This post is the 3rd of an awesome 3-part series this Spring/Summer on internship experiences in LTS (see the first here and second here). It is written by Laura Holland, faculty member in LTS and the American English Institute (AEI), and 3 of the 4 interns (Elaine Sun, Tigre Lusardi, Ellie Collins, all LTS students) who assisted her with a remote multi-level Speaking-Listening class.
Team “One-Room-Schoolhouse” rocks the house!
Laura G. Holland 
The global pandemic has taken a toll on enrollments in Intensive English Programs (IEPs) throughout the country and UO/AEI is no exception. Late in winter term we were informed that we only had enough students to offer one each of our core courses in the IEP, one Speaking-Listening, Grammar and a Reading/Writing class. Each class would serve all levels in a “one-room-schoolhouse” model. I was offered the Speaking-Listening class, my favorite to teach, but I confess I was initially skeptical of our ability to deliver a great student experience with this new constraint, and I wondered how in the world I might make successful, meaningful experiences for such a diverse level of student proficiencies.
In my heart (and teacher’s brain), I knew that the only way this might be even remotely possible would be to recruit interns. I put out the call to Keli Yerian, Director of the LTS Program and she in turn, sent out a message to the MA cohort. Within 2 days, I had four eager interns, 3 of whom I had worked with previously, and ready to take on this further experiment in online education (because teaching languages online IS still a bit experimental after only a year). I can safely say that without the interns, we would never have had the simply amazing experience that we had. Going into the term I was praying to stave off disaster; within the first week, I knew we were on to something big and by the end of term, we had delivered one of my favorite courses of my long and varied career.
Throughout the course and especially in the final weeks we requested IEP student feedback, asking what they liked, what they would like more of, which lessons and activities “stuck with them.” We asked in multi-modalities: in-class small group discussions, their weekly homework videos and writing in the chat in whole group. In each of these queries, students highlighted working with the interns, their ability to engage daily with UO students, both domestic and international. They were inspired by all and as a teacher, it was SUCH a luxury to have 4 talented and enthusiastic co-teachers to help plan ideas I never in 100 years would have thought of. The balance and variety they brought took our content over the top. Because we had “ditched” the textbooks this term (which one would we use with 6 different levels?!), we were free to develop our own passions and materials and as a result, we all thrived. Our team met weekly to plan and discuss, and to brainstorm ways to adapt all our lessons and activities to both in-person and online formats, so as to be prepared and ready for all contexts. As a teacher at the doorstep of retiring, I found this to be so inspiring and am grateful to be going out with a bang.
Our team of 4 interns included more variety than I could have hoped for: undergrad and graduate students, male and female, native and non-native speaking, novice and experienced teachers, people who had always wanted to be teachers and people who had begun careers elsewhere and found their way to teaching for a second act. From moment one, they were on it and together, we created one of the most exciting courses I’ve had the privilege to teach. They developed lessons incorporating pre-, while- and post-listening activities and discussed facing fears, and many other topics of interest; they incorporated poetry in the most successful poetry lesson I’ve seen; they compared “Bucket Lists” and they asked the students to tell stories from the past and look to the future; we discussed their hopes, fears and dreams for themselves and for the world; we watched videos and gave speeches and developed everyone’s academic discussion skills.
Thank you to the interns—I am being perfectly honest when I say this term could never have been this amazing without each of your many contributions and full-on presence. I will remember this experience forever and I’m positive our students will too.
Thank you, Gracias, Xi xie nie, Merci, Tack, Arigato, Shokran, Sulpayki!
Ellie Collins 
Though the prospect of an online speaking and listening class that spanned 6 levels was certainly intimidating, this internship ended up being one of my favorite experiences of the LTS program. During this internship, I had the opportunity to watch Laura Holland’s excellent teaching in action—I learned so much by observing her interact with students. One of the things that Laura does best is encourage her students to step outside their comfort zones to grow into better learners and speakers. At the same time, she encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone to plan and lead activities for the course. I grew as a teacher while learning to plan out lessons as well as teach lessons that were planned by someone else. Throughout this internship, I learned more about how to manage a classroom and differentiate lessons between many different proficiency levels and interests. I am so grateful for the opportunity to intern in this course, and I look forward to implementing the many things I’ve learned into my own classroom in the future!
Elaine Sun
I feel glad to work with Laura and the other three interns during this past Spring term. Also, working with students from all over the world was a precious experience. It was a wonderful chance for me to test the materials I designed for language teaching in a real language classroom. Ten weeks passed much faster than I thought. As an intern, I really enjoyed working with the students. While they were practicing English, they were also sharing their personal stories and some fun facts about their culture. Some of the stories were truly touching and made me think deeper about the target topic. It was also the first time for me to lead an English class as the main teacher. I feel grateful for Laura giving us this chance. This intern experience gave me the courage and helped me to get ready for being an L2 teacher. Finally, I just want to say “thank you” to everyone I met in this class. It wouldn’t be a wonderful trip without each of you.
Tigre Lusardi 
Interning with Laura’s multi-level Speaking and Listening class this spring was a seriously fun and wild ride! As a new teacher I really appreciated getting a glimpse of how a veteran teacher like Laura approached planning and executing a class for learners who varied so widely in their previous English language study and in their comfort and proficiency levels with speaking. Balancing every learner’s needs and goals and making sure that they were all participating and progressing was no small feat! One of the most delightful things to observe was how the learners’ comfort with expressing their ideas grew by leaps and bounds throughout the term. By far one of my favorite parts of this experience was noticing when learners felt confident enough both with their English and with us, the teaching team, to crack jokes or to tease us gently. Expressing humor in a second language is sophisticated both linguistically and inter-personally, especially given the idiosyncrasies of Zoom and online classes. I only wish I had had more than 10 weeks to spend learning alongside Laura and such an engaged and engaging group of learners!