Syllabus

This course affords you the opportunity to enter into the language classroom as a pre-service teacher and gives you a chance to explore teaching as a profession. For some of you it will be the first time that you are in a language classroom as a novice teacher and not as a student. During this time, your view of language learning will change as you adapt to your new role. During this practicum you will be introduced to “real-life” pre-college classroom experiences. Initially, you will observe at least three different world language classrooms in action. You will be required to make close observations of classroom dynamics in varied settings. Take advantage of these observations to consciously develop your own teaching style and teaching philosophy. Finally, you will work closely with one world language teacher. This practicum will contribute to your final preparation for student teaching and the professional and personal challenges of teaching world languages in the schools.

The overarching goals of this course are the development of a well-informed and practice-based philosophy of teaching statement and the creation of a variety of fully developed instructional activities. This will be accomplished via many exercises: drafts of your philosophy of teaching statement, readings, topical discussions, presentations, observations, in-school visits, creation of lessons, journal entries, and an observation/reaction paper.