The School for International Training's TESOL Certificate is a 130 hour course which provides participants with professional knowledge and skills in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) as well as tools for their own reflection and growth as teachers. It is designed to be offered intensively in four weeks or extensively over a longer period.

The course provides practical training through teaching demonstrations, lesson planning and analysis, and practice teaching and feedback. Participants develop skills in teaching, speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar and culture. The course begins with a brief look at second language acquisition through the experience of being a learner. Participants then examine specific teaching areas each day, which they apply in their daily practice teaching of adult ESOL learners. Participants gain skills in analysis through examining their lessons with SIT teacher trainers.

The innovative course curriculum was designed by SIT faculty, based on humanistic, experiential, and progressive teaching.

The SIT TESOL Certificate focuses on three main areas:

Learning

Participants engage in a language-learning experience in order to explore the relationship between language learning, teaching, and aspects of second language acquisition from the point of view of the learner. This experience provides the foundation for the examination of teaching practices.  

Teaching

Participants examine the theory and practice of planning, teaching, grammar, culture, and assessing lessons in the four skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) through experiential activities, teaching demonstrations, discussions, lesson planning, materials development, and readings.  

Classroom practices

Participants put their new knowledge and skills into practice through daily teaching sessions. Trainers observe and facilitate feedback sessions after these lessons. Participants learn to reflect on and assess their own teaching as well as to examine the teaching of their peers.

The SIT TESOL Certificate is recognized worldwide. Graduates find challenging teaching positions in the U.S. and abroad, or return to their current jobs with new skills and greater knowledge, awareness, and satisfaction. To facilitate networking, SIT maintains a listserv that connects graduates of all SIT courses.

The course is currently being offered at locations worldwide through SIT partnerships with host sites.

Back to top

SIT Home | About Us | Site Map | Directory | Alumni

Kipling Road, P.O. Box 676, Brattleboro, Vermont USA 05302-0676
Phone: (802) 258-3310  Fax: 802-258-3316    Email: tesolcert@sit.edu

Copyright © 2004 World Learning

http://www.sit.edu/tesolcert/index.html

Last modified: 05-Nov-2004