We are excited to share our second Meet the Member interview, conducted with Tarana Patel. Ms. Patel has an MATESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) and is the founder of learnEd.

We look forward to learning more about our colleagues in program administration in this forum. If you are interested in being interviewed or wish to suggest a colleague you think we should include, please contact our Meet the Member column editor, Linda Wesley.

How did you get started in the TESOL field?

My first contact with language teaching was when I taught German to engineers at a midsized machinery company in my hometown, Ahmedabad, in India. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of finding creative ways to teach the language so that my participants could understand it and apply it for their work. Right in the middle of this experience, I found myself looking for MA programs in language teaching or translating and found the MATESOL program at MIIS to be a perfect match. At MIIS, I decided to focus on TESOL with a specialization in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and also took courses in German pedagogy. I was fortunate to land my first TESOL job as a CALL coordinator at the University of California, Riverside in 2002 right after completing my MATESOL.

Tell us a bit about your current program.

After over 7 years of working at UCR as a coordinator and ultimately academic director, I founded my company learnEd in 2011 in India. The idea was to get back to my roots and experience working in India. I started by conducting short-term intensive English language training programs for youth and professionals. Each year, I spend 4 to 5 months towards the end of each year in India conducting various English language programs. My conversation and communication programs have taken place in rural area colleges, urban community centers, as well as corporate settings in industrial zones. I have also conducted several teacher development workshops in rural and urban schools around my city.

To help me with these projects, I recruit qualified TESOL interns and instructors internationally who come to India in the wintertime to teach in these programs. I also teach and also manage all the program administration. In the US, I work out of a shared coworking space in LA and spend time working on curriculum and programming upcoming courses. Lately, I have been busy developing an online course component for my courses for my target audience of Indians. These career-oriented individuals have high-intermediate reading and comprehension skills, but need to work on their conversation and communication in English. The goal of my courses is to get them to use the English they already know for their benefit and for workplace success. Over 600 participants have gone through learnEd’s courses since I began running these winter programs in 2011.

How do you describe your job to someone who is not in the field?

I provide English communication training to youth and adults in India. My courses are specifically designed to bridge the gap between knowing English and communicating ideas in English successfully at work and for better career opportunities.

What do you consider your top five responsibilities in a “typical” week?

When I was the academic director at an IEP in a university:

1. emails
2. classroom observations; pre- and postconferences
3. weekly planning/follow-up meetings (instructors, coordinators, immigration, directors, other departments, custom programs)
4. custom programming and allocating resources and instructors
5. ongoing curriculum, textbook, and assessment reviews
   
   

Right now, as an entrepreneur working in India and the US, my most important task is to build my company as a full-time, socially responsible business. [My top five responsibilities in this regard are]:

1. work on the course website
2. communicate with instructors about their needs and tasks during ongoing courses
3. keep track at the micro and macro levels—finances, program progress and reporting, assessments, curriculum revisions
4. review upcoming projects and follow up with new clients
5. plan socially responsible activities—give time to work on teacher development for English teachers in rural areas (by the time this gets published and if all goes well, I may have finalized ties with a local nonprofit that works to train rural area teachers to teach English in schools)
   
   

What are the most rewarding and challenging parts of your job?

My challenges are also my rewards as I learn most from them. Entrepreneurship may be the most rewarding as well as the most challenging part of my job right now. Keeping up with changing trends in how English is learned and used globally and staying tuned with my participants’ needs would be my second challenge. Finally, scaling up my work to reach more participants and keeping the business sustainable and socially responsible are bigger challenges that will always stay with me.

What is your advice for those interested in moving into program administration?

Points in no particular order:

• An understanding of entrepreneurship/intrapreneurship is important in an administrator’s repertoire of skills. In the US and internationally, the need and use for English is making big shifts. Keeping track of trends by attending conferences and reading TESOL news is a great way to stay abreast of trends.
• Honing and establishing leadership values and being consistent and transparent in your work wins you loyalty and trust.
• There is nothing wrong in demanding excellence from instructors and staff! In the short run, you may come across as firm or insensitive, but your staff will value your consistent and informed decision-making in the long run.
• Every day begins with a new challenge thrown at you by your department or your market. Patience, tolerance for the unknown, presence of mind, and thinking on your feet—keep these qualities very handy!
• Recognizing strengths in people who work with you and applying their strengths successfully will take a lot of burden off your shoulders. Carefully delegate, and then appreciate!
  
  

What hobbies and other interests do you have?

I really enjoy travel and street photography. I was invited for a solo exhibition in Ahmedabad in 2014, where 50 of my photographs were exhibited in a local art gallery. In 2015, one of my street photographs of Los Angeles was selected from a pool of over 700 entries for LA’s first annual Street Photography Exhibit. When I am not out shooting pictures, I make time to support local musical performances and artists. I am always in the process of learning to play my guitar well.