Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Sky-Diving Into The World Of Feedback, Rosa Maria Campos Da Silva

MA TESOL Collection

This work is a simple description of my experience with feedback in the classroom and with some of my colleague teacher. I am a Brazilian teacher who has been working in the field for ten years, in different binational centers in Brazil, teaching students of all ages from beginners to upper-intermediate levels. I start the paper talking about what led me to seek for a Master’s degree. Then I talk about my first exposure to feedback as a student at SIT. I will talk about oral feedback, written feedback to the teacher, giving feedback (to the teacher and to peers) …

Language Learning Strategies: A Primer, Carol Lindenbrock Fujii

MA TESOL Collection

The question of why some learners acquire a second language more quickly than others has long been a problem for language teachers. Even when students seem basically equal in terms of opportunity and intelligence, progress can vary greatly. Variations in the language learning strategies students employ could explain why some students do better than others. Students can profitably explore the areas of language learning strategies to become more aware and successful learners. This paper begins by defining language learning strategies as the tools learners use to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning and to make that learning more efficient. …

Internet Users’ Manual For English Language Teaching Professionals: Enjoyable Internet Understanding, Jack Bailey

MA TESOL Collection

This paper serves as an overview of the Internet and its resources available to English Language Teaching professionals. The intended audience is both instructors new to Internet technologies as well as those well versed in the Net but looking for further resources. Initial sections give the reader a brief overview of the Internet, its history, and its most prominent component parts including e-mail, mailing lists, newsgroups and chat rooms. Primary emphasis is placed on the categorizing and description of key web sites most useful to English Language instructors and administrators. Each site listing contains addresses (URLs), general site descriptions and …

International Business And Culture Course Development And Teacher Growth, Deborah Lang Bainbridge

MA TESOL Collection

This paper describes the development process of an International Business and Culture Course for a new certificate program at the Colorado International Education and Training Institute (CIETI). I was hired for the specific purpose of designing this course. This paper is a compilation of some of the resources I’ve collected, experiences of what worked and what did not work, learning and teaching ideas I’ve incorporated from my course work at SIT, and my personal values and beliefs. My keen interest is in emotional intelligence and I have used it as a unifying theme to explain why I have chosen to …

Timed Conversation: One Routine For Engaging Large Classes Of Non-Motivated Learners In Meaningful Oral Communication, Bradley J. Deacon

MA TESOL Collection

This paper will explore an activity called “Timed Conversation” that I use in large classes of relatively unmotivated first and second year non-language majors in a Japanese university setting. Timed Conversation is designed to help students to communicate in native-like and incrementally longer sustained dialogues in the target language. In the activity, the students interact with many partners and practice conversations while practicing various language expressions. In every lesson over the course of a semester they speak in conversations about a number of topics for a set limit of time. The goal is to be able to speak more fluently …

Traditional Vs. Non-Traditional Blocks Of Time In Relationship To Teaching And Learning: An Independent Professional Project, Susan W. Chilson

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Project reflects a discussion about the use of traditional and non-traditional blocks in their relationship with teaching and learning. It reflects the ways in which teaching and learning might lead to a better outcome if the non-traditional blocks were implemented. It addresses the issues of learning styles and the perceptions that revolve around them.

An overview of visits to several schools across the country is included to offer insight into what the various movements in teaching and learning are in different schools. There are as many similarities throughout the schools in the country as there are differences. …

Teaching Teachers: Starting, Sharing, Shaping, Synthesizing, Emilie Anne Krustapentus

MA TESOL Collection

This materials development project in teacher training is the documentation of my work with a group of Thai teachers in 1986 at the Phanat Nikhom Processing Center in Phanat Nikhom, Chonburi, Thailand, a camp for IndoChinese refugees. As a teacher trainer-supervisor I structured a twenty week system of training teachers to become more proficient in their teaching skills through a process-based approach of awareness and analysis of one's personality and character strengths. While focusing on their characteristics, the teachers went through a four part program of training, Each part concentrated on teacher development through awareness of skill areas, experimentation and …

Second Language Acquisition In The Field: A Personal Experience, Mary Chase Dindorf

MA TESOL Collection

This report is an examination of the results of my own beginning second language acquisition in the field. For one year I observed myself in the process of acquiring Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia in the respective countries. I was able to document my experiences in a language acquisition diary. It is the data from which this report was written.

I found that my second language acquisition in the field is a complex process determined by need as well as preferred personal strategies, and limited by a saturation monitor.

The success of this acquisition depends primarily upon my needs as …

An Eclectic Approach To Teaching A French Intermediate Class, Sylvia Marie Gaudet

MA TESOL Collection

This Independent Professional Project is a curriculum designed for a French Intermediate class taught to adults at the School for International Training. This curriculum contains an introduction which includes: a description of students and their needs, a discussion of the purpose of the curriculum, an overview of the content and sequence of the lessons, a description of teaching and learning activities, the rationale for this Independent Professional Project, an explanation of validity of the lessons and of the development of the curriculum after the field test, as well as suggestions on how this curriculum can be utilized. The fifteen lessons …

An Introduction To Reading Comprehension Through Exercise For Intermediate English As A Second Language And English For Foreign Language Students, Natalie Barbera

MA TESOL Collection

For English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) students, understanding what is read is a complex and often difficult task. This project presents a teacher's guide to exercises for intermediate young adult second language learners to acquire skills helpful in reading comprehension. After an overview of the philosophical and theoretical principles underlying the material, exercises are presented in four sections. Most of the texts for the exercises have been selected from periodicals, since they are a good source for reading material on themes which could be of interest to students.

Exercises in Part I concentrate on how …

Teaching/Training Social Language In Galang Refugee Camp: A Learning Process, Jon Phillips

MA TESOL Collection

From 1984 through 1986, I worked as an ESL Supervisor in the Intensive English as a Second Language component at Galang Refugee Processing Center in Indonesia. My job was to train locally hired teachers, and to provide them direction and support through classroom observation and individual teacher evaluation. In 1985, I and the other ESL supervisors perceived a great concern among refugees about their ability to interact with Americans in the United States. To meet that need, we wrote the Social Language unit, which was added to the ESL curriculum. The following paper will describe the rationale for writing such …

Developing Awareness Of Feedback In Teachers And Students (A Survey Of Feedback In Education And Three Teacher-Training Workshops), Paola Tomai

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a study of feedback and three teacher-training workshops on how to obtain student feedback. It is designed to assist teacher trainers in raising awareness of feedback in trainees.

Chapter I explores the concept of feedback and its development, and its meaning in education. The focus is on student feedback as the message students give about their learning. Chapter II analyzes ongoing and structured feedback as the main features of student feedback. The importance of feed­ back in raising students' awareness of their learning process is also stressed. Further, the characteristics a teacher needs in order to work …

A Teacher Training Program Focusing On Communicative Methodology For Brazilian Teachers Of English As A Foreign Language, Alberto De Paula Santos

MA TESOL Collection

This project is the result of efforts to set up a teacher­ training program for the Centro Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos de Curitiba in Brazil. It is especially designed for teachers who have been using teacher-centered classroom techniques and the traditionally structured approaches to teaching, and who are willing to change to a student-centered communicative approach to teaching English.

In chapter one, I give a general overview of the program Iset up and a short description of the Centro. I also state the reasons why I decided to set up this teacher-training program for the Centro.

In chapter two, I describe …

Recipes For Teaching English As A Second Language, Lynn Mcmichael

MA TESOL Collection

An experienced based approach for teaching ESL to children. It will include cooking experiences and practical exercises for building, speaking, listening, and writing skills.

Becoming Professional, Shawn Elyn Gutshall

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is about the issues which I felt were crippling me professionally and the means by which I was able to overcome them. My second internship, done in August directly after completing the MAT Program in June, is the central focus. The entire discussion covers a time period of five months and is divided into three sections: pre-internship preparation, the internship experience, and a post-internship teaching position. Section I discusses the work I did prior to the internship which helped me establish specific objectives and guidelines to follow for obtaining my goal. Section II talks about the specific aspects …

Conducting Workshops That Assist Content Area Teachers With Esl Students: Two Models, Janet Sue Gerba

MA TESOL Collection

This project describes the preparation of a workshop given for content area and regular classroom teachers In Nutley, New Jersey, who had ESL students. The purpose of the workshop was to improve the teachers' ability to work effectively with these students. The preparation included selecting the topics to be covered, conducting the research and organizing the structure and details of the workshop. An outline of that workshop and suggestions for giving one like It are presented.

The project further describes the preparation of a TESOL demonstration given for ESL teachers and administrators In which they were shown how to give …

Beginning An Esl Program: Underlying Issues And Site-Specific Recommendations, Jonathan D. Reasoner

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the issues involved in starting up an English as Second Language program. The range of issues discussed is limited to three major areas: assessment of language needs in a community; curriculum considerations for the target student group; and teacher training. There are two separate parts within the paper: Part I, a consideration of underlying issues involved in beginning an ESL program in general; and Part II, potential plans for program start-up at an actual site--the First Baptist Church of Flushing, New York.

Planning for a new program at the specific site serves to focus the general discussion …

Learning Patterns: Inborn Or Acquired Stubbborness? Or To Hell And Back, June Levinsohn

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the origins of and effects on my teaching of several personal and professional conflicts with the teacher-training process, and with subsequent classroom teaching. I describe their development in relation to my previous education, work experience, and mental "habits," and compare my prior medical training with that of a language teacher. Particular attention is paid to how the different epistemologies have affected my outlook as a teacher.

I use a recent teaching experience with Cambodian refugees in North Carolina to illustrate these conflicts--e.g., the problems that developed by attempting to create an ESL syllabus in the same spiral …

Teaching Esl In An American Public School: A Case Study, Kimberley A. Keller

MA TESOL Collection

This case study examines in detail an experience I had teaching English as a Second Language ESLl in a United States public school for three months. It discusses what happened, what I learned from the experience and why I think it is important, personally and professionally in the field of teaching ESL in U.S public schools. The case study is divided into four areas: Community and School Context, Profile of the Learners, Profile of the Teacher and Summary and Conclusion. A list of related readings and references is also included as well as some organizations associated with ESL and bilingual …

Developing Awareness Of Individuals In A Group Learning Context: A Self-Lesson Plan, Leslie Maria Turpin

MA TESOL Collection

This paper addresses the question of how teachers teach themselves to be better teachers. Central to the paper are my assumptions that long­ range learning is self-directed and that the development of self-awareness is essential to growth in both learning and teaching. The paper is a case study tracing my own learning of one of my teaching objectives and is divided into three interrelated sections. The first section is a description of a model for teacher self-teaching: "the self-lesson plan." The model is a structure that teachers can use to guide themselves in the study of their own teaching objectives. …

The Realities Of Being A Part-Time Esl Teacher, Rebecca Jean Banken

MA TESOL Collection

In an attempt to describe the position of a part-time ESL teacher in a secondary school, this paper explores what is involved. The components of teaching as well as the components of learning are discussed. The paper also addresses issues faced by part-time ESL teachers and administrators and presents suggestions on how to cope with these issues.

Developing A Personal Approach To Language Instruction, Ruth Epstein

MA TESOL Collection

This project explores a personal approach to language instruction through the development of an experiential training module for teachers. The project is designed to assist teaching professionals in constructing a framework and defining a starting point for their continued professional growth and depth.

The project is divided into three parts. Part One is the written background to the project. Part Two is a videotape with three language classes and a round-table discussion. The teachers, Claire Stanley, Bonnie Mennell and Jack Millett, are faculty of the Master of Arts in Teaching program at the School for International Training. The classes are …

The Evolution Of A Humanistic Teacher, May M. Coryell

MA TESOL Collection

This paper traces my growth in becoming a humanistic teacher. It is essentially an introspective study high­ lighting the teaching and learning experiences I have had over the last few years and how those experiences have affected my current teaching.

This paper is divided into six chapters: an Introduction, My Teaching History, The Evolution Intensifies, My Teaching Intensifies, a Conclusion, and lastly, an Addendum.

Naming The World: Writing, Reading, And Culture In A Refugee Esl Class, Nancy Ann Reuschel

MA TESOL Collection

Techniques for teaching reading and writing to ESL learners "include ones derived from both L1 literacy methods and L2 oral methods. In both categories, some methods, and consequently some techniques, utilize cultural materials from outside the classroom and the learners' culture. Others use materials with no overt cultural content. Still other methods use learner-created materials. These differing methods are explored for their potential in teaching both literacy and culture. The culture- and literacy- learning experience of one Asian-refugee ESL class: multi-level, multi-age, multi-ethnic, and rural, is described. Learners wrote their own reading materials; largely based on pictures from Asian and …

A Demonstration Unit For A Proposed Intermediate Reading Skills Workbook For Esl Students Preparing For Careers In The Health Care Professions, Price Daniel Norman

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a materials development project that consists of three parts. First, there is a rationale that examines the reading habits of inter­mediate ESL students and then proposes a pedagogical framework and materials format which will guide the students to become more efficient and independent readers. Part II is a demonstration unit for a pro­posed English for Special Purposes Workbook for ESL students of intermediate ability who are preparing for careers in the health sciences, Based on the pedagogical framework and format proposed in Part I, the lessons of the demonstration unit typically provide short authentic reading passages of …

Halloween Spooks In The Esl Classroom: Holidays As A Means Of Introducing Culture, Sonya Fletcher Kennedy

MA TESOL Collection

In this project I would like to suggest to the ESL tea­cher some ways of introducing culture into the classroom by discussing holidays. Each holiday is presented with a text followed by a variety of activities designed for students, in or out of the U.S., with a minimum of one hundred and twenty hours of English instruction. Although I have written this project with adult classes in mind, most of the activities can be adapted for children. Judging from my own experience, the size of the class can be anywhere from seven to twenty-two students.

I will cover Halloween, Thanksgiving, …

Creating And Producing A Major Stage Production, Kristine Gjemre

MA TESOL Collection

This paper shows how to prepare for, create, and produce a major production. An ESOL teacher will be able to use this paper as a blueprint to put on a major dramatic production with an advanced English class.

Practice and enhancement of language skills are stressed, along with social and cultural awareness skills. The third part of the paper contains exercises, games, and techniques not only to promote the use of creative drama-· tics in the classroom, but also to suggest exercises which will prove as excellent preparations toward producing and creating a major stage production.

The Martinique Workshops: In-Service Teacher Training, James Fenelon

MA TESOL Collection

This project has a threefold emphasis:

1) to elaborate on the ESL teacher-training workshops conducted in

Martinique over a three-month period;

2) to present some effective training techniques and suggestions,

and act as a model for educators, planners and trainers; and

3) to consider educational, pedagogical and teacher-training issues which can influence society and consciousness.

The Martinique Workshops revolved around the introduction of three core approaches or methodologies (Silent Way, Counseling-Learning/ Community Language Learning, and Suggestopedia) in an experiential learning environment with a primary focus on communicative competence strategies in the ESL classroom. These took the form of in-service teacher …

From Haiti To The Esl Class: Working With Adult Haitian Esl Learners In The Us, Dona A. Vassall-Paquiot

MA TESOL Collection

This project provides the person unfamiliar with Haiti and its inhabitants with some background information on the country - politically, economically, socially. It also gives a perspective on why Haitians leave Haiti to come to the US, and the stages they must go through in order to do so. Teachers are given some insight into what to expect from their students in an ESL class, given their background and experiences. Finally, factual information is provided on Haiti - i.e. holidays, major cities, etc. - for the interest of the reader. It also serves to help the teacher make the ESL …

Using Student Generated Material In A Student Centered Classroom, Katherine Rawson

MA TESOL Collection

This paper deals with a description and analysis of activities I developed for producing and using student generated material in a student centered classroom. The activities were developed during two months of student teaching in Mexico. The paper begins with a discussion of student centered learning, the role of the teacher and the role of the student in a student centered class, and how student generated material fits into this. The following section is divided according to each of .three· classes I taught in Mexico, and these include both children and adult classes, at beginning and intermediate levels. This section …