Speaking of the conference. . . last week I started making some serious steps in the direction of further schooling. I still have absolutely no desire to get a PhD but I am very seriously considering a second Masters degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It would open up some interesting new teaching opportunties for me outside of universities. I could teach in intensive language programs and community centers and that sort of thing. It sounds interesting. And doable. Can't say that I am totally thrilled at the idea of being a student again--I've just started to get used to not being assessed and evaluated multiple times every day--but at the same time I really do like the idea of getting a foundation for my teaching. The last year and a half have really been enlightening in terms of how much I still need to learn. I teach non-native English speakers, but I don't really have a solid understanding of how to teach them. Scary. I would like to change that.
To that end, last week I . . .
- Had a long conversation with the head of the ESL program and got some recommendations for school.
- Joined TESOL
- Joined WATESOL
- Researched programs (U. of Hawaii at Manoa and the Monterey Institute of International Studies are my favorites so far).
- Applied (by the end of the day) to the WATESOL conference
Not bad for one week, especially after a year of resolutely refusing to think about anything beyond the next month of my life.
