In hopes of becoming an ESL/EFL teacher, I am pursuing a certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and I have taken a fair share of classes to prepare myself. I will be comparing two classes I took at UMass, Foundations for Teaching English Speakers (LLC 320) and Practice for Teaching English Speakers (LLC 321) to a class I took while I was abroad, Applied Linguistics: Foreign Language Teaching Methodology. Each of the classes are essentially the same; they are designed to prepare students for teaching English to speakers of other languages. However, the UMass classes are in the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures department, while the class I took abroad was a Linguistics class offered by their Spanish department. 

I took the two TESOL classes during my sophomore year at UMass and spent a lot of time learning about different language teaching methods and evaluating which elements of each method I would want to incorporate into my teaching. These classes were self-paced, with assignments that served as knowledge checks for the vast amount of information I was taking in. They also required practicum experience and guided me through designing my lesson plan so that I could put my knowledge into practice. For the practicum, I observed and assisted in leading small group discussions in an ESL course offered at UMass. I received helpful feedback on my practicum hours that I was able to reflect on each week and subsequently improve in later weeks.

The class I took in Spain during my junior spring was an advanced class that was taught in Spanish. This class consisted of lots of reading and research to be completed in a short amount of time and I was expected to have mastered the knowledge of each teaching method in a few short weeks. As a part of the class, I was required to teach in a local elementary school, though I received little guidance in preparing my lesson plans. Even though this class had a lot of overlapping content from my UMass classes, it was definitely still challenging. Because of this, I am grateful that I had taken the TESOL classes at UMass before taking the class in Spain. I don’t think I would’ve understood any of the complex content since it was so fast-paced and not taught in my native language.

By comparing these two classes, I realized that with a topic as vast as language teaching, I definitely needed time to break it down to put what I learned into practice. If I had only taken the class abroad and not the TESOL classes at UMass, I’m not sure if I would have wanted to pursue TESOL, because it would have been too fast-paced and challenging for me to appreciate the process. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn the content twice; once, in-depth in my native language, and a second time as a refresher in my second language. Thus, I believe that it can be useful to take similar courses in different disciplines to strengthen your knowledge on the subject.