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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
seven seas wrote:
Teaching ESOL is very different to teaching ESL/EFL

What? I've been in this game since '84 and that is the first time I have EVER heard a claim like that!! TESOL mean Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages. Thus...

MA in TESL
MA in TEFL
MA in TESOL
MA in Applied Linguistics

All pretty much interchangeable from what I have seen in the last 24 years. Universities seem to have about the same program, but give it different names.

The only difference that I see is between ESL and EFL... the necessary difference in materials and approach between teaching immigrants in an English speaking country and teaching people that want to learn a foreign language (English) in a non-English speaking country.

I would consider that interviewer to be clueless and avoid the organization that he is interviewing for because I would assume that they didn't know what they were doing if they hired this interviewer...

VS
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mishmumkin



Joined: 01 Sep 2007
Posts: 929
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Actuallly my MEd TESOL stands for "Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages." In other words, "TESOL" is the umbrella term for a number of acronyms: EFL, ESL, ELL/EAL, EAP, ESP, and so on. Having interviewed (and worked) with many employers in the Gulf from 1998 to now I have never heard an employer distinguish between the acronyms, nor comprehend the difference the true difference. Certainly universities in the UAE look for EAP, but I've yet to hear of any one of them question the MA TESOL credentials, implying that somehow they weren't suitable for teaching foundation English because ESOL is not EAP.

Quote:
So the interviewer was obviously asking "How are ESOL materials and techniques relevant to our students?"


Don't think so. He actually spelled out the acronym TESOL. Anyone w/ any level of familiarity with the credentials associated w/ teaching in the UAE would have known this. That is to say, the person interviewing clearly was not familiar w/ the MA TESOL.
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seven seas



Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 65
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I would not have any respect for an employer who could not differentiate between TESOL and ESL.

I think if you tried teaching a group of middle-aged Kosovan or Vietnamese refugees in SE England, and tried starting them off on New Headway...... you'd quickly realise what the difference was.

Likewise, if you try using the DfES ESOL materials on your Business English ESL class in the Hampstead School of English (or any other private EFL/ESL school in Europe) you'd get the same response.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
In the US we teach mixed nationality immigrant courses using the appropriate ESL textbooks and most sensible places have thankfully avoided totally anything in the ghastly Headway series - new or old.

With business courses you would use appropriate ESP course books.

And we still have NO idea what you are talking about. And apparently neither do the universities who give out the MAs.

VS
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seven seas



Joined: 09 Jan 2008
Posts: 65
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
And not many people understand quantum physics either...
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, that certainly explains it...

Who knew that teaching English had the same complexity as quantum physics... Laughing Laughing Laughing

VS
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meteacher



Joined: 09 Feb 2008
Posts: 60
Location: UAE
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
For anyone thinking that IAT is a good place to work, IT'S NOT!! Stay as far away as possible!!
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kiefer



Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 268
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
While UAE teaching isn't the typical ESL/EFL scenario



Isn't TESOL a blanket term for both ESL/FL?
". . .second OR other (meaning foreign) language"

I'd say that it's ESL here. English is the common language of the market place, as opposed to KSA where English is not so common in the shops and souks. IMHO it's more EFL in Saudi.
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