation

Jan 2022 - Present (3 years 6 months)

Created and led a teacher training program for under-resourced classrooms, using multilingual teaching methods and digital tools. Carried out independent research on Kinyarwanda to adapt language instruction across multiple languages and support localized primary education content.

Curriculum Development Project Management Kinyarwanda

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

North Carolina State University

Bachelor of Arts, Linguistics

Grade: GPA: 3.78 / 4.00 (Summa Cum Laude)

Activities and societies: Full merit-based Park Scholarship ($112,000 | 4 years)

Studied phonetics, phonology, and sociolinguistics, including acoustic analysis, variation, and code-switching. Gained expertise in computational linguistics, covering NLP fundamentals, corpus methods, and data annotation, and developed skills in field methods such as documentation, transcription, and multilingual data collection.

University of Seoul

Exchange Semester, Language acquisition, Literature and linguistic

Grade: GPA: 4.50 / 4.50

Focused on psycholinguistics and Korean language, including phonetics, language acquisition, and English language & culture. Explored Korean politics, society, and history, alongside beginning Korean language instruction.

MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC) – University of Florida (UF)

Boren Award Semesters, Language acquisition, Literature and linguist

Grade: GPA: 3.90 / 4.00

Activities and societies: Training Semester Abroad – Boren Award, Tanzania & U.S.

Completed advanced Swahili and East African studies, including oral literature, political history, and intensive language immersion. Achieved fluent conversational and written proficiency through coursework and field engagement.