Blog Address Change!

Thank you for visiting the MAT Admissions blog.  We’ve moved!

All the content of this blog, plus newer posts, are now hosted by SIT at http://blogs.sit.edu/tesol.

The new blog expands content and places increased emphasis on all TESOL-related activities by SIT Graduate Institute, its alumni, students, and faculty, as well as those of the Education unit of World Learning’s International Development Programs.  Now, the new blog can represent our whole organization’s capacities, distinctions, and vision.

The MAT Admissions blog lived at this address from October 2007 through February 2010.  For the freshest posts, please come visit us at the new location!

SIT INTERLINK Fellowship Announced

INTERLINK Language Centers and SIT Graduate Institute

Three-year Teaching Fellowships

June 21, 2010 – August 2013

INTERLINK Language Centers and SIT Graduate Institute are pleased to announce teaching fellowships for 2010-13.  Fellows enhance their teaching effectiveness through study in SIT’s MA in Teaching ESOL and employment at the Saudi INTERLINK Language Centers (SILC).  Fellowships consist of two summers of full-time study in Vermont, USA, and, at the Saudi INTERLINK Language Center at Al Yamamah University (YU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a one-year supervised internship and two years of full-time employment.

SIT Representatives Near You

Do you live near these places?  SIT representatives will be there!  If you are an alum, a prospective student, or a friend of SIT by your own definition, please come say hello!

Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening

Direct recordings from sets of brain cells revealed that three fundamentally distinct aspects of language (meaning, structure, and word sounds) are computed in a small part of the brain and in a tightly-timed sequence. (Illustration / Ned T. Sahin, PhD)

Reading, writing, speaking and listening are the four primary language skills.  They can be considered in several ways.  Here’s a common one:

• Expressive: speaking, writing.  A person can express themselves using language in these ways.
• Receptive: listening, reading.  A person receives someone else’s self-expression.

The enhancing of these language skills occurs in classrooms, on the job, and in just plain old living.  For language teachers, the ways of science, art, and parents everywhere have been utilized in various forms to increase both first and second language competency.

Let’s look at science.

New Scholarship for Tibetans

The Trace Foundation announces a new scholarship!  Designed as in-service training for English teachers in Qinghai and Gansu provinces, the scholarship was created to increase individuals’ capacities.

To apply, please follow Trace Foundation application instructions.  Application deadline is March 15, 2010.

3 Ways to Visit SIT

What are some ways to deepen your knowledge of the SIT Graduate Institute this spring?  Mary Kay Sigda of the Admissions Office describes 3 ways, a campus open house, a virtual open house, and a personalized visit.

Mary Kay Sigda

How to Write a Successful Proposal

This post reviews Barbara Rupert’s article, “How to Write a Successful Proposal for the ACTFL Convention,” in The Language Educator (November 2009, vol. 4, issue 6).  Members of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages can access the article in context.

Using experience as a guide, Ms Rupert describes the multiple stages of thinking that can lead to presenting at a meeting of a professional association of any kind, not just those teaching foreign languages.  While her article is written from the perspective of this association, its content is easily transferred to other professional contexts.

Slowing Down the Moment of Transition

Marshall Brewer

Slowing down the moment of transition from 2009 to 2010 can be done in several ways.  An advantage is that doing so can help make the emotional experience of change less uncomfortable.

One way to slow down change is to examine it closely.

• What happened before?
• How do I feel about that? 

Blog on Break

Boyce House on the SIT Campus in Winter

The semester has ended and students have gone.  Beginning today, SIT will be closed through the rest of 2009 and reopen again on Monday, January 4, 2010.

How was your 2009?  What are your wishes for 2010?

Teacher Training Institute

For many years, SIT has offered courses that support professional development of people working in settings of intercultural learning and with critical global issues.  The Teacher Training Institute, which takes place online in the winter and spring, and on campus in June, is one such example.

Who should come?  SIT alumni, teachers in any discipline and teaching context, teacher trainers, supervisors and mentors of teachers, and other professionals who wish to deepen their practice will find advantage in these online courses.  Please note that a completed application must be received two weeks prior to the start of the course.   Contact details below.

Winter 2010 Online Courses

It’s in winter the form of the tree is visible.

1.  Supervision: An Educative Process

Faculty: Jack Millet

Supervision is teaching.  It is a process of educating.