He has taught English language learners for more than 15 years in a variety of programs in Romania, China, and the United States. His research projects include examinations of identity, globalization, and language teaching methods in China and the United States. His recent interest in teaching and learning idioms came out of his teaching a graduate-level summer course at Stanford University titled “Vocabulary and Idioms” and his frustration with questions from students such as “How can a fat chance and a slim chance be the same?”