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Seek faculty advising: Faculty involved in, or with interests in, TESOL or areas related to TESOL such as language study, linguistics, and composition/rhetoric are your best resource for TESOL program preparation and advising.
Consider completing language, rhetoric, and writing undergraduate courses within the English undergraduate major, such as ENGL 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 381,471, 472, 473, 478, 479, and 481.
Consider completing a Linguistics
major or minor
, including course work in sociolinguistics,
syntax, phonology, language development, phonetics, morphology, etc.
Take additional foreign language courses beyond the minimum first-year requirement for your BA degree.
Get some experience in teaching, tutoring, or working with speakers
of other languages. There are many volunteer opportunities in the
Seattle-area that will provide these kinds of experiences. There are also
a number of private language academies in the Seattle area that routinely
hire college students for tutoring positions. Many public schools and colleges/universities
welcome classroom volunteers. If you're not sure where to begin searching,
start with academic advisers, career counselors, non profit community and
social service agencies, school districts, the Seattle-area Yellow Pages
under "Language Schools," and the UW Carlson Center in 171 Mary Gates Hall.
You can also get involved with the UW Language
Exchange Program as
a classroom facilitator or language partner, or seek a tutoring position
with the English Department
Writing Center (plan
to take ENGL 474 in the autumn quarter as preparation). Investigate positions
at other writing and research
centers on campus for tutoring opportunities.
Take additional related upper division courses beyond the minimum course work required in your English or Linguistics major/minor. Choose courses from areas related to TESOL. Ask faculty and TESOL advisers for recommendations.
Begin to write your statement of purpose: English Undergraduate
Advising offers Statement of Purpose Workshops every autumn quarter. Watch
your englmajors e-mail for workshop dates. Some relatively low-cost statement
of purpose writing courses are also offered through the UW
Women's Center. Your statement of purpose is an extremely important part
of your application materials; you should plan to spend a lot of time on it
and rewrite it many times. For English Advising's online information about statement of purpose
writing, click here. The statement of purpose for TESOL should include
information on relevant experience, familiarity with, a commitment to, and
the relation of career goals to the field of TESOL, as well as your academic
potential and teaching ability.
Investigate schools and programs. Ask faculty for their recommendations. Request admission packets and begin to look over the materials.
Start a "LEO" Credential File with the UW Career Center. Most
graduate programs will ask you to waive your right to see your letters of recommendation.
You can direct those writing recommendations for you to send them to the UW
Career Center for inclusion in a Letters
of Evaluation Online (LEO) file. The Career Center will send letters out
to graduate programs upon your request. There is a fee for this service.
Prepare to take the Graduate Records Exam (GRE). Some students
choose to take GRE preparation courses; others use books or software programs.
Most schools will require both the General Test and the Subject Test in Literature.
Check with each school for their admission requirements. Some relatively low-cost
preparation courses are offered through the UW
Women's Center. You can visit GRE online at www.gre.org.
