TESOL MA Transitional B

We offer a 32-point Master of Arts degree in TESOL leading toward PK-12 Transitional B 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 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 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 is 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 project written on a research topic arising from their course-related interests and subject to approval by their assigned 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.