About
This program is primarily designed to prepare secondary and post-secondary teachers in a variety of settings and can also serve as preparation for doctoral studies. Core courses can be applied toward the state endorsement in ESL.
TESL graduate career opportunities include:
- Teaching ESL in the United States and abroad
- K-12 opportunities in multi-lingual schools
- Community college and university professorships
Individuals with the TESL certificate are highly marketable in the ESL field around the world in countries such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, Poland, France, and many others.
All students must demonstrate reading competence in a foreign language appropriate to their program of study at a level equivalent to completion of one year of college foreign language. Competence may be demonstrated through coursework, a standardized test or a written test arranged with the Modern Languages Department. Students may also satisfy the foreign language requirement by successfully completing ENGL 530, Old English, with a grade of 3.0 or better
We encourage you to complete a supervised practicum in teaching English as a second language. This includes:
- Observing a master teacher;
- Preparing, teaching and assessing materials; and
- Doing systematic self-observation and evaluation (normally videotaping).
The practicum would normally include the journaling of classroom practices, procedures and interactions.