MIDTESOL Matters Fall 2006

Q: Can you give a brief history of your teaching career, specifically naming where you have taught throughout the years and in what capacity?

A: I have had many wonderful experiences as an ESL teacher: from being a classroom teacher in public schools and on Navajo reservations to serving as school administrator and Language Arts specialist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I retired from the BIA after 22 years and as full-time teacher/educator after 29 years. I have also have held several part-time positions over the years, such as adjunct professor at several universities. For the past 19 years, my full-time job has been editor and writer for the Church of the Nazarene International Headquarters in Kansas City, and 9 of those years has been editor of faith-based ESL materials.

Q: How did you become interested in teaching English as a Second Language?

A: When I was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a teacher, I was told that I would be an ESL teacher. Like so many in the field, my response was "What's that?" As a teacher in Alabama, I had never heard of ESL. But I quickly learned and developed a love for this "strange" subject. As a result, I attended several training sessions and became a demonstration teacher for my peers. I then changed my master's program, and earned an MA in TESOL from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. During the time I served as the ESL specialist for the BIA schools on the Navajo Reservation (1972-80), I worked with 60 schools, K-12, at that time. What a fantastic career!

Q: You have probably seen TESOL/ESL grow and change in many different ways during your career. Could you talk a little about how you have seen the profession change? Where do you see the profession going in the next 20 years?

A: My first training session in ESL in the mid-1960s was in the audiolingual method. Our texts were the Fries-Rojas series that included the " mim-mem" (mimicry-memorization) method. I confess that I excelled with this method, as my sixth grade students produced far more oral English than ever before. (Of course, they didn't always understand what they were saying, but the goal was to elicit as much oral language as possible.)
I have lived through the methodology transition to the communicative approaches (natural approach, counseling learning, whole language, etc.). Navajo students made major progress when the emphasis was placed on meaning rather than form, and I was thrilled to observe that change. Increased achievement test scores verified the importance of meaning-based language teaching.

Q: How have you been involved in MIDTESOL over the years? How have you seen MIDTESOL change and grow throughout the years? What do you think MIDTESOL needs to do to address the needs of English language learners and teachers in the future?

A: I Served on the MIDTESOL (cont'd p.5) (Wes Eby, cont'd from p.4) board for 8 years:President (1994-95); Vice president and conference program chair (1993-94); Past President and Chair of Nominating Committee (1995-96); Treasurer (1988-92); Awards Committee (1992-93). I have also served on and held several positions in International TESOL.
MIDTESOL has grown and matured since I first became involved in 1987. As an organization, MIDTESOL needs to continue planning-and even increase-the number of conferences and mini-conferences for the professionals in Missouri and Iowa (as well as neighboring states) involved with ESOL students at all levels. Interaction with other ESOL professionals at such conferences/meetings is an important way to stay up-to-date in the field. As ESOL professionals, I believe that we learn best from our peers as they share what works best for them.

Q: Can you express what has been most rewarding for you as a teacher of English (or a teacher in general)? What will you miss about teaching the most?

A: There are so many that it is difficult to zero in on one. I will briefly mention three: Observing Navajo students make huge leaps in English competence after the school where I worked (Wingate Elementary) adopted a meaning-based approach to language learning. Helping teachers and teacher aides to improve their skills in teaching ESL and watching their many successes. Directing an ESL curriculum project for primary level students for all BIA schools, which was the very beginning of the transition from an audiolingual to a communicative ESL approach. We called it NALAP (nay-lap) for Navajo Area Language Arts Project).

Q: Do you have any "favorite moments" you can recount from your classroom (perhaps an anecdote about a student you remember or who touched your life)?

A: Again, there are so many. Let me briefly mention a few: My sixth grade students winning several blue ribbons (first-place) for performances in two speech fairs in original speech, interpretive reading, and in choral readings; listening to a sixth grade girl give her first oral book report. She had read a biography of Annie Oakley, and in her report she talked and talked and talked and talked-and without benefit of notes. The building principal observed my class that day, and both she and I were absolutely shocked! The eighth grade boy who in creative writing starting an essay about the month of February: "The essence of sliding is to have fun but at the same time to be careful." For one of our Navajo students to say "the essence of" anything was one of my special "ah-ha" moments.
The sixth grade boy, age 15, attending a BIA boarding school, who wrote his parents a letter and said: "Please let me stay in school. I know you need help with lambing. But I need to get an education so I can get a good job and help you."

Q: Do you have any "sage words of advice" for MIDTESOL members who might be starting their careers?
A: Devote yourself to a life of learning and helping those who need to learn English or improve their language competence. While being an ESOL teacher/educator can be challenging at times-even frustrating, there is no other career more rewarding. After being actively involved in ESL for 41 years, either full-time or part-time, I do not regret one moment.

Q: What do you plan to do in your retirement?

A: Since officially retiring on March 31, 2006, I now say that I'm "refocusing" my life, not "retiring." While I have "quit" a full-time office job, I plan to stay busy, and ESL is already in my future. I've been hired by a major publisher (Thomson Heinle) to serve as a part-time consultant to train public school teachers in the use of an ESL textbook.
Also, as a writer and editor, I already have several projects lined up as well as motivational speaking engagements. This, I feel, is "retirement" in the best sense-doing what I love to do, being fulfilled and rewarded.

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