Training and Practice: Evolving as Effective ESL Teachers

Despite the economic turndown, there is still a strong demand for ESOL educators in many school districts. Newly certified teachers hoping to put their knowledge into practice need to identify the job openings that best suit their aims, and then to complete the inevitable form filling in a satisfactory and convincing manner and finally, a newbie teacher should be prepared to demonstrate to employers why he or she is the best candidate for the position on offer. In this issue’s lead article “Job Interviews for ESOL Educators: What You Need to Know,” Chang Pu and Mary Clement offer invaluable advice to tyro teachers trying to climb on to the career ladder.
Listening to anecdotal evidence made J.J. Wilson increasingly aware that learning vocabulary was a more complex process than he had first imagined when he began trying discover what makes a word both teachable and learnable. In “Word Walls and Temples: Strategies for Teaching and Learning Vocabulary,” J.J. examines three stages connected with teaching and learning vocabulary: the presentation of words, the ways of recording them, and the ways of reviewing them. He concludes that there is no “magic solution” to vocabulary acquisition and that it is the teacher’s role to identify and facilitate the method of learning that is most compatible with the character of the individual student. An unusual question from a student about Jay Leno’s televised sniping at Wal-Mart got Kristan Taylor thinking about the role of the English teacher as activist. In her article, “Capitalizing on Controversy: Consumer Affairs for ESL Students,” Kristan explains how teachers can play a part in discussing ethical issues such as consumer awareness which international students are bound to confront during their period of study in the United States.
Jeffrey Kealing has been working with young Indonesian EFL instructors at the University of Indonesia and in “Two-Way Training: Methods to Motivate Tomorrow’s Teachers,” he presents the findings from his comprehensive assessment of a one-year EFL teacher-training project which strongly suggested that participants preferred training methods that were interactive and experiential. Jeffrey’s study will provide support for all those instructors who are working to train a new generation in Western-derived, communicative English language teaching practices.
Have you ever wondered what type of teacher you really are? Good? Bad? Don’t care?! In “Teacher Types: Which One Fits You?” Vicky Loras attempts to categorize ESL teachers into some broad groupings and she peppers her survey with a little humor and a grain or two of truth.
There’s something about the joy of teaching a new language to their students which inspires many ESL teachers to put their thoughts into verse. Some poems are humorous while others deal with deeper emotions but few display a more potent linguistic imagery than the two examples (“Writing in a Second Language” and “Vocabulary”) contributed by Lucia Cherciu, an accomplished poet in her own right. We hope that readers will enjoy reading them – let us know what you think!

Ben Ward
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