Newsletter, Spring 2022

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Almuna Spotlight: Christina Cavella

Christina Cavella graduated from the MA TESOL program in 2004. Find out what she has done since completing the program.听

What led to your decision to pursue the MA TESOL Program?
After graduating from college, I knew I wanted to teach languages to adults, but I was vacillating between getting a Master's in Spanish or in TESOL. At the time, I worked at a non-profit adult education center in Pennsylvania that provided ESL classes to migrant farm workers. My students were so motivating because they worked labor-intensive jobs picking mushrooms all day and then came to class at night eager to learn English and integrate into the local community. I realized I needed formal training to be an effective teacher and that's what led me to the MA TESOL program. I picked 猫咪社区app University's program in particular because of its focus on practical teaching skills.

More about Christina

What was your time at AU like as a MA TESOL student? What鈥檚 your favorite memory?
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at AU. I really appreciated all of the hands-on, practical work we did in and out of class, like creating real lesson plans, tutoring real students and doing student teaching. I worked with an AU international student for a semester who was interested in reading and writing on unusual topics that led us to field trips like the Spy Museum. I tutored a NOVA student in pronunciation and was amazed as the skills I had learned in Teaching Pronunciation really worked right in front of my eyes.

I worked as a Graduate Assistant in the TESOL office and made some great friendships with the other assistants. I remember for one class one of the other Graduate Assistants and I decided to collect some real-life examples of how people responded to requests. Our experiment was to stand on campus with a cardboard box and ask people if they could help us carry it, and then record how they expressed either agreeing or declining. I remember going back to class and reporting our findings and the professor asked us what was in the box. We had put a bunch of books inside, so the box was really heavy. We all laughed when we realized we could have just used an empty box.
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What did you do as soon as you graduated from the AU TESOL program?
Immediately after graduation, I targeted the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in my job search and was lucky enough to be hired as a Research Assistant. That job was transformative for my career. I worked on a fantastic team of high achievers developing language tests. My boss at CAL became a true mentor for me, and she gave me many opportunities to learn and grow in my job, such as traveling to different states to do rater training or field tests and attending conferences like TESOL, ACTFL, and AAAL. That position gave me the experience and professional credentials to later start a career in the federal government. While I worked at CAL, I also taught evening ESL classes at Montgomery College in Rockville and Takoma Park. I had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of students, and I taught classes in speaking, listening, reading and writing. A few years after starting at CAL, I also came back to AU briefly as an Adjunct Professor and taught Language Assessment and English Language Teaching I.
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What advice would you give to current AU TESOL students and recent graduates?
I would encourage students and graduates to think broadly about where an MA in TESOL might take you. While I was originally planning to teach ESL long-term, I ended up starting as a teacher and then my career took unexpected turns along the way that all turned out to be wonderful experiences. I have worked in the non-profit sector, in higher education, and the federal government doing work that included teaching, test development, training teachers and language testers, and now supervision. I currently work at the State Department as the Director of the Division of Romance Languages at the Foreign Service Institute where we train U.S. diplomats in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian before they head to their overseas posts. I oversee a staff of 150+ teachers, supervisors, and administrators. When I graduated from AU, I never thought that the State Department would be a career option for me, but my MA in TESOL helped me get to the position I'm in today, and many of my coworkers are former ESL teachers with MAs in TESOL too. So you never know where life will take you.

See more TESOL alumni and students in our newsletters:

Student Spotlight: Lisa Dyson

Lisa Dyson is a current Graduate Certificate Student. Read more to find out about her teaching experience and her time in the AU TESOL program.

Please introduce yourself:
I鈥檓 Lisa Dyson. I grew up near Chicago, Illinois and went to college in Northfield, Minnesota. I moved to DC to get my master鈥檚 in Asian studies at Georgetown University.

When did you first become interested in TESOL?
I first became interested in TESOL as a way to spend time abroad. Right after I graduated college, I spent a year (2009-2010) teaching English at a high school in a small city in Shanxi province, China. The school has a historical connection to the college I went to and the two institutions had a sort of exchange program: an English teacher from the school would come to the college to be a language teaching assistant and recent graduates from the college would go to the high school to help teach English. I was an Asian Studies major in college, so I was excited to spend a year in China and practice my own Chinese, and I knew that I liked teaching and explaining things to people. I didn鈥檛 get any ELT preparation before heading out and was mostly left on my own to figure things out. Fortunately, I already knew some of the teachers at the school (they had been my language TAs!) and my job was to help students relax and put their English to use, which allowed for a lot of flexibility. Plus, the students were really great. I still miss them.

More about Lisa

In pursuit of teaching pronunciation well, I recently completed English Language Solutions' (ELS) Color Vowel Basics course and will begin its Level 1 Certification program this November. For more information on teaching pronunciation with the Color Vowel庐 approach go to听.

I also tutor online at the African Community Center of Virginia (ACC-VA), a branch office of the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC). (The ECDC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help refugees from all over the world resettle in the United States.) The ECDC ACC-VA offers the refugee community in the Washington DC area in-person and online classes as well as tutoring in the English language. The Center also offers many other programs that aid refugee resettlement (e.g., advocacy, employment, healthcare, legal aid mentoring).听

Did you have any teaching experience before you enrolled in AU's TESOL program?
Yes. In addition to the year I spent at the high school, I also spent a year (2018-2019) teaching at a university in another small city in Shanxi. There were a number of years and a master鈥檚 degree between those two stints, but I was happy to return to Shanxi.听

Meanwhile, starting in 2016 and continuing with a couple breaks until 2023, I volunteered with the YWCA in DC to teach adults who are working on their GEDs (a test equivalent to a high school diploma). Mostly writing and reading comprehension, some math, and one social studies class that got cut short in March 2020.

In your opinion, what are some qualities that make a good teacher?
Patience is essential. Students need time to work out answers to questions and what they want to say. And if they can鈥檛 figure things out on the first go round, the teacher needs to be willing to rephrase things, break a bigger question down into smaller parts that students can answer, and then help them put the pieces back together again.听

I think flexibility is key too. Different students need different approaches, things aren鈥檛 always going to go according to plan, and teachers need to be able to adapt when they realize they just don鈥檛 know something.

One thing I think I need to work on is the balance between empathy and encouraging students to make progress towards their goals. One way or another (although especially for adult students), life is complicated, and things get in the way of learning. I think a good teacher needs to be able to recognize that and accommodate students鈥� needs, while also helping students with the means and motivation to keep making progress and become ever more autonomous. Finally, solid subject matter knowledge is a big plus.

Are you currently teaching English? If yes, where and what is your learner population?
Yes. I鈥檓 currently co-teaching an introductory literacy class for ACC-DC. The students are adults whose L1 is Dari and are beginning English language learners.

In your opinion, what makes a successful language learner and teacher?
Truthfully? I鈥檓 not sure what makes a successful language learner. I think different personalities and aptitudes need different approaches. I鈥檝e had a classmate who made a lot of progress in Chinese while we were in China by being very gregarious and going out to sing karaoke with new friends. But that just wouldn鈥檛 work for me: everything would be too loud and I鈥檇 be miserable. I think the most engaging language learning experience I鈥檝e ever had was when I got some Qinghua University PhD students to explain their research to me.听

I guess then what makes a successful language teacher is the ability to use a variety of approaches and make sure that all their students get some that really connect with them. Also, a successful teacher will help students gain skills to find more avenues of language learning that work for them.听

The only thing that I think is needed for all successful learners is a certain amount of patience and perseverance. Even with really good teaching, language acquisition doesn鈥檛 happen overnight.

What do you plan to do after you complete the TESOL program?
I鈥檓 not entirely sure. I鈥檝e really loved living abroad in the past, and I would enjoy doing it again. However, I鈥檓 in the midst of teaching a literacy class here, and I keep thinking of ways I鈥檇 like to be able to do it better. I鈥檓 not ready to stop teaching in the U.S. either.

Recent Grads

Nan Qiu, MA TESOL 2024

After graduation, I immediately started working in English language teaching. I returned to China and became a TOEFL Writing instructor. As a new instructor, I spent an entire summer vacation adapting to the new educational environment, learning new teaching methods, and refining my lesson plans. After the summer break, I felt I had made significant progress; I even learned many different teaching techniques through discussions and collaborations with other experienced instructors. I鈥檓 pleased that I can apply the knowledge I gained in my TESOL courses to my actual teaching practice, which has helped me tailor my lessons to meet the specific needs of my students. In addition, I diligently prepared for the TOEFL during this time, which continuously exposed me to the opportunity to improve my language proficiency.

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Amina Rahman, MA TESOL 2024

I volunteer to teach at the (WEC). The WEC provides the adult immigrant community in the Washington DC area with English language and workforce development programs. I am now co-teaching an introductory class with a focus on pronunciation that is based on the Color Vowel庐 approach (CV庐). Another part of my WEC teaching commitment is to offer a virtual workshop(s) to WEC teachers who are interested in learning how to teach pronunciation. This initiative is based on the materials I created for my independent study.听