TESOL MA Transitional B

We offer a 32-point Master of Arts degree in TESOL leading toward New York State PK-12 Transitional B Initial Teacher Certification. The program is designed for Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to transition into public school classrooms. Successful completion of this program of study leads to the M.A. degree and recommendation for New York State Initial Teacher Certification (grades PK-12). Students in this program balance full-time teaching in a NYCDOE school and graduate school coursework. They are supported in their program and teaching by the TESOL Program and the Peace Corps Fellows Program. Through comprehensive and innovative course work, hands-on experiences in New York City public schools, and research projects, Fellows explore the teaching and learning of English to PK-12 grade speakers of other languages.

In order to complete all degree requirements successfully, this program typically demands a minimum of two years, including summers. The first summer in the program includes intensive coursework and fieldwork to prepare students for their first year of teaching.

Candidates applying for initial certification in New York will be required to fulfill NYSED’s Content Core requirements for initial certification (see https://www.tc.columbia.edu/office-of-teacher-education/students/certification-requirements/initial-certification/ ). They will also be required to take and pass all required New York State exams for initial certification. For more information, please visit our OTE website: https://www.tc.columbia.edu/office-of-teacher-education/students/certification-requirements/certification-exams/

All courses must be passed with a grade of B- or above to count toward Initial New York State Certification.

General Courses (12 points):

• A&HL 4000: Educational linguistics (3)

• A&HL 4085: Pedagogical English grammar (3)

• A&HL 4087: Introduction to second language acquisition (3)

• A&HL 4088: Second language assessment (3)

Track Specific Courses in TESOL, PK-12 (14 points):

• A&HL 4076: TESOL methodologies for PK-6 (3)

• A&HL 4171: TESOL methodologies for 7-12 (3)

• A&HL 4185:  Pedagogical approaches in the content areas for teachers of PK-12 ESL (3)

• A&HL 5207: Fieldwork in TESOL (2)

• A&HL 5105: Classroom Discourse (or other TESOL/AL Elective) (3)

Breadth Courses (6 points)

• C&T 4501: Teaching and Learning in the Multicultural, Multilingual Classroom (3)

• C&T 4000: Disability, Exclusion and Schooling (3)

Required Exit Project

In addition to course requirements, students must complete a master’s degree project written on a research topic arising from their course-related interests and subject to approval by an advisor. This project can be a review of literature on a scholarly topic or a practice motivated review of literature review, and is normally completed at the beginning of the last semester of study. For more information, click here.