Scholarship / Training teachers - How the Program Fits Your Education and Future Plans, FLTA Essay [2]

This essay is to apply FLTA (Foreign Language Teaching Assistant)

ORIGINAL PROMPT
Write a clear and detailed description of your objectives.
Give reasons for wanting to participate in the program.
Explain how the FLTA Program fits with your previous education/training and your future objectives.
Describe your future plans.
THIS STATEMENT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR APPLICATION.

Reasons for wanting to participate in the program.
I always remember what Stephen Krashen, a professor emeritus at the University of Southern California usually says in his lectures. There are two groups of language learners. The one supporting grammar argues that to master a foreign language, one must master the grammar rule before they can speak it. The other group believes that language is mastered by the process of acquisition. I believe in the latter concept and have been doing it during my career as an English teacher for more than four years at company z. I believe I can improve my techniques of applying the concept by teaching my native language Indonesian through FLTA program.

Teaching Indonesian to foreigners is not a new experience for me. During my undergraduate study in xxx University, I joined a program called CLS (Critical Language Scholarship). It was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the hosting institution was xxx University through its Indonesian for Speakers of other Languages. I made friends with some American students which I could use my skills to implement the teaching techniques of Indonesian. During the program, I was assigned as a peer tutor where I accompanied my student to practice his Indonesian. We practiced conversing in Indonesian after he finished his regular class in places such as malls and shops. Prior to CLS I also joined a similar program called In Country, where I was also a peer tutor to teach Indonesian to a Thai student. Both programs lasted for two months.

Besides teaching Indonesian, my teaching experience includes training teachers. At the moment, I am an active committee of an NGO named WKGM (Wong Kito Galo Mengajar). I have been an advisor as well as the head of curriculum in WKGM for more than a year. It is an organization which members are the volunteers from the students and tutors in English Village, East Java. We teach English to elementary school students whose school is in the heart of English Village. My duty is mostly providing micro teaching training to the volunteers. Most of them are not from English pedagogy program. We do micro teaching activities regularly on Friday evening before we teach the students on the following day, Saturday afternoon. I also work together with the other committee to improve the quality of our volunteers' English by communicating in English for every occasion. It helps them improve their English through natural acquisition. They are really excited and try their best in communicating. It also helps them to gain confidence in teaching their students.

How the FLTA Program fits with your previous education/training and your future objectives.
Based on my observation as a teacher at company z as well as my experience as a student at company z, native teachers tend to emphasize communication over explaining grammar rule which works well. This raises my curiosity and encourages me to sharpen my skills in teaching English by joining FLTA program. Through this program I wish to improve my English by living and studying in the US. I need more perspective related to the culture of the people so that I will not only teach the language but also share the way people in the US live to my students. I also seek to gain more English pedagogy knowledge by auditing some courses such as Psychology in Language Teaching and Teaching Grammar.

If I am accepted, I will actively involve in cultural events run by my host university and Indonesian Students Association or PPI. I am going to introduce Indonesian food, traditional games, culture and Javanese writing system called aksara Jawa. I will also introduce them in my classes so that my students will not only learn Indonesian but also gain a first hand experience of Indonesian culture.

Describe your future plans.
Upon my return, I will use my credentials from attending FLTA program to apply scholarships for a master's degree in TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) since I need it to be a lecturer. I have decided to be a lecturer to have a bigger influence in spreading English teaching techniques as well as promoting study in the US to recent and future English teachers. I am experienced in teaching but I have limited theories and research literature related to English teaching. Pursuing a master's degree in TESOL will help me to cover these issues.

In addition, I want to help my community through education. I will start with an English education center where I can help the children in the community to access affordable yet quality English teaching. I also will be capable of helping young talents who seek information for scholarship abroad, especially to the US based on my experience applying FLTA program. I can guide them to fulfill the requirements for the scholarships with programs such as essay coaching and English training.

Scholarship / Teaching context outline and an action plan containing measures to benefit a community [2]

-outline briefly your teaching context
-submit an action plan of what you would do to benefit your community with particular reference to in-service training

This is an essay to apply for a scholarship to join the annual conference in ELT (English Language Teaching) next year in the UK.

Posting multiple essays in different threads = suspension.

scholarship application letter

My name is Dany and I live in Kediri, Indonesia. I have loved English since I was a child because my family used to teach me English and I had been exposed to the language with cartoons, movies and songs. I performed well at school and these led me to study at English department in one of the best universities in Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Malang. Now I hold a degree in both English Literature and Education and have been teaching for three years at EF English First, the company that owns one of the English centers where I used to study.

I teach mostly young learners but I also have teenagers as well adults pupils. I teach various skills and wide range of materials using EF's curriculum and external supporting materials such as course books like New Cutting Edge and New English File. Using various techniques that I have learned from EF trainings and self-study that I do, we practice English skills and discuss the topics from the book where we use English as the medium of instruction and communication wholly. I love teaching English since I feel satisfied seeing my students improve their skills and gain confidence as well as become more prepared in their life in the future. This way I can help to contribute to my community and country.

Upon my return, I am planning to conduct training to my colleagues at EF. I plan to attend the talks related to teaching methods and references about learners difficulties and special needs students such as students with autism spectrum disorder, students who are dyslexic and students who has deficit attention. I will have learned plethora of new knowledge from the conference and they will provide me an insight of refreshed ideas and skills in teaching that will be helpful to disseminate to my colleagues. Those are the problems that we face at the moment since we have limited knowledge about them and it results our teaching practice not to be prepared for those challenges.

I will share what I will have learned by doing workshops for my colleagues. At EF, each teacher has opportunities to do workshops bimonthly to share their best practices and challenges and get feedbacks from everyone. This will be a great time to promote IATEFL's scholarships as well as its activities so that hopefully more teachers will interested to join.

Thank you for the opportunity. Hopefully I will make it.

Essays / Outline briefly your teaching context [3]

To be considered for the scholarship you must submit a statement of between 400 and 500 words in which you:
-outline briefly your teaching context
-submit an action plan of what you would do to benefit your community with particular reference to in-service training

scholarship statement essay questions

I'm stuck with ideas. Can anyone help?
This is a scholarship essay to join an annually conference on English Language Teaching held by IATEFL for 2018 round in Brighton, the UK.

What I can think of is, divide the essay into two parts (as the questions suggest).
1. Then, in the first part, I talk about my teaching job in the past, present and my plan for teaching in the future. Is that good enough?

2. In the second part, I talk about my plan upon returning to my country which is giving my colleagues training about what I will have learned in the conference. Is that what the essay asks?

Writing Feedback / Australian teenagers and junk foods in their diet [4]

The line graph below shows changes in the amount and type of fast food consumed by Australian teenagers from 1975 to 2000.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

This is my first attempt practicing on writing IELTS' Task 1 essay.

Fish and chips on antipodes

The graph shows the consumption of fast food by Australian teenagers during 1975 until 2000. It displays the number of eaten per year for pizza, fish and chips and hamburgers within the period.

Overall fish and chips were eaten the most at the beginning of the period even though after two years, it decreased. In contrast, both pizza and hamburgers were eaten less at the beginning of the period but gradually they raised the number of eaten per year from the middle of the period.

Fish and chips were eaten 100 times per year in 1975 when pizza and hamburgers were at the bottom of the graph which were below 20. The former decreased five years later even though raised back again after that. However, in 1985 it dived down slightly below 40 times a year in 2000.

On the other hand, the rest of the fast food both raised constantly without going down even once. Fish and chips raised 100 in 2000 becoming the most eaten fast food. The later stopped raising in 1995 at 82, constantly stable in the position until 2000.

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  Graph
  

Scholarship / Master TESOL - special subjects or skills that you would like to include in your choice? - AAS Essay [3]

Additional Information Essay for AAS

Program: Master TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages)

I would like to enroll in a CELTA or ICELT program to support my future career which might include training English teachers. It can help me equip myself with the latest, practical cutting-edge techniques and knowledge in English teaching for young learners, teenagers and adults. Since they are quite prestigious and exclusive, not many teachers have the opportunity to study them while the courses are crucial to help them understand how language works and how it is best taught to students.

In addition, I am willing to join a program that allows me to experience how English teaching to immigrants take place in Australia. It will provide me a better picture of English teaching with different settings and backgrounds such as religions, races and language barriers compared to the one that we have in my country. I hope by experiencing that, I can implement the effective ways of teaching English where the conditions are also challenging here in Indonesia. Similar to it, I am also eager to have an opportunity to observe the practice of English teaching in Australian schools. Any good points that will emerge will provide a great impact in my dissemination of the knowledge and skills to the teachers and lecturers in my country who I will be working with.

Next, one of the subjects that I am going to take is Supporting Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. However, the delivery of teaching does not include direct observation of the teaching and learning process to the students with autism disorder. It would be great if I have the chance to do it to support my experience in teaching and observing the students with such condition.

The last, I am willing to learn about the skills of managing a language school. Even though it is not compulsory for an English teacher, I feel that teachers need to have the knowledge and skills on it in order to run their schools smoothly. This knowledge is also crucial for those who are eager to start their own school and I am willing to be part of the people who shares it.

Scholarship / Checking different internet articles to get information about AAS [2]

Scholarship: Australia Awards Scholarship (AAS)
Program: Master TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages)

Please describe the efforts you have undertaken so far to obtain information on your study options in Australia.

sources of my info

I have known AAS from articles by AAS awardees on the Internet and my lecturer. From the articles, I was led to visit AAS official website to obtain the form and complete information related to AAS. AAS website is really helpful to me. It provides a completely detailed information about anything that I must prepare to consider my study options in Australia. Some lecturers of mine have been awarded AAS and through them I found useful information about it.

I managed to get a copy of AAS information CD from AAS website and I also joined scholarship seminars and social media forums to find more information about the study in Australia.

I visited the universities' website and read the handbooks to find specific information about TESOL program that they offer especially the courses in it. I also visited their alumni's blog to learn about how everything works in the university and the study environment. Early this year, I visited an education fair hosted by IDP Education to learn more about the TESOL program offered by the universities.

Scholarship / Practical examples to use the knowledge and possible constraints - AAS Essay [6]

Please:- a) give up to three practical examples of how you intend to use the knowledge, skills and connections you will gain from your scholarship. Possible tasks can be personal and/or professional; and

b) list any possible constraints you think may prevent you from achieving these tasks.

Program = TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages)
2000 characters

a) First example is adopting and implementing the way Australian lectures teach the students who will become English teachers in the future. Second, conducting researches related to English teaching practice that aims to overcome the issues of English teaching and learning practice in Indonesia. In addition, I can have collaborations with my connections such as the other AAS awardees, lecturers and friends in the university where I am accepted.

b) One possible challenge is the support from the government and the institution where I teach that might not be as I expect. Another is the fact that the curriculum in Indonesia which constantly changes every time we have a new Minister of Education. The last is the facilities in the institution such as laboratory, library, multimedia equipment and journals that might not be adequate enough to support the teaching and learning process as well as research conduct.

Scholarship / How will the suggested study benefit my future? - AAS Essay [5]

How will the proposed study contribute to your career? - AAS Essay

2000 characters

My proposed course is TESOL

(Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages)

I'm not satisfied with this essay, because mainly I talk about the academic benefits. Should I talk about the professional benefits too? Help me expand it. Thank you.

The program will shape my critical thinking and skills in teaching English to future teachers. The experience will provide me plenty of insights of how English teaching should be done and give me the skills in second language acquisition theory, research and practice as well as curriculum planning principals in order to polish what I have got so far so that I can make a significant difference in English teaching. I can also use my connection from the Australian university to support research , training and teaching project with my university in the future.

Scholarship / How have you contributed to solving a challenge and to implementing change or reform? - AAS [3]

How have you contributed to solving a challenge and to implementing change or reform? (Be specific and include: what aspect/s of your leadership knowledge, skills and practice you consider to be well established and effective; which people or organisations you worked with to solve the problem; and what creative methods were used.)

2000 characters
One of the essays for Australia Awards Scholarship

ineffective methods of teaching English

I have been struggling to spread the concept of second language acquisition in English language teaching. However, people find it hard to follow the idea since most of them believe, grammar is a must to master English. There is a place called Kampung Inggris in Kediri, where there are around a hundred and eighty three English courses and camps. That place was established forty years ago. The students come from all over Indonesia and some countries such as Thailand, Yemen and Sudan to deepen their English or study it from beginner level. Yet, the tutors still teach English the same way. They teach it in Indonesian, with lots of drilling, and by using grammar-focused method. Students would sit down and listen while the tutor does the lecturing. Then, they would practice in pairs or groups. Grammar rules are memorized and students are expected to be able to make perfectly grammatical sentences in the end of the program. They don't get much exposure such as English stories, articles, videos or listening materials.

I was a teacher there in an institution called Brilliant English course. I taught speaking program for beginner students. Instead of using grammar-drilling method, I conducted language acquisition principal where I used English most of the time to make the students used to it, even though they found it difficult at first in understanding my instructions. I also used tons of handouts to make them able to produce more language. They didn't just sit and listen and we did a lot of games as warmers and fillers. I encouraged my students to interact in English and I also played English videos and listening materials to help my students obtain as many exposures as possible. The grammar point was introduced for a few minutes; then we practiced the grammar in a lively way such as mingle, role play, running dictation or group work. The result was great. Although it was only a month-class, my students felt comfortable to speak to me in English all the time.