In this final blog, I have commented on the diversity of an EAL instructor’s role and responsibilities, re-visited my professional growth plan (from the second ESL-TCP course) and listed things that I found valuable to learn during the ESL-TCP program.
The Role of an EAL Teacher
EAL teachers have many roles and responsibilities to carry out as part of their job. These may include planning curriculum and lessons, assessing needs and skills, monitoring and evaluating progress, encouraging risk-taking, motivating students to work actively, providing feedback and positive reinforcement, teaching multi-level students, guiding decision-making, correcting errors, organizing for instruction, facilitating project and group work, referring students for other services, reducing learning barriers, leading by example (role model), and learning new skills for teaching and communicating effectively. Having worked as an educator for many years, most tasks on this extensive and diverse list were familiar. There were, however, a few unexpected, but welcome responsibilities for EAL instructors. I like the importance placed on using a needs assessment and the flexibility the instructor has when planning a curriculum. I think being able to develop, administer, and use the results from a needs assessment to plan a course and lessons for a specific group of students is a powerful way to meet all students’ needs and keep them motivated.
Professional Growth Plan
The four skill areas that I identified to develop earlier in ESL-TCP program were: 1) Planning learning activities for multi-leveled students when some students are literate in the L1 and other students are learning numeracy and literacy as well as English; 2) Using the CLB documents to plan course and lesson objectives and assess the students’ progress; 3) Locating teaching materials, particularly interesting reading materials at various reading levels; and 4) Becoming more familiar with electronic portfolios e.g. e-pearl. These are still areas that I would like to develop; however, I will expand two of the above skill development areas.
I will add to #2 so it reads, “Using the CLB documents and other resources to plan course and lesson objectives and assess students’ progress.” The second change is in number four. Electronic portfolios will be replaced with technology since there are other technological devices such as iPads, iPhones and Smartboards in addition to electronic portfolios that I would like to learn more about and use in EAL classes.
Most Valuable Things Learned During the ESL-TCP Program
1) The various EAL resources available for instructors: The Canadian Language Benchmarks, Companion Tables, and ESL Literacy Learners documents, on-line sites, and print resources (textbooks, dictionaries, etc.), and how to use them for course and lesson planning.
2) The importance of a needs assessment, how to design and administer one and use the results to plan appropriately-leveled and relevant learning activities for a specific group of students.
3) How to integrate the language competence areas (discourse, grammar, functional, socio-cultural & strategic) in communicative language learning activities.
4) How to plan communicative lessons that develop fluency and accuracy and use realia, visuals, and technology.
5) How to plan a ten week course outline and a three-day project.
