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From the Program Coordinator, Joye Smith

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Joye Smith

Associate Professor, Graduate Programs in TESOL and Bilingual Extension, Middle & High School Education

Thank you for your interest in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Bilingual programs.  We are surrounded by some of the most linguistically and culturally diverse neighborhoods on the planet, and our graduates serve in classrooms, pupil personnel service departments, and administrations throughout the New York City region and even the world.

For those teachers already certified by New York State in another subject area but who desire additional certification in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), we offer Sequence 1 of the TESOL master’s degree (30 credits).  If you already have your master’s degree and NYS certification, then you are eligible for the TESOL Advanced Certificate (21 credits), which also leads to ESOL certification.

For teachers who have a liberal arts and sciences bachelor’s degree but no education coursework and who wish to pursue ESOL certification, we offer Sequence 2 (36-39 credits).  For the final student teaching practicum, we will place you in model ESL classrooms in the Bronx and surrounding areas for an outstanding apprenticeship. However, should the opportunity become available, you are also eligible to work full-time as NYS ESOL teacher after successfully completing half of our program credits.

Our TESOL programs are geared toward those seeking ESOL PreK-12 certification, but we do offer Sequence 3 (30-33 credits) for aspiring teachers of adult ESL.

For teachers fluent in another language and certified by NYS as a classroom teacher PreK-12, we offer the Bilingual Extension PreK-12 (12-15 credits) to extend the base, monolingual certificate so that the candidate may also teach his or her subject area in the native language.

Candidates must meet with the program coordinator prior to applying for matriculation. Matriculation deadlines are on October 15 and April 15.

We are proud to offer programs that combine a strong theoretical and historical preparation in linguistics, grammar, second language acquisition, cultural perspectives, and bilingual education, as well as a hands-on, practical, research-based approach to teaching language and content literacy to English language learners (ELLs) of all ages.