Meet Melissa: TESOL (M.A.'23)

What made me interested in ESL education is that I was an ESL student myself. I moved from Peru when I was 15 years old and I had to be in ESL classes and I encountered two different teachers.

I had a teacher who was like, you need to learn English. No Spanish. You have to just learn. And then I encountered another teacher who was really welcoming, who allowed me to be able to translate my answers, and it just felt so different that I wanted to become an ESL teacher myself, to be able to help those students coming to the U.S.

My greatest take away from the TESOL program is that I feel like I have become a better teacher myself and I'm able to help my students in a completely different way. I have learned so many strategies, just I can try different things with each student and to meet them where they're at. This is opposed to just, you know, using one thing and it's like everyone is going to use that. So I feel like because of this program, I know better ways of how to help my students.

The best part of being an ESL teacher is that I can relate to them. I can learn about their culture. You know, just learning about different cultures is so interesting and so exciting because, you know, allowing my students to bring that into the classroom, it's like you can see the change and you can see that they feel like welcomed. They feel like, Hey, I belong here. And that is just really exciting to see own their faces, like when they're presenting about their countries or their food. They're just so excited about it.

I believe people should go into the ESL program because you want to be able to help your students, you know? Like they're coming here and we're telling them you have to learn this language. But when you come to the ESL program, you're not only teaching English, but you're also helping them and meeting them where they're at. You know, sometimes you encounters students who don't know how to write and read. So I feel like this program gives you those tools to be able to use with those students. I feel like any teacher might encounter ESL students, so why not prepare yourself in order to help them? 

Some of the assignments that I really enjoyed doing in the program were actually during the capstone class, and like doing research. You're doing a study and you're able to focus on something that you're interested in. For me it was working with refugees because I currently work with a lot of refugees. So learning how to help them and how to learn alongside of them with tools. I feel like that assignment really prepared me a little more in order to help them.

A strategy that I learned and I'm currently using with my students is TASK. So, you know sometimes in your class not every student is participating. So when you use TASK, you partner the students and they have to communicate. They have to work together in order to find the answer. So using that I notice that my students are engaging a little more. They're talking you know, they're using the language, the vocabulary that they're learning.

I would recommend the program because you want to prepare yourself for welcoming refugees or other minors who are coming into the country. Like you want to have those tools in order to help them in your class. You know, you're not only helping them, but you're helping yourself because you're prepared. So I feel like any teacher will benefit from being part of this program and preparing themselves.

And you're able to work with other teachers and let them know these are the tools I learned. Like, these are the ways that might work for you and it becomes kind of like a partnership between teachers and also with the students.

So two of the professors that really impacted me, and really helped me, was Selena Protacio and Virginia David. They helped me so much. If I had any question, I could come to them and ask them and they will give me resources. Like recently, I welcomed a few students in my class that didn't know how to write and read, and they were going to a different school after they were with me and I didn't know what to do. Because I felt like the teachers in the other school didn't know how to help them. But the professors were able to let me know what to do and who to reach out to when it comes to working with that other school. And I felt like I can come to them for anything and they're going to be there to answer my questions. 

I did an internship at Bethany Christian Services and I was working with their refugees and unaccompanied minors in their ESL program. 

Some skills that I developed while working there was utilizing everything that I was learning here at Western and using it there. Because the minors that you encounter there are ESL students, however they also have trauma. So you want to be able to come alongside of them and help them, but you can't just be like, this is what you're going to use with all the students. You have to  create a plan for each student. And I felt like coming to Western I received those tools in order to use them there.

I chose Western because I was recommended the program and I was just so interested in it. Just because I work with ESL students and I was a ESL student myself, I felt that just by looking into the program, they had the teachers and professors that were able to help me.

I know it's a lot of work. You know, some of us are working full time, we have families or just different things going on in our lives. But I feel like this program will help you in the long run, especially if you're working with students. You're going to be able to come alongside of them and it's going to help with your frustrations as well, because, you know, as teachers, sometimes we get frustrated because we don't know how to help our students or we don't know what's happening. But I feel like this program opens a whole new world for you when it and it helps you see where your students are coming from and how to help them.