A tesol practicum in armenia

Abstract

This chapter discusses the TESOL practicum in a Master’s Program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the American University of Armenia. This is an English-medium US-accredited institution located in a post-soviet republic. The two-year MA programme offers multiple opportunities to its student teachers to teach English and engage in other fieldwork activities as part of required and elective courses. This chapter briefly describes such teaching opportunities focusing on Teaching Practicum and Teaching Internship courses, which take place in the first and second years of study. Student teacher placements are made in a variety of school settings, including a K-12 afterschool English-learning Program, which belongs to the university research centre. The afterschool programme provides models of communicative language teaching and is a safe space where student teachers hone their teaching and research skills. Apart from the afterschool programme, student teachers are placed with local non-profit organizations and schools to provide community service to socially marginalized populations, including children in rural areas, families with low socioeconomic status, and socially disadvantaged women. This chapter details the successes and challenges of the practicum and internship courses, and reflects on lessons learnt and future prospects.