Provider Celta TESOL

Background: I am applying for the Peace Corps. I am told I will be located in Asia in a university setting. I have taught refugees, male and female, adult beginners in english, who escaped to the U.S. during the Vietnam War. I currently teach conversational english to female students (intermediate level) who are spouses, mothers, or daughters of visiting professors, post-docs, or men getting their PhDs at oregon State University in the U.S. I worked for 26 years for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. I was a Project Manager, in charge of animals and plant experiments flying into space in the space shuttle. I was in charge of training astronauts to deal with the animals in flight, staffing the laboratory back-up personnel in preparation for landing at different sites in the U.S. and Europe, and for training the air-to-ground communication crews who supported us. I worked with various engineering and science groups in japan, Netherlands, and germany in designing hardware to house the plant and animal specimens. What I have personally gained from this course: 1. This course has given me a broader understanding of the spectrum of what I might be asked to do in the Peace Corps. I don’t know yet what my assignment will be - perhaps teach, converse, plan programs, and/or deal with a different age range than I now teach. 2. I’ve been exposed to the wide variety of on-line support materials in this course that are currently not used where I teach. The materials at my Conversation school are frankly, outdated. This is great! 3. I’ve been forced to think about a whole new area for me – teaching children. 4. I’ve learned a lot about new resources, and areas that I need to study that I didn’t know existed. What I plan to do with this course – 1. Use the reference materials a lot. 2. Use the course Units as essential aids when I plan courses, whether I work as a formal or informal teacher.