Teaching TESOL
Written by Asia Howe
Not many courses at the University of Hawaii at Hilo transform individuals from students to teachers in a single semester. The thirteen learners in Professor Conley-Ramsay’s English as a Second Language Teaching Practicum class knew about the change they would undergo ten minutes into their three hour and forty-five minute session. Dressed in slippers, shorts, t-shirts, and tank tops, they digested their new knowledge. By the next Monday night meeting, their second, they will be clad in professional attire and will be student teachers.
ESL Teaching Practicum or ENG 422 is the capstone class for the TESOL or Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Certificate Program. The eighteen credit program offered via the English and Linguistics Departments lasts three semesters and can be earned alongside any major or other certificate. Out of all the TESOL courses required for certification, ENG 422 is the most impressive because it gives students the opportunity to get their feet wet in teaching while experiencing the theories and practices they have learned from other TESOL classes. The practicum also provides roughly forty ESL learners with the guidance they and their families need to thrive within a primarily English speaking society.
Professor Conley-Ramsay commented on the learning ENG 422 student teachers face, saying, “As much as I can tell the students stuff, it’s their showing of it [what is taught] and their experiencing of it that is really going to teach them what they need to do and how they need to do it.” She sees the distinction the practicum renders between learning through books and lectures and learning by doing as an advantage for the divide “gives students a reality cheek.” She continued, “If a student gets hired and is teaching a class, they are going to model it however they want, but they will know from experience the kinds of things they are going to need to do. Can [they] wing it? Sometimes. But sometimes they are going to fall flat on their face. That’s OK, they just need to learn how to pick up [a failure] and keep going.”
Remi Nakaza McKay, former ENG 422 student. Photo courtesy of Remi Nakaza McKay.
Remi Nakaza McKay, a graduate who took ENG 422 in Spring 2014, knows the eye-opening effect of the course. “Being in ENG 484 [a prerequisite class for ENG 422] planning lesson plans,” she said, “for a ‘hypothetical’ class is good practice, but actually teaching ‘real’ students is definitely a different experience.” Such a variation in what she was used to later enabled her to successfully convince a group of uncertain Japanese exchange students to finish an Intensive English Program (IEP) at Hawaii Community College (HCC) and then transfer to UHH as international students.
A current ENG 422 student teacher, Olivia Throssell, talked about what she foresees the practicum helping her accomplish. “One of my dream jobs is to teach in the Peace Corps. I hope to use ESL and ASI (American Sign Language) to teach families with deaf children. By doing so, I am giving the deaf family member a way to communicate with their family and friends. I hope this class will prepare me to take on the challenges I will face when teaching in the ESL community.”
Olivia Throssell, current ENG 422 student teacher. Photo courtesy of Olivia Throssell
Although Russ Masuda, another current ENG 422 student teacher, recognizes the challenge which learning by doing presents, he remains hopeful for the semester ahead. “Hopefully the practice in creating lesson plans in ENG 484 and some of the teaching knowledge acquired in the prerequisite courses can serve as a useful background when teaching [in] ENG 422. Hopefully I plan to deepen the [ESL] students’ understanding of English.”
In her passion for the practicum palpable, Professor Conley-Ramsay smiled, “In order to just make communication clear for non-native speakers no matter where [they] are in the world, [the student teachers] will have the skill set and can use it.”
Students who would like more information on the TESOL program or ENG 422 course may contact Professor Conley-Ramsay via bela@hawaii.edu. For an overview of the program, students may visit the English Department’s TESOL webpage.
