Abstract:

Empirical studies of student teachers’ experience with learning how to teach in class are absent from the extant literature. 30 student teachers participated in this study. They worked as English assistants in two different English villages where one-day English immersion program is taken place. In the English villages, six to eight situational classrooms, such as a hotel, a restaurant and airport customs were set up and manned with native teachers to teach students from neighboring elementary schools appropriate conversations accordingly. The role of the student teachers was to assist the native teachers in the class, being teaching assistants. The main responsibilities of them were to help the teachers with the classroom management, teaching activities, and sometimes, actual teaching. This was a 2-credit hour compulsory course for TESOL-majored students, which was chosen to enrich their teaching experience. At the end of the practicum course, students learned far more than what they had expected initially. In this study, the participants were required to submit a written report of their learning and an oral report which illustrated their reflections on the TESOL practicum experience. Data collected from both written and oral reports were transcribed and analyzed. The results revealed that the participants had learned a great deal which could be classified into three categorized of learning: teaching methods, classroom management and personal growth.

Keywords:

Student teacher, English village, English immersion program, situational classroom, personal growth.