Online Student Testmonials

EPDES 930: TESOL Theory and Application

Comments about course content:

I have learned that I enjoy teaching English as a Second Language. I was very nervous about beginning this program and teaching ESL and had no idea whether or not I would be able to do it. Now I can honestly say that I'm enjoying it very much and am perhaps getting as much out of it as are the students. This class has helped so much in being able to teach English and in giving me the confidence necessary to continue even when i'm intimidated by what I'm trying to do.-Jason

I realize I've learned a great deal about the learning environment from this course. Now I have some grasp of how much repetition is necessary for mastery of vocabulary, grammar, or to "hear" the language. Also, I'd never thought about creating the kind of stimulating context in which to present material that Anticipation provides. I've gained a lot of ideas about creative ways to present this material and provide the repetition. This course covered deep background and underpinnings I'd simply never thought of or known about. Ideal for an inexperienced person like me -Naomi

I have learned that the depth and breadth of what I don't know about teaching ESL could fill a swimming pool. And I like that feeling! I like knowing that I have nowhere to go but up and that I'm on an adventure. I want to convey that sense of adventure to my students as they step into uncharted territory ("A 3-hour tour..a 3-hour tour.."). I have learned that I love an adventursome challenge. I like the idea of all of us, my students and me, going on a little ride together. -Tamara

I have learned that it's great getting reaffirmation of the value of what I'm using in the class through my reading. In addition, I can understand better why somethings may not work so well in certain groups or at certain ages.-Melissa

I found the course content to be up-do-date, relevant, and interesting. I liked using the collection of articles in Methodology; rather than just one author's perspectives we had many. Also the Practical Techniques text is very handy.

I don't have any prior teaching experience, so I also appreciated the requirement of working in an ESL class on-ground. Overall, I feel much better prepared to be an ESL teacher and my students will benefit immensely from the work I did in this class.

Great! I felt that I really benefited from this course. I got many great ideas and information to start me in the ESL field through the course of this course. Although I did not sit in a real classroom, I did not feet that I missed any content or any classroom interaction. We were able to effectively communicate to learn about the subject.

The content was tremendously useful to me. I needed background in ESL. I needed to understand what an ESL program might look like and how it might work.

The information I gained through this course has already helped me to improve my teaching (not only ESL) and to formulate suggestions for administration and student support on this campus to consider in planning services for ESL students.

I found the course content to be up-do-date, relevant, and interesting. I liked using the collection of articles in Methodology; rather than just one author's perspectives we had many. Also the Practical Techniques text is very handy.

I don't have any prior teaching experience, so I also appreciated the requirement of working in an ESL class on-ground. Overall, I feel much better prepared to be an ESL teacher and my students will benefit immensely from the work I did in this class.

I thought the class was extremely well organized. The material was very useful to me in the teaching that I am currently doing. I think that I personally learned more from this class than many of the others I have taken to get my teaching degree. The class was challenging but fun. (As fun as hard work can be!! HA!)

Content was great. Will really help me out professionally. Already have put some material to use. Professor very knowledgeable and helpful. Will take more courses and perhaps even finish certificate because of positive experience.

I was extremely nervous when I signed up for these two courses (EPDES 930 and 932), and I can honestly say that nervousness was replaced by excitement as soon as I completed the first week of both classes. Since taking these two classes, I am a much more confident ESL tutor and a much more knowledgeable one. I have a better understanding of why my students do what they do and how I can help them succeed in English in a way that is meaningful and fun for them.

I really learned a lot from this course. I felt that I was a little over whelmed with teaching when I started, but now I really have a better understanding of what I can do to teach my students correctly.

This was a very helpful introductory course, don't change a thing.

Comments about course delivery:

It was well organized and delivered. The instructor was very competent and I was secure in her ability to teach and evaluate me in the course content. The online classes are new to me and I have really enjoyed taking them. I plan on taking as many as I need. It is a great program and I appreciate all the effort it has taken to get it started.

The course delivery was good. This was the first online course that I have taken so I was impressed how well it went between myself and the instructor and my colleagues. Feedback given to me by my instructor was timely and constructive.

The instructor (Jo H) was absolutely great! She was very encouraging but firm, helpful, and on top of things. I wrote her quite frequently with questions about various aspects I wasn't sure of, and she always responded with helpful input. And if I still didn't get something and wrote her back, she was ready to offer more guidance. So as far as the instructor's role, she was great.

No problems with course delivery. The instructor was always accessible and helpful and the Embanet platform worked fine for me.

Delivery was great!! It was delivered much the same way as you would deliver new materials to students learning a second language. I felt that every activity was designed to teach us something, not just giving us busy work to do. I like the time limit given for each module. It helps when scheduling time around work and family to study. (Time schedule is a must for me; it helps keep me on task.)

Although I never met Nan face-to-face, I had the feeling that she was extremely interested in each one of us not just as students, but as individuals. She came to know our quirks and always managed to make her comments very personal and meaningful. I thought the presentation of materials for both classes was excellent! I always knew what was expected of me and when it was expected.

Course delivery was excellent. All of my assignments were returned to me promptly, with extensive comments. I never received this much individual attention in any in-person class I have taken.

The professor was extremely prompt about replying to e-mails. The application assignments were very useful for understanding the material. I liked the delivery. It might be good to get a short essay written each week by the professor giving any thoughts or ideas about the topic that are not in the book or that should be emphasized.

Wonderful as long as there were no technical difficulties. When my system went down, it was heck. The instructor made the difference, though. She was very understanding of technical difficulties.

Very well organized, everything was delivered on time. Clear and precise instructions. Excellent response from the reader.

Other Comments:

I took "Teaching English as a Second Language, Theory and Application" in the just-ended winter quarter, taught by Jo Hirschman. I thought the course content was very appropriate for the threshold class in teaching ESL. While it was difficult and challenging, Mrs. Hirschman was always available to explain assignments and offer constructive advice. The course required a strict mental discipline that I sometimes had difficulty with, but Jo managed to keep me on track. It was a pleasure being in her class and I commend the Internet format as an excellent learning medium. I felt that I received a level of teacher interaction that was comparable to an on-site course.

Due to the positive experience of my first on-line class, I will continue to take on-line classes through the University of Seattle. It was a very rewarding experience!

EPDES 932: Teaching Grammar to ESOL Students

Comments about course content:

I just completed this "Teaching Grammar to ESL Students" course, taught during the winter quarter by Dr. Nancy Butler. The course was fast paced, challenging, and thought provoking. If fact, I don't think I have worked as hard on any on-site class during four years of college and another four of law school. The class was also very rewarding. It performed as advertised, i.e., it called for greater mental discipline than an on-site class. It also delivered a wealth of information that I will find useful in teaching ESL.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course as frustrated as I was sometimes with trying to figure out the "whys". We used Bland's book the most and I don't really think the other book was necessary.

I think this course is widely involved with English grammar and is very resourceful. The whole content of the textbook written by Susan Bland was studied by the students, which gave the students a thorough courage of English grammar.

The information included in this course was very well structured. Each module gave me good information which I can use as I taught my students. I felt that the assignments in each module gave me the opportunity to brush up on my grammar skills, while also showing me new ways to present grammar in a fun way to my students. The correcting grammar exercises was very useful, as we came up with 'simple" rules that our students would be able to understand. Each module was an extension of the previous module, which is very much like we will be teaching. Learning by example.

The class went at a good pace and did not overwhelm or bore me. I would be interested in more in-depth grammar study that would increase my ability in this area. For the most part the activities helped me understand the material and helped me understand how to present the material to ESL students.

Comments about course content: EXCELLENT!!! I really liked it. Despite the fact that I've been teaching English for 10 years, this course has provided me with different views on how to approach grammar in a classroom.

Comments about course delivery:

I like the quick response on my assignments. Nan's comments were always very positive.

Course delivery was excellent. All of my assignments were returned to me promptly, with extensive comments. I never received this much individual attention in any in-person class I have taken.

The on-line format was very interesting. I felt a certain freedom that is absent in a regular classroom setting, but there was still a healthy amount of accountability that kept me on top of things. Professor Butler did a wonderful job of replying to questions and assignments in a prompt manner. I experienced a few glitches with the actual course website throughout the semester. The program had difficulty cutting and pasting material from MS Word into the e-mail program and sending the message without distorting the assignment. Other than that, I was very pleased.

Excellent. I really had no problems. The only problem I encountered was to paste messages in my mailbox; sometimes they came out cut off.

Other comments:

This is my second on-line class that I have taken through the Seattle University, both classes required work, but they were also very rewarding! I will be back! Thanks for the opportunity to continue my education through on-line classes!!

EPDES 933: Materials Selection and Development in TESOL

Comments about course content:

Great! I felt that I really benefited from this course. I got many great ideas and information to start me in the ESL field through the course of this course. Although I did not sit in a real classroom, I did not feet that I missed any content or any classroom interaction. We were able to effectively communicate to learn about the subject.

I found this course to be extremely helpful in terms of finding new ideas for authentic material for my classroom...my students don't know what I'm going to bring in next for them!

The course was very interesting and practical. I felt it helped me organize my creative abilities in new directions. The workload was excessive. I would suggest a maximum of four written assignments a week.

Comments about course delivery:

It was well organized and delivered. The instructor was very competent and I was secure in her ability to teach and evaluate me in the course content. The online classes are new to me and I have really enjoyed taking them. I plan on taking as many as I need. It is a great program and I appreciate all the effort it has taken to get it started.

Amy and Bernice were wonderful instructors...I could always count on a quick response to my questions and even though Bernice was "lurking in the background," I was VERY pleased to get her input several times. I can't say enough about this class and the instructors.

The reader responded to my assignments very quickly. Her comments were encouraging and perceptive. Thanks! Have fun teaching!

EPDES 934: Developing ESOL Literacy

Comments about course content:

This course in Developing ESOL Literacy was taught/facilitated by Lauren. As with the other three classes I've taken, this one was very challenging, and for that I am grateful because I've discovered that teaching is a profession that easily rivals the law in it's challenges to perseverance, patience, and dedication. Now if I could just land a teaching job that pays half as much as some of my worst years as a practicing attorney, I'd be thrilled.

Nothing but positives really. Thanks.

The course delivery was smooth, after some initial email trouble getting connected with one another. The reader was entirely prompt and detailed in her comments and critiques.

The content of the class was good and relevant to my career. I'm already using material from the Raimes textbook and it will be a text that stands on my bookshelf in my office, and will probably be tattered within months. The instructor for this class helped me to understand the content, and I feel confident if I ever had to teach literacy skills, survival skills ESL class. The Bell and Burnaby text wasn't relevant to me, but that's because of the level of classes I normally teach.

It is a great course if you are teaching beginning students. If most of your work is with higher-level students it is not as useful. I didn't realize that before I took the course. I would either change the course to encompass a greater area of skill levels, or change the description of the course to explain that it focuses on low-level students.

Course content was good. I would suggest that textbooks be updated to reflect some of the newer theories on beginning reading.

I thought the books were really helpful and that the examples in them will be referred to a lot. Like in my 930 class I feel that I have a much better understanding of how to approach the ideas of writing and reading.

Comments about course delivery:

Course content is current and very relevant and I look forward to employing it as a first-chair teacher. Lauren was very helpful, responsive, and understanding of my difficulties with course content and the logistics of my on-ground class situation. She knows the subject and was very good at explaining topics that I found obscure. I have recommended these classes to a volunteer teacher here in Tyler, with the admonition that hard work is expected and required.

Course delivery was good. All of my assignments were returned to me with extensive comments. I never received this much individual attention in any in-person class I have taken.

EPDES 936: Teaching Content to English Language Learners

Comments about course content:

Taking this course helped me think about how to teach content to ESL students. While that sounds rather basic, I am thankful to have been taken through a retraining process in regards to how I think about forming a unit and lesson plan. Taking this course was worth my time and money. I am walking away with new skills that will benefit my students.

I have been enrolled in EDDES 936 "Teaching Content" for the Spring Term. I have found Kateri to be very positive and helpful in her responses to my work. She has also been honest when I have not been quite on target with my work. I wish her the best. I think her enthusiasm will continue to be contagious.

The course was very good. I found the readings and assignments useful in my teaching these last few months. I liked the way the final project was built into the course all along the way.

• Excellent feedback from instructor-very interested and interactive teacher.
• Good resources for activities from on-line sources.
• Very helpful activities (i.e. text adapting, determining what makes language hard, exposure to a variety of lessons from a variety of resources).
• Good Books.
• Good pacing of work-work load peak in mid semester.

This class was very informative. The activities given allowed us to find new fun and interesting ways to teach the LEP student. Application assignments given allowed us to use our own individual teaching strengths to design assignments. While other assignments took me out of my confront zone, but still allowed me to design assignments that would be useful while teaching content to the LEP student. 4/02

This was a terrific course! I liked it better than the Methodology course I took last quarter, though Methodology was also quite good. It seemed like the approach was revised somewhat between last quarter and this quarter. I think the revisions were effective. For this class, I appreciated the diverse sources of information. The use of internet reading assignments helped broaden my perspectives, and encouraged me to seek out TESL class material online for my own students. Also, the team assignment worked better for me than last quarter, maybe because the assignment had multiple parts, not just one essay. The textbooks were good, and I thought the content was very straightforward and relevant; it was accessible in terms of imagining how the theories could be applied in the classroom. The other thing I found very helpful about this class was the opportunity to read my classmates' assignments. When I put together my TESL notebook, I will include not only my own work but also the thoughtful and instructive perspectives of my classmates. A real bonus!

I really enjoyed this course. I felt like it put together how I was supposed to use the information I had learned in 930 and 932. The course was also applicable to current issues in the schools at present and how we address them. Plus it focused on the fact that cultural differences are a factor to be considered and made use of not a hindrance in learning.

The course offered a wide perspective of content-areas, bilingual and sheltered class options geared to K-12 classes in mainstream educational/institutional settings. The textbooks were excellent; they are now part of my library, so I expect to find a great deal of useful information in them.

Comments about course delivery:

Kateri did a great job. Her feedback was clear, intelligent and constructive. This winter has been crazy in the rest of my life and I have to confess, even though I love the content and the whole process, sometimes I just felt like dropping it. I think everyone who is working and going to school feels this way, and online definitely gives much-needed flexibility, but somehow going to school online also exacerbates the temptation to dropout because you don't ever get to see your teacher/classmates. Kateri's warm, supportive and friendly approach really helped humanize the experience and kept me going on days I wanted to give up. Thanks!!!!

EPDES 937: Linguistics for ESOL Teachers

Comments about course content:

This course was well organized and very informative. The text was very interesting and the application assignments allowed me to analyze issues in my own classroom.

Comments about course delivery:

I like the fact that the online format allows for flexibility with students' schedules. I was able to do my assignments on my own time which was a great benefit to me. The professor was very attentive and offered support when it was necessary. I truly enjoyed the course.

EPDES 938: Testing and Evaluating ESOL Students

Comments about course content:

Excellent information. Textbooks were challenging but helpful.

Comments about course delivery:

Excellent - great feedback and quick to respond to any questions. Feedback to mod assignments was prompt and helpful.

Bernice was one of the best TESOL instructors that I've had. She spent time above and beyond the call of duty in evaluating my work, giving me feedback, and answering my questions.

EPDES 939: Student-Centered Learning in TESOL

Comments about course content:

It was a really great class. I had never heard of the student centered concept and it is a great approach for the ESL classroom. Some of this material should be incorporated into the EPDES 930 course.

I thought the course content was VERY interesting, not only did I learn a lot about my own learning type, I have come away with a great deal of information about my students.

This was a perfect course for me. I tend to do things on my own and this tendency is too often reflected in my teaching style. Intellectually I have known for a long time that group process and student-centered learning are powerful tools for students in their language acquisition, but I struggled to incorporate these tools into my lesson plans. This course gave me practical, concrete strategies for redesigning my classes in ways that work better for students.

I probably shouldn't have taken this course. Having come from a middle school background and already having a masters in teaching (from a school that focused on student-centered methods), I now feel that I already had the essence of student-centered teaching, both in theory and practice. The material covered in this course was valid and interesting, but it was not unique to teaching ESL.

Comments about course delivery:

Amy had really great insights and she wasn't afraid to tell me when I was way off course. I appreciated her honesty and humor.

The reader was wonderful, reasonable and responsive to student realities and needs. Her comments were both incisive and delightful, making the learning experience a pleasurable and thought-provoking one.

I really liked Jo's friendly and approachable style; her openness worked well with the course content of group interaction. Jo really made an effort to get to help us get to know each other as classmates and corresponding with Jo felt like peer to peer. Her feedback was supportive and practical, and she did a great job balancing the roles of peer tutor and teacher. Using the discussion part of Embanet was also interesting, since I hadn't done that in my previous online courses.

At first I was frustrated with the fact that the Embanet platform was only being used for the delivery of assignments. Now I question whether it should be required at all. Everything could be delivered through the students' personal email accounts. After taking four courses from this school though, I have to say that the Embanet platform is good. It serves as the formal "school" for us Internet students. I like the formality of that, in addition to having all relevant information organized and available. This is a great school!

Jo was amazing. She always responded right away with in-depth emails. She took considerable time to listen to my struggles and joys in teaching ESL and she always had helpful advice. She is a consistent and fair grader.

EPDES 940: Self-Analysis and Improvement in TESOL

Comments about course content:

The course gave me good insight into my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher of ESL. The text was excellent. The activities were interesting and thought provoking.

The course was very interesting, providing many productive opportunities to apply the intellectual concepts in practice. I appreciated that the course was based on a textbook, rather than downloads from web sites.

I absolutely loved this book and felt that it was fun to read and do the activities assigned. I think that the assignments were easy to understand and helpful in making me think about what I could do to become a better English teacher. The activities seemed practical, and I know that I will use them to continue to be a better teacher.

Comments about course delivery:

The instructor's comments on my assignments were very encouraging and helpful to my growth as a teacher. It would be helpful if each instructor gave us only one email address, and we were told on the assignment pages not to send attachments through Embanet. Thank You!

The instructor was supportive, accessible and responsive. Instructor comments were returned in a timely manner and were always helpful, often offering a question that suggested an area for further consideration. The instructor offered a balance of constructive criticism & encouraging/validating comments. I loved this course!

Amy was always positive and supportive. I now that I would be advised as how to improve more and where I had been doing good. It was nice to have a teacher as positive as her. I always felt that I would be graded and evaluated fairly.

EPDES 945: Computer-Enhanced Language Teaching in ESOL

Comments about course content:

The content was incredibly rich. I have learned many useful techniques for enriching language learning with computer technology. (first person to take this course online - Spring Quarter, 2002)

I want to take a (another) course like the computer course that really gives me some good teaching ideas. (Winter Quarter 2005)

Comments about course delivery:

I appreciate having the opportunity to try new techniques with students, reflect on them, and receive feedback from the professor about my experiences and reflections. I have never had as much one-on-one attention from professors in any other university learning experience as I have in the School of TESL program.