This portfolio is a collection of my sweat and tears that has developed over the last few years of teaching English as a second language, studying for a MA in English with emphasis in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), observing different teaching styles in a variety of settings, working as a teaching assistant, tutoring students’ writing, giving presentations, and working on an array of projects individually or in a team.  The theme of my portfolio is based on a common metaphor, life is a journey.  The metaphor resonates well with me because I firmly believe in the journey of second language acquisition.  The journey entails self awareness of learning styles, empowerment to take action of one’s own educational development, and unearthing motivation.  My TESOL endeavor during these rewarding years gave rise to my principal teaching beliefs as well as several perspectives on learners’ attitudes upon learning a new language.  This collection of academic work shows my curiosity about why an individual is compelled to study languages and what maintains his/her motivation throughout this long and strenuous process.  In the future, I look forward to the new obstacles I will find during this professional journey of mine. 

The portfolio includes eight sections:

1. Position Paper

This paper includes my principal teaching beliefs and how they have influenced my teaching as well as other facets of my life.

2. Academic Paper

This is an action research project that includes empirical data collection from my students, students of other classes, and teachers.  This paper was created to help me promote internal motivation in my students by sparking interest in reading topics.

3. Teaching Materials

This section includes three lesson plans.  The third has been used repeatedly at the American Language Institute (ALI) at SFSU.  Also included are two DVDs of my teaching.

4. Professional Bibliography Entries

This collection of articles and classroom texts are connected with the idea of strengthening student motivation to learn and raising cultural awareness.

5. Curriculum Project

This is a curriculum project created to strengthen pre-academic skills by using various forms of media, for example, incorporating film clips into each unit of instruction.

6. MATESOL grad program.

This section links to my TESOL graduate program at San Francisco University

7. MATESOL Conference

This section includes the link to the fall 2008 SFSU MATESOL conference with an abstract of my presentation on Action Research: A Strategy for Instructional Improvement.

A larger abstract is included at the beginning of each section.