Welcome to SMU-TESOL

Hello STG students,

Welcome to our class blog. My name is Adam Boothe, and I’ll be your SLA instructor for the next several months. I realize that spending Saturday night studying SLA is probably not ideal for most of you, but I hope to make it enjoyable and that you walk away from each class with something new to think about.  If you all look at language and learning in a new way, I’ll be very happy. At the very least, I hope you slightly adjust, radically change, or simply confirm your own beliefs about teaching.

We will be using this blog as a place to have more in-depth discussions than Google+. The blog makes it easier for me to keep track of student activity. Not that I’m policing you, but it will helpful for me to know who is saying what and when they are saying it.

I hope you consider this blog to be your space. I envision a blog full of links to interesting articles/videos/web sites/web tools, rants about difficulties with students/curriculum, and of course, discussion about class topics. I believe that more contributions make for a better experience. However, I do not want you to feel obligated to go above and beyond class requirements.

Speaking of class, I plan to make it as meaningful and practical as possible. This means that some tweaking will be done throughout the semester. These adjustments will not be major, but I would certainly like to cater the class to the demographics and demands of the students. Of course we have objectives and standards, but there will be wiggle room within those standards for you to pursue something you are passionate about. 

Some of you may have a long-term study plan in mind. If you do, and you want to adjust our assignments to fit your study plan/research goals, please do not hesitate to ask. I am happy to be flexible as long as all students are treated equally.

For the first class, I want you to think about the following questions. We will do a brief ice-breaker activity, so I want to give you a warning about the kinds of things I would like to hear from you.

1. Why are you here? Long/short-term goals?

2. What kind of teaching experience do you have?

3. What is something you have difficulty with teaching in Korea? (think less about culture differences, and more about curriculum/content)

4. What do you think is the most effective thing you do with your students?

5. Have you learned a 2^nd or 3^rd language? Why do you think you were successful or unsuccessful?

If you have any concerns about the upcoming class, email me: ajboothe@gmail.com

See you next Saturday.