Practicum, Methods/Materials, and Culture in ESOL Education

Designed to integrate and apply previous course work in ESOL certification. Students document their work in the school, including planning, teaching, and consultation and aiding with transition issues. Students assume the full range of teaching responsibilities while supervised in the field. Seminars meet weekly throughout the semester. Students document a minimum of 300 practicum hours. This course also focuses on communicative interactions between and within different culture groups. We will explore issues related both to effective cross-cultural communication and to miscommunication. An examination of how one’s own cultural values and norms affect and guide intercultural interactions will guide class discussions and projects. Concepts such as power distance, hierarchy, uncertainty avoidance, non-verbal communication, and other intercultural communicative features will be explored, and ethnocentrism, stereotyping, and other value-based judgments will be addressed. (Prerequisites: acceptance in the ESOL Conversion Program, completion of the previous ESOL coursework and department chair approval. Candidates should hold a teaching certification.)