Florida ranks third in the country in the number of students who don’t speak English, yet over 40 percent of teachers do not have the appropriate training. In spite of this, Florida state universities don’t offer any degrees that better prepare teachers for situations like this — that is, until now.
These facts were presented by the interim dean of the College of Education, Valerie Bristor, when she proposed a new master’s degree in teaching English as a second language (TESOL) and bilingual education (BE). This will better prepare educators who want to go into the field of teaching non-English speakers.
The Board of Trustees, FAU’s 13-member decision-making body, will vote on the final approval of the program on May 26. It is on track to be approved and ready by this fall, as planned.
“We don’t suspect that there will be any trouble in the next Board of Trustees meeting,” says associate professor and director of the College of Education’s TESOL certificate program Hanizah Zainuddin. “This program has already been [unanimously] preapproved by the subcommittee of the Board of Trustees, and I don’t believe there will be any rejection to this.”
Zainuddin, along with Joan Friedenberg, coordinator and professor of TESOL and bilingual education, had previously written a letter to the federal government in and effort to improve the English language education in Florida.
“There’s no state-approved program such as this one in Florida, and it seemed like it was a problem. That’s why we decided to write a letter to the federal government — and now they’re even funding us.”
After two years of the program being in the works, the U.S. Department of Education granted FAU $1.5 million to begin the new project — which also covers some of the faculty salary costs, tuition funding for 12 fulltime students and scholarships.
Though there is no specific number of students who will be enrolled in this program, there are 42 potential ones who want to pursue the new master’s degree, according to various surveys done in the College of Education.
One student, who is also a teacher for the Palm Beach County school district, expresses that holding such a degree will enable her to further her career in education.
“This degree exposes and prepares teachers to different sides of the TESOL program,” says Simone Tuinhof de Moed, a curriculum instruction graduate student switching to the master’s of TESOL and BE. “Because of this, I will be able to be more participant as a voice, and will be more equipped to prepare my students.”
If approved, this program is expected to bring attention to FAU and awareness to the importance of having a degree of this kind in Florida.
“English is the international language,” says Silvina Storfer, a reading education graduate student. “I think it’s good to have a program like this one, and I really feel like it will be a great advantage to have it at FAU.”
