Back to
About TESOL
Ken Cruickshank
Teaching background
My main classroom teaching experience has been teaching
English as a second language in secondary schools -
Cabramatta, Cleveland St., Dulwich and Enmore High
Schools. I also taught LOTE, English, History and Science
in secondary schools.
I've had some primary school experience and experience teaching in England (adults and teenagers) and Portugal (adults). For several years I worked with the Department of School Education in NSW as consultant on equity programs, TESOL, LOTE and multicultural education.
From 1988 to 1990 I was working on postgraduate TESOL courses at the University of Technology, Sydney. Since 1990 I have been at Sydney University working on both undergraduate and postgraduate programs in TESOL, LOTE and education.
Present interests
My main area of research at present is the development
and use of first and second language literacies. As part
of my PhD I am working with Arabic-speaking communities
on literacy practices in home and school domains.
Related areas of interest are multilingualism and multiculturalism in society, policies and programs in language education and intercultural communication.
Publications and papers
| 1996 | Poetry writing and ESL, English Teachers Association Journal. |
| 1994 | Pacific Island Students and Education, G. McCall (ed) Politics and change in the South Pacific.University of NSW Monograph |
| 1992 | The Skills in Question: a report on the issues confronting teachers with overseas qualifications. NSW Ethnic Communities Council |
| 1992 | Bilingual students and literacy, NSW Department of School Education |
| 1990 | Education, gender and ethnicity. NSW Department of Education |
What we try to do in TESOL
- One in five Australians comes from a non-English speaking background. In addition Australia receives some 80,000 new immigrants every year. Many of these children and adults need support in the acquisition of English.
- There are some 2,000 ESL teachers in NSW working in primary and secondary schools and with adults and overseas students.
One of the major areas of our work is the preservice preparation of ESL teachers in the Master of Teaching and Bachelor of Education courses.
With our courses we have three main goals:
- developing teachers' knowledge of how the language works and how it is acquired;
- developing students' abilities to teach and support the acquisition of English as a second language;
- developing students' awareness of the social, political and educational contexts of TESOL practice.
A second focus in our teaching is the postgraduate teaching of language teachers in the Master of Education and Master of Teaching courses. One of our aims is the development of research in the area of language education.
The third responsibility in our work is the development of the awareness of all teacher trainees of language and cultural issues. Australia is a multilingual and multicultural country, issues which concern all teachers. We have worked to introduce components on intercultural communication and ESL to all teacher preservice education.