New England ITA Network
Where is your ITA Program located? (ESL Program, Institute for Teaching,
English Department, etc.)
Our program is run through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; however
the ITF instructors are from the Center for English Language and Orientation
Programs (CELOP).
To whom do you report and from whom do you receive funding?
I report directly to the Associate of the above school, and they fund
our program.
How many ITAs do you work with in your orientation/testing/classes
in a typical semester?
This semester we will be working with about 50 ITAs in all 3 of the above
aspects; however, this increase is due to the fact that this is the first
year that the graduate school of CAS has gotten involved.
What assessments do you use?
The SPEAK Test and a teaching demonstration.
What classes do you offer? (Please give a brief description, if possible,
along with citations of textbooks used)
We are offering a communications class and paired tutorials. The communications
class focuses on the development of appropriate classroom language, language
accuracy and fluency, and pronunciation practice. The tutorials are for
teaching practice and evaluation. ITAs are observed and/or do microteaching
during this time. Then, we meet with them individually to debrief. Texts
include: Speechcraft, Hahn and Dickerson, U. of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor,
MI. Talk It Over and Talk It Up, Kozyrex, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.
What is the single biggest problem you face?
Scheduling and attendance are probably the biggest challenges in this
program. Since we schedule classes around the ITFs schedules, this can
be a nightmare at times. Attendance, too, is problematic since "mandatory" has
little meaning at BU. |
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