Hello! My name is Dr. Nihan Yilmaz and I am beyond excited to join the Plano ISD family in the 2022-2023 academic year.

I was born and raised in Turkey, where I got my B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees - all on teaching English as a second/foreign language and linguistics. I truly love learning and teaching languages. I can speak Turkish (my native language), English, Spanish, Italian and I also took courses in German and French. Needless to say, I love examining how different languages operate and how languages change our world. 

I taught English at Hacettepe University for about 7 years. I also taught my first language, Turkish, at UT Austin under a Fulbright scholarship in 2014-2015. I was so thrilled to teach others about my own language and culture!

In my free time, I love traveling (I have been to numerous countries, including Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Austria, Puerto Rico to name just a few); and obviously, I love working with languages. I also love doing exercise (I am currently working on running my first 5k!), spending time with my family and writing.