When I enrolled in UCLA Extension’s TESOL course, I had a vague idea of what teaching ESL would look like, how it would feel. I based it on my experiences learning languages. I felt lucky that I’d had what I felt were good, and especially enthusiastic, teachers, and all I really needed to do is model my teaching after them, maybe with some guidance from a textbook to follow. So I imagined the courses I took would be about instructing us on what the best textbooks are, what needs to be taught first, then second, etc. I’m very happy I enrolled because what I found is that the ESL field is much more varied, dynamic, and involved than I pictured it to be.

The methods class was particularly eye-opening. Learning about various teaching methods used, their pros and cons, their development and evolution, taught me that teaching ESL is not one thing, it’s a flexible field with a myriad of approaches, and that these approaches are studied and constantly improved upon by researchers, classroom teachers and other passionate people who are thinking deeply about how to do all this better. The Silent Way, the Grammar-Translation Method, The Audio-Lingual Method, Desuggestopedia, and a host of others are all methods that I knew nothing about, but now do, and can tap into as I work to reach students and help them learn.

The Cultural Perspectives class was equally eye-opening. It made me think more about who our students are, what particular needs they might have, how everyone is different, has a different outlook, and how to make sure each can feel comfortable, confident, and be set up to learn in the best ways possible. It’s a class everyone should take, whether aiming to be a teacher or not. It helped me navigate some tricky generational differences among co-workers in my non-education field. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

The linguistics and Technology classes were also very different and much more helpful than what I imagined them to be. For instance, I thought the technology course would be a listing of the standard technologies used in ESL teaching and a primer on how to use them. But really that class and all the others were, for me, more about how to research and learn, how to find new tools, discover new methods, glean more from linguistic research, keep up with developing technologies, in short, how to continue learning, well after our courses are over.

This is a great development for me. I’ve always been a lifelong learner, and know I would get bored in a field where there wasn’t more to learn, one that wasn’t constantly evolving. So I view the TESOL course as just the beginning of a new educational journey and look forward to learning and evolving in the field.

I would like to thank the UCLA Extension TESOL program, and UCLA Extension in general, who’ve always been exceptional, no matter what type of classes I take. I’d especially like to thank my main instructors, Kris Lambert and Kimberly Persiani, both fantastic, thorough, impassioned and incredibly knowledgeable teachers.