The esl teaching internship program - an analysis

Undertaking ESL teaching internship program at two different locations for Comal Independent School District had been an immensely enriching experience as it helped to gain practical experience by facilitating a smooth transition from the academic to the professional world. The first location chosen was at New Braunfels and the second at Seguin. In the New Braunfels location I worked with binger level adult ESL students with focus on the four literacy skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) where as in Seguin I worked with higher intermediate students. In Seguin also the teaching focus was on the four literacy skills (reading writing listening and speaking) and citizenship ESL classes. I had worked as a teaching intern for four hours per week at both the locations constituting a total of eight hours a week.

Summary of Activities

The initial activities included discussing internship requirements, site, and possible schedule with Dr. Larrotta and meeting Mr. Jonathan C. Flores, Coordinator of Academic Support of Seguin to discuss internship schedules. On January 16th, meeting with Jennifer Hernandez New Braunfels was carried out to observe ESL class room and discuss the environmental issues. Following this a discussion with Marcia Clark and Ms. Jennifer Hernandez was scheduled to complete a fingerprinting session and to discuss the work responsibilities and tasks at New Braunfels. Similarly another meeting was undertaken with Ms. Marie Paiz of Seguin and Dr. Reardon of San Marcos to observe ESL classroom and discuss the work responsibilities and tasks.

On January 27th ESL Grammar Class at New Braunfels was started with teaching of regular and irregular verbs and present and past verbs. ESL writing classes, ESL reading comprehension classes and ESL citizenship classes and reading classes on the telephone book, money and reading game were carried out. Various activities like reading out stories, newspaper discussions and letter writing practice sessions, discussion on day-to –day activities, common contexts of communication like telephone conversations and business communication were undertaken to develop the reading, writing and comprehending skills of the students.

ESL Oral Conversation Classes helped the students to improve their conversation skills. For this students were asked to speak on an adventure holiday, movie they watched, story they read and also to have conversation on the context of business and personal appointment with other members of the class. ESL reading and comprehension classes to enrich their knowledge on how to converse in different situation and comprehend the various topics on newspaper, simple books or movies were carried out. This helped the students to gain good vocabulary. ESL citizenship classes were aimed to understand the Government and the rights and responsibilities of American citizens. Grammar classes enabled the students to learn the context and use of noun, pronoun, verbs, and adjectives and on constructing Yes/No and “ Wh” questions. Literacy test was also undertaken to test the progress of the students. Monthly meeting with ESL staff and instructor was also carried out to discuss the work responsibilities and tasks.

Analysis of Program

On analyzing how the learning of the Adult Education ESL Concentration program facilitated the successful completion of the ESL teaching internship, it can be noted that the program was immensely helpful by forming an academic base illustrating a structural and guided method to teach ESL learners. The program also provided an understanding on the requirements of the ESL learners and helped to schedule classes and activities to accomplish those requirements. The program helped in successfully undertaking a smooth transition from the academic training period to the teaching profession facilitated by the internship.

Suggestions for improvement

Suggestion for improvement in the program is to include a pre-service orientation where there is opportunity to meant the ESL learners and the teaching environment in the initial stages of the program itself. This will help to undertake the internship program with a greater flexibility and efficiency.