Communicate: Strategies for International Teaching Assistants

Written for all types of ITA programs—an independent study course, a brief workshop, or extensive training—this versatile text provides essential information for ITAs to develop strong teaching skills that ensure effective communication in the undergraduate classroom. The authors take the perspective that incoming ITAs are responsible for their own learning and teaching style. Each of the text’s ten units includes work on English proficiency, teaching skills, and cultural awareness. Each unit centers around a common rhetorical teaching task in U.S. university classrooms: introducing oneself, introducing a syllabus, explaining a visual, defining a term, teaching a process, fielding questions, explaining complex topics at a basic level, presenting information over several class periods, and leading a discussion. Undergraduate textbook materials for fifteen academic fields are included in the appendix to provide ITAs with content relevant for practicing teaching and language skills. Because ITA programs vary in structure and number of training hours, the authors include a “To the Instructor” section, which is full of recommendations for the many ways the text can be used. Read more