About Heather Beard

Author Archive | Heather Beard

Dr. Susan Barduhn, SIT Professor, To Speak at IATEFL Conference in Liverpool, UK

By on January 10, 2013 in Faculty Notes, SIT Leaders: Faculty, Alumni, Students

Dr. Susan Barduhn will be one of five plenary speakers at the 47th Annual International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Conference and Exhibition from April 8 to 13, 2013 at the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC) in Liverpool, UK. SIT Graduate Institute will also exhibit at the event.

With over 4,000 members IATEFL is one of the most thriving communities of ELT teachers in the world, whose mission is to “link, develop and support English Language Teaching professionals” worldwide.

Dr. Susan Barduhn

Dr. Susan Barduhn

Dr. Barduhn is Chair of SIT’s Low Residency MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program, and she joined SIT Graduate Institute in 2003. Her experience includes English and Spanish language teaching, teacher training, supervision, management, program assessment, and consulting. She has worked for extended periods in Kenya, Britain, Switzerland, Colombia, Spain, and Portugal and speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, and Swahili.

Dr. Barduhn is a past president of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL); former director of The Language Center in Nairobi, Kenya; and was deputy director of International House in London. Her professional areas of interest and research are intercultural communication, teacher thinking, and teacher trainer development. She co-authored the book Integrating Language and Content (TESOL, 2010), which provides practical examples of integrating language and content into areas such as conflict resolution, social justice, philosophy, and cultural identity. The book was shortlisted for the prestigious Elton award.

Comments { 0 }

SIT TESOL Alumnus Publishes Teaching Books

By on November 6, 2012 in Alumni Perspectives, SIT Leaders: Faculty, Alumni, Students

SIT alumnus Dean Fusto recently published a new book, Which Way Home: A Teachers’ Guide, designed to accompany the Emmy and UNICEF award-winning documentary Which Way Home. Fusto graduated from SIT in 1991 (MAT 22).

Which Way Home is a film that traces the journeys of several unaccompanied child migrants trying to reach the US after leaving their home countries in Central America. In 2010, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Which Way Home: A Teachers’ Guide includes a twenty-first century skill framework in designing activities for teachers to use in grades 6 through adult classrooms. The first chapter provides a frame-by-frame analysis of the film, generating more than 150 questions for students. There are also lesson plans focusing on each of the children featured in the film and lesson plans on immigrants, immigration, and social service agencies.

Earlier this year, Fusto’s book The Next Best Thing to Being There was released in a second edition. The Next Best Thing is based on Fusto’s experiences founding two orphanages in the Dominican Republic. Fusto notes that the book was heavily influenced by his years as a student at SIT. As he describes it, “it is designed for teachers that seek experiential approaches to teaching culture in the classroom. It also devotes a chapter to the design of a successful international service-learning/educational program.”

Fusto is currently working on a third book, an article for a national publication, and a webinar entitled “Designing and Implementing an Effective Information Literacy Program.”

Comments { 0 }

SIT Announces New Low Residency MA in TESOL program

By on September 28, 2012 in Program Details

All of us at SIT Graduate Institute are excited to announce SIT’s new low-residency MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) beginning summer 2013.

Designed to advance the career goals of working teachers worldwide, this distance-learning program offers SIT’s innovative TESOL graduate education with coursework, a supervised practicum, and an Independent Professional Project, through a remote format.

Students will complete the degree in about two years, finishing most coursework online while staying in their current jobs and enjoying two short (3-week) summer sessions on campus in Vermont.

The admissions office is currently accepting applications. The deadline for the summer term is on April 5, 2013. For more information, email the Admissions Office or call 1 800 336-1616 (toll-free inside the US) or 1 802 258-3510 (outside the US).

Comments { 0 }

SIT Hosts 30th Sandanona Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Languages

By on August 14, 2012 in SIT Leaders: Faculty, Alumni, Students, Student Voices, What's New?

SIT Graduate Institute’s 30th Sandanona Conference was held on SIT’s Brattleboro, Vermont, campus on August 5–7, 2012. The conference was the culmination of SIT’s current summer MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program designed for working teachers. Each student in the program gave a professional presentation on a topic in the field of second-language teaching and learning; several students gave presentations on using technology in the classroom.

Sessions included:

• Tamara Grobschmidt, “Using Web 2.0 Tools to Increase Learner Autonomy”
• Teresa Hernandez, “Empowering the First Person Narrative Through Cultural Awareness”
• Shawn McRae, “Interactive Reading Model: Utilizing the Learner as Materials Generator”
• Hasnaa Hafez, “L1 in the EFL Classroom: A Taboo or Privilege?”

The conference featured plenary speakers Diane Larsen-Freeman and Kathleen Graves, professors at the University of Michigan’s School of Education.

The Sandanona Conference is a mandatory part of SIT’s TESOL graduate degree program. It is currently held at the end of students’ second summer in the current summer MA program, and at the end of students’ second semester in the full-time TESOL MA program. The conference is patterned after major language conferences and gives students the opportunity to present original research and discuss it with their peers. For more information about the Sandanona Conference or SIT’s TESOL graduate degree program, contact admissions@sit.edu.

Comments { 0 }

SIT’s 43rd Sandanona Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Languages

By on May 17, 2012 in Faculty Notes, Program Details, SIT Leaders: Faculty, Alumni, Students, Student Voices, What's New?

The 43rd Sandanona Conference of SIT’s MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program will take place on campus May 21-23, 2012.

The Sandanona Conference is the culmination of the on-campus phase of SIT’s MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program. Patterned after major language conferences, it occurs in the final week of the program. Students plan and present a professional presentation that explores in depth a chosen area in the field of second-language teaching/learning. Here are a few highlighted sessions:

Alvino Fantini, “Teaching language as intercultural competence”
Hafsa Nassar, “English language ownership in a multilingual setting”
Elsa Auerbach: “Going global: Where in the world is participatory ESOL?”

You can access each day’s program at Sandanona program. For more information and to attend contact admissions@sit.edu.

Comments { 0 }

Smithsonian Names Brattleboro, Vermont 11th “Best Small Town in America”

By on April 20, 2012 in Uncategorized

Smithsonian.com recently named Brattleboro, Vermont 11th out of 20 “Best Small Towns in America.”

Brattleboro's Common

To create the list, the online magazine asked the geographic information systems company Esri to search its data bases for high concentrations of museums, historic sites, botanic gardens, resident orchestras, art galleries and other cultural assets common to big cities. But they focused on towns with populations less than 25,000, so travelers could experience what might be called enlightened good times in an unhurried, charming setting. We also tried to select towns ranging across the lower 48. Read more online here.

The magazine describes Brattleboro as follows: “Nestled in southern Vermont, the riverside town of Brattleboro is a common rest stop for travelers driving up Interstate 91 from Massachusetts. Once you’ve strolled through the downtown historic district, lined with galleries, antiques shops, theaters and dance studios, it might be hard to get back in the car. Brattleboro takes pride in its reputation as a hidden artistic haven. On the first Friday of every month, local artists, galleries and museums exhibit new work and put on performances as part of the traditional Gallery Walk. Even if you don’t plan it, your visit will likely coincide with at least one of the many annual festivals in town: there’s the Womens’ Film Festival in March, the summer Brattleboro Literary Festival, and the Brattleboro Music Center’s Northern Roots Festival in January, which celebrates Northern music. In the unlikely event of boredom, take a day trip to nearby Naulakha, the estate of Rudyard Kipling, who once wrote of “a desire to be back on Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont, U.S.A., and hear the sody water fizzing in the drugstore…and get a bottle of lager in the basement of Brooks House and hear the doctor tell fish yarns.”

Comments are closed

SIT’s New International Language Institute (ILI) of Massachusetts Partnership

By on March 29, 2012 in Uncategorized

SIT and the International Language Institute (ILI) of Massachusetts are partnering to provide more international students opportunities to pursue master’s degrees in the United States. Through this partnership, qualified students who have finished the Intensive English Program at ILI can earn conditional acceptance to SIT.

ILI, which is based in Northampton, MA, already offers an SIT Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate program. It also administers an Intensive English Program, free English classes to area immigrants and refugees, and foreign language classes in French, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.

SIT will accept completion of level 8 of ILI’s intensive English (ESOL) program as meeting SIT’s English proficiency requirement, meaning those applicants will be exempt from taking the TOEFL exam for admission to SIT’s degree programs.

Comments { 0 }

SIT Professor to Teach Virtual TESOL Seminar on Grammar

By on March 16, 2012 in Faculty Notes

SIT’s MA in TESOL professor Dr. Elka Todeva will be teaching an online seminar, “A TESOL Virtual Seminar on Grammaring–Unpacking the Concept,” on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.

Register online by April 5th. This seminar is free to TESOL members. Non-members pay $45.

Comments { 0 }

SIT Alumni and Faculty Presenting at Annual TESOL National Convention March 28-31, 2012 in Philadelphia

By on March 6, 2012 in Alumni Perspectives, Faculty Notes, SIT Leaders: Faculty, Alumni, Students, Uncategorized

SIT alumni and faculty are featured again at this year’s annual national TESOL Convention in Philadelphia from March 28–31, 2012. Here’s a small sample of the dozens of presentations to be given by SIT alumni and faculty:

• Radmila Popovic (SMAT 20), “Using Comic Literacy and Multimedia to Advance Language Learning”
• Thomas Farrell (MAT 23), “Professional Role Identity of Novice ESL Teachers Through Reflective Practice”
• Jane Hoelker (MAT 17), “Professional Development Through Life Coaching Competencies” and “What Your Students Learn from Project Work”
• Irena Vodopija-Krstanovic (SMAT 19), “Exploring Teacher Excellence Through the Eyes of NNESTs in Croatia”
• David Kertzner (MAT 26), “Creatively Designing Intensive Business English Programs to Meet Learner Needs” and “Online Stories to Address Pronunciation, Intonation, Vocabulary, and Grammar”
• Cynthia Wiseman (MAT 13), “Using Web 2.0 Research Tools in ESL Classes”
• Radmila Popovic (SMAT 20), “Using Comic Literacy and Multimedia to Advance Language Learning”
• Elka Todeva and Leslie Turpin, SIT faculty

We hope to see you at the Convention. Be sure to visit SIT at booth 801!

Comments are closed

SIT Attending 46th Annual IATEFL Conference in Glasgow, UK

By on February 23, 2012 in Faculty Notes, SIT Leaders: Faculty, Alumni, Students

SIT Graduate Institute will be attending the 46th Annual International IATEFL Conference in Glasgow, UK from March 19 to 23, 2012. SIT professor Dr. Susan Barduhn will be in attendance. Barduhn teaches in SIT’s MA in TESOL program.

Comments are closed