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| Ignatius Dharma, a graduate student in rural sociology from Indonesia, who will be a teaching assistant in Asian Studies, takes part with other TAs in an International TA Summer Training Program orientation class Aug. 8 in 213 Kennedy Hall. Charles Harrington/University Photography |
Since Aug. 3, more than 120 international teaching assistants and nearly a dozen instructors on campus have been participating in a new, two-week orientation program -- the International TA Summer Training Program -- designed to acclimate international teaching assistants to the culture of U.S. college classrooms and the Cornell campus before they begin teaching in the fall.
All international TAs (ITAs) at Cornell are required to take a pre-program screening interview to determine whether enrollment in Education 578, an intensive teaching-training course offered in the fall and spring semesters, is required. Until this summer, there was no program in place to help international TAs acclimate themselves to their new environment before classes started.
"A lot of times these students would come over in August, their clocks still on Pacific time, and they're thrown into this situation and they've had no time to adjust," said Susan Piliero, director of Cornell's Center for Learning and Teaching.
The stress on international graduate students cannot be overstated, especially when they are expected to take on the role of instructor as well as student, program administrators point out. The ITA development program can contribute to the overall confidence of international TAs as it helps them with their communication and pedagogical skills.
The development of the ITA summer program was expedited by a referendum passed by the Cornell Student Assembly in the fall of 2000. The referendum called for a policy requiring universitywide standardized English language testing of all international teaching assistants. Piliero said that while the students in the assembly embraced the notion of a body of international instructors, they were concerned about the barriers to learning brought about by linguistic and cultural differences. The referendum was sent to the administration and, in anticipation of changes in policy, Piliero and Ingrid Arnesen, director of the International TA Training Program, drafted a proposal for a summer program, which was quickly and unanimously approved by the provost and the academic deans. The existing screening policy to test ITAs for English proficiency was instituted on a universitywide basis where it had previous existed in four colleges. In May of this year all international graduate students who had teaching assistantships in the fall were sent a letter by the dean of the Graduate School encouraging them to join the summer program. Since some of the teaching assistants had already negotiated an appointment by that time, participation in the program was optional; next year, however, the program will be required.
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| Susan Piliero, left, director of Cornell's Center for Learning and Teaching, speaks with Farkhod Eshmator, a graduate student in mathematics during a break in the TA orientation class in Kennedy Hall, Aug. 8. Charles Harrington/University Photography |
"The process of designing and implementing this important university initiative has been extremely rewarding and challenging," said Arnesen. "What is most exciting is that setting up the program curricula involved collaboration between the ITA staff, the workshop facilitators and the experienced graduate TAs, who have all shared their areas of expertise with each other and the students in the program."
The program is intensive and broad in scope. Students are in the classroom at least four hours a day, five days a week, and often meet with their instructors for one-on-one conferences on the weekends. In addition to providing students with English-language instruction, specifically workshops on pronunciation, inflection and popular American idioms, the program acquaints incoming ITAs with different teaching approaches and provides them with the opportunity to practice teach in small groups under the supervision of experienced instructors and with the aid of videotape.
Piliero said these workshops are helpful because of the differences between the university systems in this country and internationally. "They are often much less egalitarian and there is less attention on the student," said Piliero about university systems abroad. "We are a much more individualistic society." In one workshop, titled "How Students Learn, How We Teach," ITAs learn about the different types of learners they may encounter in classes and about specific strategies for best reaching each kind of learner. Workshops are also given on diversity, student disability services and intercultural issues.
Outside of the classroom, participants in the program have the opportunity to explore the Cornell campus and the Ithaca area. Organized tours of the campus, the Taughannock Falls area, the Johnson Museum of Art and the Cornell Plantations run periodically throughout the two-week period.
How are ITAs responding to the program?
Wilson Perez, a native of Ecuador and a teaching assistant in the economics department, said he has been pleasantly surprised thus far. "They have done a nice job of synthesizing and organizing a lot of information. I feel more prepared now to take on my responsibilities," he said.
Alexandru Niculescu-Mizil, a native of Romania and a teaching assistant in the computer science department, found the workshop on student disability services particularly helpful. "Obviously we help people with disabilities in Romania, but we don't see them every day because there is no access. Now when a person in a wheelchair or a blind person comes into my class, I will know what resources are available," he said.
Zhenxing Zhang, a native of China who will be a teaching assistant in the environmental engineering department, said that, in China, he taught for a semester but did not receive any structured guidance. "I think it is very useful," he said of the program.
Piliero said that she and the ITA program staff know that "we're just scratching the surface," in the two-week program. But she believes the efforts the staff and the participants are making are worthwhile.
"Their first semester as graduate students I think will be enriched," Piliero said. "It's good for them and it's good for the students they'll be teaching."