Oh yay more schooling (going for the TESL certificate)

For anyone who pays attention to this blog (*cough*adbots*cough*) I have finished my undergrad and got my bachelor's degree in Linguistics (minored in Russian language) and I summarized my year looking back at textbooks. Starting in September I will be going for the certificate in teaching English as a second language (TESL) at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Teaching English as a second language huh? So you like to go to Korea or Japan to teach?

I am aware that place like South Korea and Japan are popular places for teaching English but as far as my interest in teaching English there are quite low. My dream places to teach abroad would be Russia but I'll take any place in Europe.

Also some things to point out: when teach abroad in a place like South Korea or Japan, you're teaching these people English as a foreign language (EFL) as English is not widely spoken or an official language in these places. To call it ESL teaching would have learners come to places like Canada, USA, Australia and UK where English is widely spoken and is an official language.

You got a university degree already, why not go to work immediately?

By going for certification I can cover more ground. There are places that require that someone have some sort of certification such as TESL/TEFL, TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages which I hear is the same as TESL/TEFL but used more in the USA than Canada) or maybe a masters degree in the teaching ESL/EFL field. Don't believe me? Take a look at the ads on Dave's ESL Cafe. If it's not possible for me to teach abroad at least I will be qualified to teach here in Canada. Best to build up some street cred before others abroad can take you in.

The story

Not a lot of people have heard of the field of linguistics and somehow the idea that comes up when either I mention this or my parents do to other people, the other people seem to think I'm studying to become a polyglot. Since I did a general degree and not an honours degree chances for me to do a masters degree are pretty low. Another career choice path would be dealing with speech problems and I wasn't too interested in the field. My main reason for doing a TESL certification is that I would like to work abroad and as I have mentioned earlier would like to work in Russia. Around campus I've seen advertisements for oxford seminars in which certification can be done in a month but I ended up applying to universities on the advice from someone who actually is a teacher of ESL. She said that courses like oxford seminars don't really prepare students as well as a university course since university courses offer the teaching experience (called a practicum).

Ontario, being my home province, I looked for universities there that have the program as well as outside of Ontario such as Quebec and Saskatchewan. Memorial University did have a program at one point but suspended that due to some necessary courses being infrequently offered (so I heard). If I were to apply to Concordia University (in Montreal, Quebec) it would have been starting in the winter semester as their written component for the application had to be done there (the times given for it was during the semester break but the round trip fare plus accommodation at the time (February 2012) wasn't worth doing it for a fall semester start). Also with the recent Quebec student protests who knows if I would have even gone there.

From this list I looked at some places that I could go to for certification and I applied to two places (I could have applied to more but I got lazy): Woodsworth College's TESOL program in Toronto and CTESL at Carleton university. Applying to these places was not easy as I had to "jump through hoops" as my dad puts it (written components).  Both Carleton and Woodsworth have one year programs which should make me prepared much more than taking a one month course.

Woodsworth College got back to me first. I would have gone there if Carleton did not accept me but Woodsworth College is affiliated with the University of Toronto so since I got an offer from them I was for certain going to get one from Carleton. If I had gone to Woodsworth I would have had 4 courses per semester (not counting tutorials) but the majority of them were from 6pm to 9pm, even if I got Mondays off I am not too fond of night classes. Also Woodsworth's program costs a wee bit more as I also have to factor in residence expenses.

Now with Carleton comes the interesting bit. The application date was before Woodsworth's. I of course had to send them multiple transcripts because of this and I wouldn't receive an offer until they knew I have convocated. I was told I got accepted much later, two weeks I guess, after Woodsworth offered me something. I was hoping I would get something in the mail but all I got was a guide to first year package (doing a certificate course is weird, it's techncally an undergrad program but you're not really an undergrad when you do it as a post-grad). I was hoping the package would include my student number but I was able to recover it after talking to some people. The funny thing is the reason why I didn't get a student number sent to my mailbox was that it was the same student number Carleton gave me when I first registered with them back in 2006/2007 in case I didn't get into MUN. I thought by dropping the courses for the European Studies program I initially signed up for would cancel my account. My account did expire but my information was still on their database.

So in the end I chose to accept the offer from Carleton. How will this experience be for me? Unlike when I was at MUN when campus was just a 10 minute walk from where I lived I will be making friends with OCtranspo and travelling each direction for about 40-60 minutes (which should be good enough time to catch up on sleep or reading assignments but the fall schedule's not out by this time so it may be less time that what I have guessed). I won't have the chance of taking a nap in between classes but who knows, I might find a bench somewhere. The best part is I don't have to save coins for laundry, budget my bank account for groceries, or fight with someone for the tv. Yes I'll be living with my parents during this period but I had my chance out on my own. As for my future courses I just hope there's not a lot of paper writing but at the same time I'm curious to how the practicum's going to be. The upcoming year should be interesting.

Learning Devices

Yesterday this appeared on my Facebook feed and it's about the University of Ottawa considering a proposal which is a ban on electronic devices in the classroom such as laptops and smartphones and other related devices. This comes from a professor saying that it's distracting.

I have brought my laptop to class many times and from the classes I've been to I don't think any of the profs were bothered by it. Maybe some of them are but not as vocal as the prof mentioned in the news report.

Some find laptops help them learn. The advantage to having a laptop is it saves paper. If the instructor posts notes online there's no need to print them (and for some no need to attend the lecture but you should go once in a while if you're that kind of student). The laptop is also useful in taking notes.

For the phones (whether they're the newest iphones or the basic phones) they're useful if let's say someone is waiting for the doctor to call with some good or bad news, or some other emergency. There are two instances in which I remember accessing the internet through a smartphone (1 instance was technically an ipod touch) was useful in class. The most recent one was someone reading out a list of people who had to do something during the instructor's office hours when he couldn't remember who he has scheduled during that time. The other instance was someone looking up the definition of a word on his ipod touch.

But are they a distraction? They can be, but it's not something that should be banned.

From a teacher perspective they want to make sure the students are actually learning something, even though we are adults and are responsible for doing whatever assignments and showing up to class. Depending on the acoustics of the room there may be some instructors that dislike the sound of keyboards click-clacking. And yes, instructors may be able to tell when you're texting or not

From a student perspective, I have brought my laptop to class many times and I do go on Facebook and other websites. I have brought my laptop to work on other assignments for other classes. I have also seen other students with laptops in class and I remember seeing someone watch anime. If you can watch the video the comes with the article, one student mentions seeing someone watching porn on their laptop as wells as someone shoe shopping. Call these distractions yes but in my opinion students get bored. There are days when you're in class and the instructor just drags on so might as well see what your friends are doing on Facebook, watch something on YouTube, or read the latest gossip posted by a blogger.

I think there should be a compromising solution to this rather than an outright ban. If a certain instructor doesn't want technology in the classroom that's up to the instructor but it shouldn't be campus wide. It's understandable on test and exam days but on regular lesson days it shouldn't be a problem. Even if there is no net service in the classroom there are other ways to distract oneself with the laptop. 

30 Day Challenge: Day 13

Day 13 - Is there anything that you imagined would happen in college, but now that you’re in college you realize that you were totally wrong?


I guess early ideas of what university is comes from TV (and a bit from my aunt, who is about 12-13 years older than I am but I don't think she said much. Maybe she was as grouchy as me when it comes to young kids wanting my attention.)


Anyways I thought all universities had fraternities and sororities. Turns out that my university does not but there is a fraternity that opened up recently. But the on campus houses are somewhat like a fraternity/sorority in a way. Hazing no but some form of initiation took place hosted by the senior members of the house.


I guess that I could say I thought all classes were held in a lecture theatre of some sort but those are only for large classes. Speaking of class sizes the higher the level I went up the number of people in a classroom shrank, unless it's one of those courses that crossed over 2 departments in which the class size is fairly large.


Also what was new to me is the older students. No I am not talking about graduate students but adults who seem to have children that are my age (if they have children). I haven't seen many but I've seen some mostly in the night classes and a couple during the daytime classes. Yet again you hear about people as old as 95 getting a degree.


Anyway you learn something new everyday.

30 day challenge: day 11

Day 11 - If your college has sports teams, which sport is the most respected? Have they ever won a championship?


What university doesn't? anyways the team is called Seahawks and I believe the university takes pride in its varsity teams which I believe are basketball, soccer, volleyball and wrestling. There may be more but I can't think of any at the moment. I honestly don't pay attention to sports teams. I think the most respected from my perspective is the basketball team. You have those guys/girls play games at events.

30 Day Challenge: Day 9

Wow, I'm behind on this. Anyways I believe day 9 is post a picture of the college/university. Memorial University is the largest among the Atlantic provinces. This photo is old as the name of the building changed but it will suffice.

30 Day Challenge: Day 8

Day 8 - How many years have you been in college?  How many more years until you complete it?


I've been at this for 5 years now. Hoping to finish my undergrad this year. I don't think I would have graduated any faster whether I switched programs or not. 

30 Day Challenge: Day 5

Day 5 - Who is the best friend you’ve met at college? How did you meet and what sort of adventures have you had?

I have two good friends the first one I've met in my first residence at university. We both lived at the last all-girl residence on campus for two years. The most memorable adventure we had was when she came to my home town since the consulate office was there. (She's Russian by the way.) so besides offering her a place to stay my parents and I took her around town as well as a quick trip to Montreal (since it's 2 hours away by car).

My other friend is currently one of my roommates ever since I moved into the other residences on campus. Our recent adventure was to a sci-fi convention that was held in St. John's. We had a good time there (also got a picture with David Nykl from Stargate Atlantis). Our other adventures included some events hosted by our student residence but we were the only ones that showed up. So much for morale.

30 Day Challenge: Day 2

Day 2 - What school do you go to? What is something that makes your school unique, or that makes the school special to you?


I still attend Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador (call it MUN for short). It is located in the province of Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada in the city of St. John's. Besides the main campus there are the Grenfell Campus (located in Corner Brook focusing on arts and science), Marine Institute (located in St. John's focusing on Marine based things), Harlow Campus, and the Labrador Institute (located in the Labrador part of the province and only operational in the spring/summer sessions).


What I think makes MUN special is it's Harlow Campus. It is located in England and usually open when a program is organized. I think it's mainly English and Folkore courses that are taught there but what I've heard that the most recent program had Mary Walsh, a comedienne and actress, teach a course or two (her husband is a prof at MUN).


There are probably other things that make MUN cool, maybe these guys though they may not be that well known outside Canada.