Letter of Summation

Huizi Zhao
At this moment, while I am writing this letter of summation, I realize that I am
approaching the end of the TESOL program that I have studied for almost two years.
It was impossible for me to teach foreigners English before I studied TESOL. In other
words, I started from novice to being professional during this period. I have learned
so many knowledges here, not only about TESOL, but about communicating and
opportunities to touch different world. There were challenges in TESOL program for
me. Every step for me was full of cautious and worries. I still remember the feeling
that the first time I observed an ESL class and taught mini-lesson in front of the
classmates. Now, after all the way through, I can make lesson plans and teach classes
without fear. I sincerely appreciate all the teachers and friends who helped me and
supported me when I was afraid of stepping out my comfort zone.

First of all, the methodologies and theories that I have taken here helped me a lot
with a variety of aspects. In component A&B classes, I was introduced to professional
standards of teaching as self-discipline and basic occupational requirements. In
framework and method class, I learned about different ways of teaching and
delivering the lesson, and I realized that there are more interesting and attractive
ways to teach English than the way I had learned about in school. In addition, I have
learned how to teach different skills in methodology classes. The reason that I love
TESOL teachers who have taught me in the program are that they showed me kinds

of approaches to lead students to participate and enjoy the class and they gave me
many hints to make class interesting and flexible.

Secondly, the task for observing other ESL classes was an important step for me to be
able to directly see differences among levels and skills. I observed levels from
beginners to advanced and varied skills like oral development and writing. In each
observation report, I analyzed the new information in the class and how to adapt it
to my future teaching plan. Now looking back on the observation notebook, it
showed how I learned from observing and recorded my growth as educator.

Finally, I joined tutoring program and student teaching when I was learning TESOL.
Tutoring for me was like a warm-up for teaching real ESL class. I had tutored five
beginners in total. It was clear to see that every student has diverse personalities
when I tutored them one-to-one. My tutees had different weaknesses that I needed
to address separately, which was good for me to practice teaching various skills. One
thing l learned from tutoring is that teachers need to be patient and think in
students position, and I used it on student teaching. In student-teaching classes, I
met students from different countries who had little knowledge of English. My
instructor always told us to make lesson plans that based on students level and blind
side. Furthermore, during the time when I was student-teaching, I practiced the
methods in learned and put them into the appropriate use. As the matter of fact,
when I saw how students reacted to my lessons, I knew that the knowledges I have

learned are from experiences and summary from years of teaching.

To sum up, the knowledges that I learned are beyond my expectation when I started
it. Beside the courses and programs that I joined, the workshops and TESOL
conferences that TESOL Office introduced were as useful as aforementioned studies. I
am excited to bring my enlighrments and experiences that I learned here to my
future teaching career. I will develop a personalized and comfortable learning
environment for my students.