American English Institute – SLAT Intern Program

1. See Prof. Susan Guion to enroll in Linguistics 409 class and be able to provide a copy of your free times for that term. During the second week of the university’s term, you will receive a placement for your internship at the AEI, providing your schedule matches an AEI class for which the teacher is willing to take an intern.

2. When you receive your placement, contact your supervising teacher to set up a meeting time. You have to meet with your supervising teacher before reporting to class. At the meeting, you and the supervising teacher will go over guidelines, talk about expectations, and formulate logical goals for your internship. Before the meeting, please read the AEI’s philosophy of instruction, overview of the curriculum, and teaching standards.

3. During the first two weeks of the internship, you will be asked to observe the class in order to get a feel for the teacher’s style and method of teaching. It is important that you do active observation of what is happening in the class. Focus on how the teacher manages the classroom, how he/she presents materials, how activities are planned that promote student interaction. In addition, take this time to see first hand how methodologies and techniques presented in your teacher training classes are applied in the classroom. You are encouraged to take notes during your observation and discuss them with the teacher.

4. The second phase (weeks3-6)of the internship will allow you to become more active in the everyday running of the class. The supervising teacher will begin to ask you to do a variety of activities. You may be asked to grade some papers, take part in group discussions, work with an individual student, etc. The supervising teacher will meet with you to determine to what extent you will be involved. At this point, it is important to communicate frequently with the teacher. Work with the teacher to create a team approach to meeting student needs. Continue to focus on classroom management and instructional techniques. Work with the teacher to understand curriculum planning and its relationship to student outcomes. Look at the variety of assessment tools used in the class with relationship to daily instructional activities.

5. During the final phase of the internship (weeks7-8),the supervising teacher may ask the intern to give some formal lessons. The content of these lessons will be determined by the supervising teacher. When giving these lessons, the supervising teacher or an observer will be evaluating your performance using an observation/feedback tool created for the SLAT Intern Program

6. At the completion of the internship you and the supervising teacher will discuss your experience in light of the goals you set at the beginning of the term. At this meeting, the supervising teacher will complete the supervised internship evaluation form and review the outcomes with you. Finally, the supervising teacher will send the supervised internship evaluation form to Susan Guion in the Linguistics Department.