During the first two weeks of October ’12 I co-taught two courses for students enrolled in a BA TESOL program at Thongsook College in Bangkok, Thailand.

My co-teacher was Dr. Hemanta Dahal, President of NELTA (Nepal English Language Teaching Association).

Together we taught two separate (butconnected) week-long 45 hr. courses: Intro to Linguistics! &Teaching Grammar

My main areas of focus during the first week were lexis, morphology, and pragmatics. I also emphasized ways in which developments in linguistics led to the field of SLA and, in turn, affected and in large part determined the various ways in which English has been taught to speakers of other languages and what we can learn from historical trends in TESOL.

I taught the basics of IPA to develop the teacher-learners phonological awarenessand support pronunciation instruction as a more integral part of ESOL instruction.

I tried to make my part of the two classes as interactive,dynamic, student-centered and focused on specific objectives deemed key for our particular group teacher-learners.

During the second week’s class I focused on the integration of grammar into the communicative curriculum, grammar awareness for teachers, error correction basics, and the “unpacking” of grammar structures for lesson planning. Whenever possible, I attempted to describe academic concepts in ‘plain English’ and emphasize practical classroom applications the teacher-learners could use ‘on the job’.

Our class schedule was 9 to 6 Monday-Friday. We gave students reading tasks, presentations, final exam, and a basic field research project.

Particularly during the first few days of jet-lag this schedule seemed grueling. The program also suffered from a lack of basic organization!

Nevertheless, the group (teacher-learners and instructors) bonded, falling into a productive rhythm as we worked closely together during the two intensive weeks. My co-teacher will teach a third class (SLA) alone, followed by a Thai class.

During the first week there were 15 attendees and the second week 18. They were all currently employed as ESOL instructors in Thailand. They were American, British, Belgian, New Zealander, German, and Australian, Canadian, and South African.

From my PPT for class #1:“What is Language?”

A snapshot of our whiteboard (an overturned table actually - we weren’t as well-resourced as we could’ve been!) during an afternoon session:

Is Krashen’s approach complete?

How can/do you make input more comprehensible in your classrooms?

How can/do you notice and assess the ‘affective filter(s)’ of your students?

How can/do you lower their affective filter(s)?

DISCUSS IN GROUPS

Dr. Hemanta’s lectures were grounded in a solid academic background of linguistics and SLA. His portion of both classes assured that our teacher-learners came away with a very thorough sense of the academic side of things.

He also brought the invaluable perspective of a NNEST to the table and made the issue of ‘Englishes’

On my final day we were treated to a banquet lunch and ceremony where I was presented with a Thongsook College-emblazoned pottery piece.

This experience was a humbling challenge, an adventure, and a unique learning experience for me and it was only made possible by the support and kindness of my BU professors Dr. Marnie Reed and Dr. Steven Molinksy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to take part in this.

Additionally, insights into the workings and functions of professional organizations in ELT helped round out our classes.