2007 AU TESOL Summer Intensive Workshop

2007 AU TESOL Summer Intensive Workshop

(TESL-560) NNESTs at Work: Principles and Practices of
Non-Native English-Speaking Teacher Professional Development

(maybe be taken on either a one or three credit basis)

Instructional Component: Friday through Sunday, July 13-15, 9:30am-5:30pm
3 Credit Follow Up Component: Friday & Sunday 27 & 29, 9:30am-5:30pm

Featuring workshop leaders:

George Braine, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ahmar Maboob University of Sydney, Australia
Lia Kamhi Stein California State University
Brock Brady, American University TESOL Program

Workshop description:
Non native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) make up the vast majority of English language teachers in the world. However prior to Medgyes' seminal 1994 work, "The Non-native Teacher," little attention was given to teacher education and professional development opportunities targeted to best serve NNESTs. Medgyes' principle thesis is both that native and non native English speaking teachers can be equally effective instructors, but they will be effective in different ways and will have different professional identities.

In the past decade much research as been conducted on NNEST professional identities; employer, student and native speaking teacher attitudes towards NNESTs, and techniques for better responding to NNEST needs in teacher education programs. However, many professional development programs are still primarily oriented toward the Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs), and only recently has attention turned to issues such as NNEST best practices and how to provide NNESTs with the professional development opportunities needed to implement such practices. This workshop is designed for NNESTs wishing to develop their personal professional development plans, as well as for native and non-native speakers who wish to provide effective teacher training and professional development for NNESTs. The workshop will provide sound principles and practical, easy-to-implement techniques for use on the job and in professional development classroom.

The workshop is offered on a pass/fail basis. There is a $100 materials fee for all students (which include texts, reading packets and supplemental materials). Students taking the workshop on a one credit basis will simply provide a reflective report on what they learned during the workshop. Three-credit participants will research and develop either a detailed personal professional development plan based on the workshop principle or develop a two to three day training program for NNESTs that applies workshop principles. These three credit projects will be discussed and evaluated in a debriefing session on Friday, July 27 and all three credit participant will give oral presentations of their projects on Sunday, July 29.

Quote: I can’t imagine having finished my degree without having taken this workshop. Hamid Mohammed, MA in TESOL graduate.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE Want to know more about NNEST Issues?

Workshop Instructor:

Brock Brady is Coordinator of American University TESOL Programs and Director of the Summer TESOL Insitute: Professor Brady teaches courses in language assessment, cultural issues in the ESL/EFL classroom, curriculum and materials development, and teaching methodology. His research interests include cross-cultural discourse analysis, new methods for teaching pronunciation, teacher preparation programs, and methodology of successful distance learning. He is a past president of the Washington Area TESOL Affiliate.

Ahmar Mahboob teaches linguistics and applied linguistics at the University of Sydney, Australia. Ahmar has published in the areas of ELT and teacher education, language policy and practice, minority languages, nonnative-English-speaking teachers’ (NNEST) issues, pidgin and creole languages, pragmatics, and World Englishes. Ahmar is the past president of Indiana TESOL and is the past chair of the NNEST Caucus in TESOL.

Lía D. Kamhi-Stein is a professor in the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles, where she coordinates the TESOL MA Program. She was born and raised in Argentina, where she worked as an EFL teacher and program administrator before immigrating to the US in 1990. She is a past CATESOL President and serves on the TESOL Board of Directors (2004-2007). She has published articles in TESOL Quarterly, TEXT, TESOL Journal, The CATESOL Journal, The Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, Lectura y Vida, and other professional journals. She is editor of Learning and Teaching from Experience: Perspectives on Nonnative English-speaking Professionals (University of Michigan Press) and co-editor (with Marguerite Ann Snow) of Designing a New Language Course for Adults (TESOL). She is a recipient of the 2003-2004 Outstanding Professor Award at California State University, Los Angeles.

George Braine (Ph.D., Texas) teaches at the English Department of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has also taught in Sri Lanka, the Sultanate of Oman, and the USA. His areas of interest include issues relating to nonnative speaker English teachers, the acquisition of academic
literacy by postgraduate students, and second language writing. His co-edited volume (with Diane Belcher) Academic Writing in a Second Language (1994) is now considered a classic in the field. His Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching (1999) is regarded as the groundbreaking publication in the area of nonnative speaker English teachers. He recently edited Teaching English to the World (2005), which describes English language teaching in 15 countries.

Braine is the founding Chair of the Nonnative Speakers Caucus in the TESOL organization. At the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he Directs the MA Program in Applied Linguistics and Supervises the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program. From 1996 to 2006, he was the coeditor of the Asian Journal of English Language Teaching (AJELT). Currently, he is the President of the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics.