Teaching English as a Second Language
For those interested in teaching English to speakers of other languages, both in the United States and abroad, our department offer an undergraduate certificate or minor in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).
The 18-hours TESL certificate is open to undergraduate students in any undergraduate program at UF. This certificate is designed to give you the knowledge and skills necessary to teach English in a wide variety of contexts, both in the United States and abroad. It also includes a final internship in which students can gain hands-on practice teaching ESL courses. Students from our certificate program have gone on to teach in countries across the globe, such as South Korea, Japan, and (any others?).
This program should not be confused with the State Department of Education’s endorsement in Bilingual/ESOL for teaching in Florida public schools. For this, please contact UF’s College of Education.
Students must register for the TESL certificate program in order to be eligible to enroll in the final internship course and receive priority seating in certain required courses. Students are strongly encouraged to register at least two semesters before they plan to graduate. See the TESL certificate program webpage for more details about the program.
The TESL Minor is equivalent to a TESL certificate minus a 3-credit internship. Students interested in this option will need to obtain approval from the Linguistics Undergraduate coordinator prior to submitting the Application to Add a Minor to the CLAS college advising office. Students are encouraged to add the minor after taking LIN 3010 and/or TSL 3360 so that they may receive priority seating in certain required courses. See the TESL minor webpage for more details about the minor.
Students are allowed to enroll in both the minor and the certificate but only receive one. You must choose before graduating.
Contact
For further information contact the TESL Coordinator:
Jamie Garner
4015 Turlington Hall
PO Box 115454
Gainesville, FL 32611
Telephone: (352) 294-7460
Email: jr.garner@ufl.edu