Currently I am an Undergraduate teaching assistant at the English Language Institute (ELI) on campus where I teach three classes with only about three students in each class. The goal of my class is to get the students speaking. Generally, they tell me what they want to learn and I create a lesson that involves a lot of speaking based on the topics they give me. I also observed a reading and writing class over the summer at the ELI. Other than that, I do not have very much teaching experience.
I would have to say that my dream job would be teaching ESL to high school students in a small urban setting (preferably someone warm, like California). I have considered going abroad, but I think that there are plenty of students here in the U.S. who need certified teachers like me to teach them what they need to know. In addition, I would not have to leave my family and friends. I am not, however, set on teaching in a small urban setting. I think that this would be my ideal place to get a job, but having never taught in a rural or urban setting I cannot say for sure.
I think knowing about TESOL is important because knowing another language and another place can be extremely beneficial for not only the individual, but the entire community! The last thing that I would want is for someone from another country with great potential to come here and flounder simply because they did not know the language. ELL’s are getting thrown into these classrooms with native speakers and are at a huge disadvantage. Someone needs to understand TESOL so that America can learn from other cultures instead of dismiss them as just someone who does not know the language.
I hope that when I leave this course I will have a clear understanding of where to begin when teaching ESL. Currently, I have no idea where to start teaching students with a very low proficiency. Should I start with grammar? Reading and writing? Speaking? I hope to know what order has proven the most effective in the classroom. I also hope to learn about how to grade ELLs. In my past experiences, I would get a piece of writing with tons and tons of mistakes and I have never known how much I should correct. I think once I learn these things I will be able to be a much more effective teacher than I am right now.
