EPDES 940 is a required course for the Advanced Certificate in TESOL and the WA ELL Endorsement. This course is a “field experience”or “practicum” course. It does not meet physically at S-TESL. This is an online class.

Modules are due weekly and the student receives weekly feedback from the assigned instructor. The course is completed over 10 weeks.

Field Experience Requirements

It is expected that you have arranged an appropriate setting for your field experience prior to registration for the class. For advising please contact Bernice Ege-Zavala.

1. Access to non-native speakers of English for at least 40 hours while enrolled. This may be your own class of ESOL students (children, young adults, or adults – at least 5 ESOL students), or you may be a volunteer in another person’s class. This may be a combination of hours spent observing, assisting, and teaching.
2. The contact time must be over a span of no less than four weeks
3. The contact time may be divided over no more than two different classrooms.
4. Verification by another person (classroom teacher or principal) that you completed at least 40 hours in an ESOL classroom in connection with course EPDES 940.
5. You must be able to audio tape yourself as needed in a teaching situation (small group or whole class instruction). A hand-held digital voice recorder is recommended for this purpose.

Types of Assignments:

• Comment on and ask your classmates questions about specific things that happen in the ELL class that are related to the topic of the week in the online class.
• Describe attitudes, learning styles, learning preferences, and learning strategies of the ELL students. These descriptions can come from observations or interviews.
• Record (video or audio) yourself or another teacher and analyze according to the topic of the week. (It is sometimes possible to analyze one recorded lesson for different topics and in different modules.)

Additional Information for ELL Endorsement Candidates

1. Contact time must be in a K-12 ELL school setting. A class with a mix of ELLs and native speakers may be used as long as the instruction is differentiated for the ELL students.
2. Samples of student work will be required for your ELL Endorsement Portfolio. The field experience time is a time that these samples can be gathered. Submission of the samples is not required for the EPDES 940 course, but it is recommended that you gather samples during the course. Detailed information about the student samples will be contained in the 940 course.
3. In addition to verification of your classroom time, a colleague or supervisor will need to complete and submit a Competency Evaluation Form based on observation of your work with students.

Paper version Option

In this option, the student registers for the “paper version" and receives the packet of assignments. Then, the student works independently on the 9 modules. Upon completion, all course assignments are submitted to S-TESL and an S-TESL instructor is assigned to read and evaluate the project. The student receives feedback upon completion of this evaluation.

In this format, the student has approximately 6 months to complete the assignments (“N” grades will be issued to indicate that the course is in progress). This class works well for students whose classroom contact time is either less than 10 weeks or who require more flexibility for the completion of the assignments.

Final Project Information for Paper Version

Due dates for your completed EPDES 940 project are as follows:

What do I do when I complete the project?

When you are ready to submit your project, please call the office to schedule an appointment to submit it. You may also mail it to the office.

How is my project evaluated?

Your project will be assigned to an S-TESL instructor, who will read and evaluate the project. You will be mailed a copy of the instructor’s evaluation approximately 6 weeks after you have submitted the project.

How do I know my grade?

Until your final grade has been submitted to SU by our office, your transcript will reflect an “N” grade indicating the course is “in progress”. Once the instructor’s report has been submitted a final grade will be posted to Seattle and reflected on your SU grade report and transcript.

What if I want to take this course for graduate status credit?

Complete the graduate status for course request form when you register. Then, follow the instructions in the course packet for graduate status credit.

Note: Graduate credit is not required for the ELL Endorsement or the Advanced Certificate in TESOL.

If you need advising about this course, contact Bernice Ege-Zavala at bezavala@seattleu.edu or (206) 781-8607.