BA in TESOL

   Program Director: Lauren Heffernan; Lauren.Heffernan@qc.cuny.edu

This major prepares students for an Initial Certificate to teach English as a New Language (also called English as a Second Language or English to Speakers of Other Languages) in New York State public schools (all grades). The program involves both elementary and secondary schooling: it provides a student teaching course and field experiences in two methods courses at both levels.

For students who matriculated at Queens College in Summer 2019 or later
Students must successfully complete the entrance and maintenance requirements for the TESOL major (see below), and undertake the following course work: (1) the general Queens College degree requirements (see Academic Advising Center); (2) Requirements for the Major (see below); and (3) Additional Certification Requirements (see below).

 

Entrance & Maintenance Requirements

Entrance
Students will be admitted to the major if they have a minimum GPA of 3.00 and are able to demonstrate written academic English proficiency (detailed below under How to Declare the Major).

Maintenance
In addition to the required coursework, candidates will be admitted to LCD 341 (Student Teaching I) only if they have a minimum overall GPA of 3.00 in the major, a minimum final grade of B in LCD 241, and meet the professionalism requirements made by the Education Unit for Entry into Clinical Practice and Student Teaching. Students will be admitted to LCD 342 (Student Teaching II) only if they have earned a B or better in LCD 341.

 

How to Declare the Major

1. Students must have a minimum GPA of 3.00. In order to provide evidence of this, email copies of all prior and current college transcripts to the advisor, Jennifer Stengel-Mohr: jennifer.stengelmohr@qc.cuny.edu.
2. Students must demonstrate written academic English proficiency by passing the program’s WPT or by providing proof of one of the following external test results: a New York State ELA Regents grade of 85 or greater, a Writing and Language SAT score of 550 or greater, or an English ACT score of 11 or greater. If submitting test results, please email copies of scores to the advisor. Be sure that you have passed the ELPT or submitted equivalent test results before proceeding to the next step.
3. After completing steps 1 and 2, email jennifer.stengelmohr@qc.cuny.edu to schedule an appointment with the advisor for initial advisement. During this meeting, you will receive a signed Declaration of Major form and create a schedule of courses.
4. Submit the signed Declaration of Major form to the QC Hub (Dining Hall, room 128).

 

Requirements for the Major

• Satisfactory completion of the following courses (see course descriptions):
  • LCD 101. Introduction to Language
  • LCD 102. Analyzing Language
  • LCD 120. The Syntactic Structure of English I
  • LCD 130. The Sound Structure of English
  • LCD 205. Sociolinguistics
  • LCD 206. Bilingualism
  • LCD 220. The Syntactic Structure of English II
  • LCD 240. Second Language Acquisition and Teaching
  • LCD 241. Methods and Materials of TESOL: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing (4 cr.)
  • LCD 307. Assessment in TESOL
  • LCD 312. Literacy and Language Arts in Multicultural Populations
  • LCD 340. Methods and Materials of TESOL: The Content Areas
  • LCD 341. Student Teaching Internship in TESOL I (5 cr.)
  • LCD 342. Student Teaching Internship in TESOL II (5 cr.)
  • SEYS 201/201W. Historical, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
    • or EECE 201W. Schooling in Diverse Communities
  • SEYS 221. Development and Learning in Middle Childhood and Adolescence
  • EECE 310. Children in Cultural Contexts I: Child Development
  • ECPSE 350. Foundations of Special Education
• No course will count toward the major with a grade lower than C-.
• Satisfying New York State certification requirements; see departmental advisor for details.

 

Additional Certification Requirements

• Two courses in American History as follows: HIST 103 and 104.
• A minimum of 12 credits or the equivalent of study of a language other than English (LOTE). Students may be granted the equivalence of 3-12 LOTE credits of this requirement (without the awarding of actual college credits) by exam.
• CLEP Exams: A score of 50 on the CLEP exams in French, Spanish, or German will count as equivalent to 6 credits. A score of 59 in French, 60 in German, and 63 in Spanish will provide the equivalence of 9 credits.
• NYU Exams: Other credit-equivalence for the purpose of this requirement options include New York University Foreign Language Proficiency tests, which include over 40 languages. A score of 12 points will be equivalent to 9 credits, and 16 points to 12 credits.
• European Union Official Exams: Level A1= 3 credits, A2=6 credits, B1= 9 credits, B2=12 credits. These exams are given at semi-official cultural institutions such as the Cervantes Institute, Alliance Française, Instituto Italiano di Cultura, and the Goethe Institute.
• Confucius Institute: HSK Chinese Proficiency exams, Level 1=3 credits, Level 2= 6 credits, Level 3 =9 credits, Level 4=12 credits. Sign up here.
• ACTFL Exams: Novice High = 6 credits, Intermediate Mid = 9 credits, and Intermediate High or above = 12 credits. ACTFL offers exams in more languages than any other option. Sign up here.  You must take all four modalities (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) and you will receive the credits corresponding the modality in which you receive the lowest score.  Consequently, this option is best for languages not available through the EU National Exam.
• Evidence of LOTE study at an institution outside the U.S.
• Students may consult with the undergraduate adviser from the QC department if the relevant language is taught at the college in order to determine the appropriate exam level to target.
• Scores and credits may be combined as long as they involve different languages (e.g., CLEP 50 in German and 6 college credits of Korean; 4 college credits of Japanese, 8 credits of Spanish). College credits in a sign language (e.g., ASL) are accepted. Other systems of showing LOTE learning such as Military Language Proficiency Tests are also acceptable at the discretion of the program. LCD 101 or 102, although they meet the Language College Option Requirements, are not accepted.
• State Tests and Seminars: All students will be advised by the Advisor of additional New York State certification requirements (tests, seminars, etc.).

 

Advisement

• Students must arrange an initial advisement session with the Undergraduate TESOL advisor,
• Jennifer Stengel-Mohr: jennifer.stengelmohr@qc.cuny.edu, in order to be admitted into the major and prior to the first semester of study in the major (see “How to Declare the Major” above).  Following initial advisement, students must keep the advisor informed of any and all changes to their initial advisement worksheets, and should meet with the advisor regularly.  Appointments can be booked by emailing jennifer.stengelmohr@qc.cuny.edu. Evidence of advisement, major, and certification requirement completion should be uploaded to the Bb organization, QC TESOL Majors.
• All course sequencing will be established at the initial advisement session.
• Courses possible to take prior to the first fall semester in the major include: LCD 101, LCD 120, HIST 103, HIST 104, SEYS 201, SEYS 221, EECE 310, and LOTE. Register for SEYS and EECE classes by contacting those departments.
• By the end of the first fall semester of study in the major, students should have completed as many of SEYS 201, SEYS 221, and EECE 310 as possible.
• For NYSED program codes, see the Certification Office Program Code search tool found here.

 

Take advantage of these opportunities

 

Financial Aid Possibilities

As a student seeking your first initial certification, you may qualify for the Teacher Opportunity Corps, which provides mentoring plus some financial assistance. You can find an application and more information at the following link: https://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Degrees/Education/Pages/TOC.aspx

​​​​​​​​

Option for Accelerated Masters of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Education

This option will allow qualified students to complete their BA and MA in a shorter period of time and at less cost by taking up to 12 credits of graduate coursework within the BA.

With the permission of the Undergraduate and Graduate Advisors, the following four (4) graduate courses may be taken in place of the regular undergraduate courses in Year 3 and Year 4 of the Applied Linguistics: TESOL BA:

• EECE 702. Social Foundations of Education [Replaces EECE/SEYS 201W]
• EECE 711. Ecological Perspectives on Development: The Childhood Years [Replaces EECE 310W]
• ECPSE 550. Foundations of Special Education [Replaces ECPSE 350]
• EECE 520. Language Development and Emergent Literacy [Replaces LCD 312]

NOTE: Admission into this program is limited to students with a GPA of 3.5 in the major.