International teaching assistants (ITAs) have a variety of goals and needs; they need to improve their speaking skills, but at the same time they also need to build their familiarity with the United States, their new universities, and the expectations of their prospective students in order to work effectively as TAs and instructors. There are many different approaches and activities being used to help ITAs develop their linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical skills. Following is Part 2 of a compilation of activities used in ITA programs that explicitly target helping ITAs develop pedagogical skills for U.S. classrooms, and which is based on the activities we collected at TESOL 2014 in Portland, Oregon, at a workshop designed to share the wealth of practices in ITA education. (Read Part 1)

What Makes a Good Teacher?

ITA classes offer opportunities for new TAs to view and analyze good teaching. Many classes start by asking prospective ITAs, “What is excellent teaching/a good student/a helpful TA/ in your country?” Along this vein, other activities help ITAs think about their assumptions. ITAs can fill out a survey to see how well they can predict what undergraduates are like and what they expect from their TAs. Then, undergraduates can be invited to visit class and respond to the items on the survey. Some examples are: “prefers TAs who use visual aids,” “prefers TAs who lecture most of the time,” “prefers TAs who grade easily,” etc.

Using teaching models can also help ITAs consider what kind of teacher they want to be. Observing a “TA of the Year” video before or after they arrive on campus, or observing and interviewing TAs or faculty who are currently teaching can be instructional. The TAs can then present their findings to the ITA class. Some web-based video examples include Khan Academy, TED talks, and UC Berkeley’s online courses. MiCASE is also a good source of transcripts (and some audio recordings) to have TAs analyze various structures, expressions, and vocabulary. Some other ways to consider and evaluate good teaching are to analyze course evaluations, ask questions of a panel of experienced TAs, or interview undergraduates about their expectations of TAs.

Microteaching (Specific Pedagogical Skills)

The cornerstone of most ITA courses are microteachings (MTs), short teaching presentations that can take many forms. MTs are an opportunity for students to practice specific pedagogical skills they have learned in class, including using visual aids (and considering the importance of using them), considering organizational strategies (e.g., “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them”), and using examples. Many courses cover interactive strategies that can also be practiced during MT, including rapport-building strategies, like learning and using student names and practicing small talk. ITA trainers explicitly teach strategies for handling questions and discuss why students ask questions and how to handle difficult questions. They also address understanding student questions; the University of Minnesota has an excellent website that allows ITAs to practice with real student questions.

MTs are typically accompanied by peer feedback and self-reflection activities. For peer feedback, one tool is the STAR technique: ST (define the Situation or Task), A (what alternative Action could be done differently), R (Result: What changed because of the alternative action?). There are many embellishments on this staple MT activity. In terms of self-reflection, most programs require students to watch and review the video of their microteaching. Reflection on teaching can take many forms, focusing on both language and teaching. The TAs can be asked to transcribe parts of their MT, or analyze it. Reflection instruction might include a question like, “How has your teaching changed?” or a request like, “Find three rough spots and comment on what you could have done differently.” Some programs offer a prize for the best MT of the week or post the best MT on the web. Students are often curious to see whose MT made the cut. And ultimately, having students figure out for themselves what makes good teaching and why teaching well is important will produce the best results.

Another variation in how instructors run MTs is in how much interruption is allowed. There are certainly good reasons to allow a student to complete his or her 10 minutes without interruption or with only class-like interruptions. However, one suggestion was to allow for “Time-outs.” This means that anyone can call for a time-out during the MT to make a comment. If the TAs themselves call the time-out, they can then say why and redo something. This allows for immediate feedback or error correction.

A modification of MTs being done at the University of Minnesota is called “extended MTs.” This is for students who are not currently teaching. Instead of being 10 minutes, the TA is expected to conduct a “class” for 20 or 40 minutes. The class consists of a group of trained undergraduates, hired by the ITA program, and it allows for practice using group work, giving quizzes, and/or using classroom assessment techniques (Angelo & Cross, 1993) as well as facing a larger group than the ITA classes allow.

Presentation Skills

ITA courses also cover more general presentation skills that can be linked to teaching or find other ways to connect with students and colleagues. Some programs have ITAs talk about their research to high school students, to have students practice job interview techniques, or to practice giving the same information to different types of audiences. Activities that help ITAs learn to be concise (sharing material for 4 minutes, then 2 minutes, then 1 minute) or to elaborate (going from shorter to longer periods of time for the same explanation) can help ITAs build fluency as they simultaneously think about different ways to best convey material depending on the intended audience.

Classroom Management

Finally, some ITA programs include other interaction and classroom management activities, like analysis and practice with possible scenarios including undergraduates and experienced TAs. Experienced TAs can share their experiences and do problem solving as a group. To actually practice managing a class, undergraduates can be invited to simulate a difficult situation. For example, while an ITA is teaching, the undergraduates and other ITAs do something disruptive, such as answer a ringing cell phone, or talk to their neighbor. The ITA has to handle the problem appropriately and the group is able to discuss and debrief after each role-play. This strategy also works well for office hours. Again, undergraduates can be invited to visit class and do role-plays of office hour scenarios in which there is a complaint that the TA must handle.

In conclusion, while improving ITAs’ language skills is of top priority (for most programs ITAs need to meet a language requirement and cannot be judged on their teaching skills, as there are no teaching tests for native speakers), it is impossible to look at ITA development without considering pedagogy. ITA training enables students to build their language skills in the context of teaching. For many students, learning key teaching skills is all they need to compensate for some of their difficulties with comprehensibility. It is also easier to improve teaching skills over a shorter period of time, as compared with fossilized pronunciation problems that may not end up being that important as students adjust to the ITA’s accent. Such teaching skills also translate well to preparing students for academic success in graduate school and beyond.

Reference

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, P. K. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Miki Mendelsohn is the coordinator of the English Language Program at Princeton University’s McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning. She has been working with international graduate students for more than 20 years and has taught in Israel as well as the United States.

Pamela Pollock currently works as an assistant director at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University, where she teaches classes and develops programming for international graduate students, and oversees the Teaching Certificate Program (an important professional development initiative for graduate students).