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Sample Statement of Purpose for TESOL
I love language because it carries beauty and thought. While the
study of languages seems monotonous and meticulous to many people, to
me it is an unfathomable ocean of fun. My initiation of English study
originated from my obsession to literary aestheticism. It was a
step-by-step aesthetic pilgrimage to the glorious palace of western
literature when I started from ABC on, then read simple passages,
later moved onto the beautiful essays and poetry and at last plunged
into the classics by literary masters.
Literary works are the inspirations from writers’ hearts. William
Shakespeare and his plays, Francis Bacon and his philosophy, the
poetry by William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley and the novels by
Thomas Hardy and Mark Twain, they displayed to me the sharp and unique
observations of writers on nature as well as on life, touring me to
the underlying beautiful world of nature as well as revealing the
truths of the multi-faceted life. If only you listen to this---- “the
palm and may make country house gay, lambs frisk and play, the
shepherds pipe all day and we hear aye birds tune this merry lay”,
only a few words and yet you are already in spring with its loveliness
and vivacity. And there’s Shelley, saving you from the abyss of
infernal despair with only one stroke of his pen, “if winter comes,
can spring be far behind?”
It is precisely this enjoyment of the beauty of English resulting from
my reading of literary classics that inspired my own impulses to
write. I tried to record my own observations of nature and my own
perceptions of life with the tentative skills in English writing. The
more I practiced, the more I became interested in English composition.
Furthermore, I developed the habit of thinking in English when writing
my compositions. These two reciprocally benefiting processes
contributed to my unparalleled aptitudes in written English in my
class. The joy of reading English and writing English reinforced my
already deep love for English language as a whole. It convinced me
that I would be willing to make painstaking efforts whatsoever as long
as I could keep improving my command of this fascinating language.
With my strong interests and relentless persistence, I did very well
in my academic performance, obtaining first-class scholarships twice
and was even granted the Japanese International Simitomo Scholarship,
an award only given to the best in specialty studies.
My good performance in coursework has never made me complacent.
Whether in coursework or in extracurricular activities, I have always
exploited an important quality in character--perseverance. I was an
elite member of the basketball team in my department and together with
my teammates many times won the championship of interdepartmental
basketball competitions. I organized my department’s drama performance
and personally played the role of the beast in Beauty and Beast. It
was a challenge and a test to the limitation of my potentiality. To do
it well, I spent so much time on English pronunciation, acting, facial
expression etc. In the end it won us the silver medal in the
all-university match.
Another important quality in my character is passion. First, it is a
passion for English language and literature, which has served as the
powerful motivation in my studies of them. I believe that there is
another aspect about my passion—the impulse to share my knowledge of
English language and my perceptions of life with others. This impulse
to share with other has led me to believe that a teaching career would
be my best alternative. I simply want to share with others my passion
for English language and literature in particular and my passion for
life in general. It is well-said that “for education to be an
enriching experience, the meanings that emerge must become personal,
and they must be significant and important in some part of the
person’s life.” My concept of a teacher is that a teacher should not
merely act as a gateway to knowledge. A person can become a better
teacher by influencing students with his or her passion, enthusiasm,
and dedication, by exposing students to the beauty of the things that
are being taught. As a future teacher, I will try to be not only very
competent in imparting professional knowledge but also skillful in
imbuing my unique teaching style with an inspiring passion. I will
make my teaching a lifelong benefit to students and a spiritual reward
to myself.
Today, English study has become one of the most important tasks for
every Chinese student. In spite of that, we consider it regrettable
that there is unformed yet any scientific and effective English
education system in China. To most of the Chinese students, English
study is excessively tedious and unrewarding. Apart from the
historical and cultural reasons, we ascribe this unsatisfactory
phenomenon to the lacking of a completely scientific English education
system. The old English education system paid little attention to
practicality and so to most of the students it was sheer learning and
no using at all. To solve that problem, it is very important to
stimulate students’ interests in using the language. Mine originated
in one of my homework. It was in my sophomore years when my teacher
assigned to us the writing of a composition, supposedly on his
teaching. Today I still remember the underlying red inks presented to
me from my teacher: “As a bonus to your creativity”. It greatly
motivated me toward English teaching. Later I studied, by myself, the
Cambridge Books For Language Teachers series, including Psychology for
Language Teachers, Second Language Teacher Education etc. Through
these I realized that language teaching was an art. It involved
English language for sure and that was not all. Knowledge of
psychology, linguistics, computer assisted education etc. were all
necessities in it.
Considering the present English teaching conditions in China, I think
the key for students to effectively study English is motivation and
interests. To achieve that end, for a person like me, determined to be
an English teacher, it is of vital importance to systematically study
the advanced teaching methods such as contemporary language teaching
theory and methodology, computer-assisted language learning and
rational study evaluation processes. Ohio University draws my
attention exactly in that it provides the courses that suit me best.
My tentative study plan for better completing your TESOL program is
three-staged. First I will make a speedy psychological
re-orientation—to transform my role from that of a student to that of
a teacher, focusing on how to convey knowledge of English effectively.
After this necessary adjustment, I will endeavor to learn the
prevailing theories and methodologies of English language teaching
from diverse schools of thought on the basis of my own experience of
English learning. After laying a solid theoretical foundation, I will
seek all the available opportunities to participate in various
workshops, seminars, lectures and conferences on and off campus
related to TESOL. I will definitely do internship as English teaching
is an art that must be practiced more than theorized. Through
practice, I will discover my strengths and my weaknesses in my English
teaching. In undertaking those activities, I will contribute my
uniquely Chinese experiences and perspectives on English teaching. I
will also be concerned about the problems that my classmates might
encounter in their individual teaching experience, especially those
culturally-related problems. Finally, I will focus on a specific topic
for writing my dissertation—Cultural Barriers in English Teaching.
This is perhaps the biggest problem in English teaching in China as
the Chinese language and culture are very different from those as
represented by English language.
My career objective after completing my TESOL program is to return to
China to seek a teaching position at the English Department of a major
Chinese university where I can apply what I have learned from your
TESOL program. I will join an academic association of English
teaching. I will consciously guide my English teaching with the
specific TESOL principles to make my practice effective and fruitful.
Meanwhile, I will do extensive research work with a view to
popularizing this notion, that English teaching is not only an art but
also a science. My ultimate career objective is to develop myself into
a specialist in China in the field of English teaching.
It has long been my dream to be an excellent English teacher. China is
a country where education has historically been highly regarded. I
would love it if I could, through my education in Ohio University, to
contribute my share to the future development of English education in
China and all over the world.
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