Graduate Education Office

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL)

Introducing a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) Program in the College of Education, University of Missouri – St. Louis

The Limited English Proficient (LEP) student growth rate in Missouri is more than 90% over the past twenty years, with highest growth in the past five years (2000-2005) (Sengsavanh, 2005). Approximately 35% of Missouri’s 18,745 English language learners (ELL’s), or 6,389, live and go to school in the school districts that surround St. Louis. The need to prepare more ESOL endorsed teachers is growing and there has not been any public university that has the TESOL programs in St. Louis areas.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) prepares the largest number of teachers in the State of Missouri. In 2007 the College of Education (COE) started a program that adds Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) endorsement to teacher certification. The TESOL graduate courses are now available to classroom teachers and can be taken to complete a Graduate Certificate program (shown on the academic transcript) or within the requirement for an M.Ed. degree in Secondary Education with emphasis on TESOL.

The following six TESOL courses (18 credit hours) are required for DESE ESOL teaching endorsement and the UMSL Graduate Certificate.

Tch Ed 6210: Foundations of TESOL
Tch Ed 6220: Principles of Second/Foreign Language Acquisition
Tch Ed 6230: Cross-Cultural Communication in the Classroom
Tch Ed 6240: Assessment for TESOL
Tch Ed Methods & Materials for TESOL
Tch Ed: Practicum in TESOL

The additional core Education courses (15 credit hours) for an M.Ed. are:

Tch Ed 6010: Examining History, Community and Social Justice in Education
Tch Ed 6020: Teacher Action, Advocacy and Leadership
Tch Ed 6030: Instruction, Learning and Assessment
Ed Rem 6040: Teacher Research
Tch Ed 6910: Teacher Action Research Capstone

For more information, contact Dr. Kim Song at songk@umsl.edu or 314-516-5924.