Interest Meeting on Teaching English to Foreign Students

SALISBURY, MD---How would you like to be trained to teach English as a foreign language in countries around the world? How would you like to learn this skill in an exotic, real-world setting? Salisbury University can help make this happen during a special course proposed for 2004.

Professor Sue Mackarness, a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) training specialist with over 15 years experience will teach this intensive course in Cuenca, Ecuador, with SU’s Study Abroad Program. An interest and information meeting is Tuesday, March 11, at 3:30 p.m. in Caruthers Hall Room 109.

The TEFL course is intensive and consists of 105 hours. The class involves two sessions of 1.5 hours of methodology and teaching techniques each day and two hours of teaching practice with students of English in Ceunca. Approximately 2.5 hours a day are spent outside the classroom preparing lessons. All teaching sessions are observed by peers and instructors followed by oral and written feedback by the trainer.

“The TEFL certificate earned at the end of the program is the certificate required by institutions around the world that teach English to their own populations,” said Dr. Gerald St. Martin, Department of Modern Languages faculty member. It will not replace formal ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) training to teach in most U.S. public schools but it is one of the keys to being able to travel the world and teach English in countries where English is not the native language.

Pending departmental and curriculum approval, it is anticipated the course will award three undergraduate credits. Mackarness, who most recently was invited to work in Korea, will attend the interest meeting to give more details and answer questions.

For more information, call Dr. St. Martin at 410-543-6254 or call 410-543-6030.