LTS News - Fall 2007
From Linguistics News Fall 2007
The Language Teaching Specialization (LTS) Program is well into its fourth year with a new cohort of MA students from all over the world: Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and the U.S. In addition to taking courses in linguistics, language teaching pedagogy, education, and computer-assisted language learning, a number of these students are putting their skills to work in language classrooms on and off campus.
Four of the Korean-speaking students--Jung Soo Lee, Namhee Shin, Soyeong Lee, and Jiwon Chun--are teaching beginning Korean lessons at Willagillespie Elementary school in Eugene. Now in it’s third year, this innovative Korean language program, coordinated by LTS Program graduate Hyesook Kim, provides lessons twice a week to all the 1st through 5th graders at the school. The teachers work hard to create and incorporate highly-motivating, hands-on activities that help students learn Korean and, even more importantly, develop a positive attitude toward language learning.
On campus, several students landed GTF positions: Natsumi Ueno is teaching Japanese 101, Beth Sheppard is teaching German 101, and Nate Sohlberg is teaching an ESL class at the American English Institute (AEI). Kelly Butler is working as a tutor at the AEI. And at the World Languages Academy, Ornuma Chingchit is teaching Thai, Zahra Foroughifar is teaching Farsi, and Bene Santos is teaching Portuguese. [Bene also teaches a Portuguese course at LCC.]
Although the LTS Program is intensive (many finish the 60 units in 15 months) and teaching can add stress to an already busy schedule of study, most students appreciate the opportunity. According to Nate Sohlberg, "Teaching now gives me a good idea of what I will or will not want to do later on." Out at Willagillespie, the Korean teachers agree that time management is tough as they must spend so much of it writing lessons and developing teaching materials. All, however, find the experience valuable. Jung Soo Lee explains that teaching gives her "confidence" to better understand what is covered in her LTS courses. Jiwon Chun’s rewards come from the children in her class: "I learn from the students…I get energy from them."
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