Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites
This course introduces participants to the field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL*). The course is designed for people who may wish to teach English abroad or to tutor language learners in the US. Participants will build a foundation in English pronunciation, lexicon and grammar so that they understand the particular challenges English language learners face. They will learn how to design lessons for children and young adults that use a communicative, interactive approach and will micro teach those lessons in class. They will investigate, critique and use a variety of EFL materials. They will explore opportunities for teaching EFL as well as the international role of English and sociopolitical factors that affect English language learning in other countries. They will have a weekly practice-teaching experience with non-native English speakers. Finally, upon successful completion of the course, they will receive a certificate that documents what they have accomplished in the course.

* EFL is different from ESL (English as a second language). EFL involves teaching English in countries where English is a foreign language (such as Japan or Brazil). ESL involves teaching English in countries where English is the main language (such as the US or Australia.)

This course centers on the ways in which educational systems contribute to conflict and division, as well as to post-conflict reconstruction and stability. We will cover theories of conflict, peacebuilding, and justice frameworks. Through global case studies, we will examine the relationship between education, identity, poverty, and violence.

Based on research on equitable teaching practices, this course focuses on communicating with diverse individuals and audiences, listening across difference, supporting learning in diverse domains, assessing learning and impact, giving feedback, designing and leading meetings and convenings, using artifacts and texts, and attuning the work to participants’ experiences and identities.

Students serve as mentors to a worldwide network of middle school and high school student participants in a cultural issues forum linked to vicarious travel. As the forum participants respond to reports from various global settings, mentors seek to deepen, challenge and honor student thinking, and to help forum participants make connections to their own lives. Mentors learn about the country being explored, develop curriculum for use by network teachers, and participate in ongoing reflection on the teaching and learning dimensions of their mentoring work.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

Students serve as teaching mentors for a web-based character-playing simulation involving high school and middle school students on a worldwide network, and they themselves also research and portray historical figures. The Place Out Of Time simulated trial is different every term, but mentors and students are always presented with a contemporary problem that they must think through in the role of their characters, one that frames an array of social, political, cultural and moral questions. Mentors are active participants in a dynamic, writing-intensive enterprise that is aimed at enlivening the study of history through juxtaposing historical perspectives and sensibilities. The course employs purposeful "play" to frame a hands-on teaching experience that is supported by extensive in-class and written reflective work. (Meets together with MENAS 591-002)

This course is linked to a web-based simulation that engages high school students worldwide in exploring the Arab-Israeli conflict through portraying current political leaders and representing stakeholder nations. Course participants facilitate this diplomatic simulation, working closely with the simulation participants to offer a window into the diplomatic process. Course participants learn about the contemporary politics of the region, and work in teams as gatekeepers and facilitators, helping their student mentees to thoughtfully assume a character, and to think and write purposefully and persuasively. The course is a hands-on teaching experience that is supported by extensive in-class and written reflective work. (Meets together with MENAS 591-001)