I don’t know if it’s just me but I find that a lot of my classes are boring, repetitive and useless. Maybe it’s just me, but if there were no practicum at all I really doubt I would have liked the program enough to stay in it. I know that sometimes there are things that might be a bit boring but that we still need to learn and that we can’t like everything as far as course are concerned, but sometimes I ask myself why the hell I need to know so much about glottal stop and fricatives to be an English teacher?

Well Jeffrey, you are not alone. Many of the courses in the program are boring and (to me) seem quite useless. I think they should really reconsider and revise the program. Grammar classes are always helpful (needed) when you are studying to be an English teacher, and practicums are a necessity. I think they realized that because there used to only be 3 practicums. Some literature courses are also helpful for the program, but like you said, certain linguistic classes are taken too far for a program that aims to form us in teaching English as a second language.

I think it is all a manner of perspective. I enjoy most of my classes in ESL teaching, when I don't like a class I try to find a way to make it interesting or just to reflect on how it could teach me something. I like to gain experience from the courses I find less interesting, for example I ask myself what I would do differently to make it more accesible to my students. I always like to ask myself why it is boring and what I can learn from this. I think that some people study to become a teacher because they had a bad experience in school and they want to change this for others, this is my case.

Jeffrey, I totally agree with you! And the thing about fricatives and glottal, is that this cours is one of the most failed one! And it also discourages a lot of students ! And then we hear that English teachers are missing... that's all about the obligatory courses we have to take and that do not focus on the teacher job. I don't know if some of you have read the document about the suggested changes for our program, but it contains a lot of good stuff in it. One of the thing I liked reading is when it mentions that Written communication classes should be given to students who continue their studies after the Baccalauréat. Why should we, teachers of elementary and highschool sctudents, know how to do a research? I agree that grammar courses are good, but we should also be taught HOW to teach grammar....Do we have a course like this one coming soon? And what about this one credit course about "élèves en difficulté" ? we not 3 credits since it is so important? The courses I really enjoy in our program are the Pedagogy ones and of course the practicums. Even my teacher in my second practicum told me that all the useful things we will learn about the teacher job will be during the 4th practicum... Do you agree? I do a bit, but still, I think I learned a lot yet but maybe not enough because of those wasting-time courses....

I do realize that some of my courses are not really interesting. What I want to do is teach and just like you what I like the most are the practicums. However, it is important to understand that teaching involves knowledge and culture. Many of the university classes are focussing on generating this culture. I believe that our job is not only to teach grammar. We surely have another role, which is to open the students eyes upon the world. There are many ways to love english. If they don't like it with the grammar, maybe they will like it from its culture. However, I do believe that many classes aren't relevant to me and I surely could be a great teacher without them. In conclusion, I understand the program's intentions, but I'm simply believe this program may need certain corrections.

The BEALS program is basically an English studies program with practicums and pedagogy courses. I love doing my practicums like pretty much everyone who want to become teachers, but I agree with Jeffrey as well. Some of our courses are just pointless. Learning linguistics can be useful for certain jobs, but the usefulness for teaching can be debated according to me. I mean it's not like I am going to teach my elementary or secondary students what are interdental fricatives and bilabial stops. So, what's the point of learning all this? Also, we have an awful lot of work that is not quite useful according to me. However, there are also great courses such as poetry and grammar that really will be useful for our teaching needs. I personally believe some courses need to be looked over to make them more relevant to our teaching training.

yes! I totally agree you! Sometime, I feel like I do all those courses for nothing and I feel discouraged. Research, research, research....hello?! I don't want to be a researcher, but a TEACHER. I get the point that we need to know how to look for information, that we need to have a critical judgement, and need to be able to use the information. However, why are there 2, 3 even more courses where we have to write one? And that's only and example. There are many of my classes that I find very repetitive and redundant. The content is the same, but presented in a different manner. In addition, I struggle with that kind of course. Why? I don't have any motivation and don't see any reason why I should take it. Please, revise the program. ...Actually, I'm glad that there are 4 practicums because each time it reminds me how I love this career and for nothing else in the world I would change.

Thank you! It's about time someone says what is right in front of our eyes.

Personally, it's not that subject matters are not interesting, they are simply not stimulating enough to stay focused and enjoy what we learn. I would rather read one long text with thrilling statistics about actual ESL facts than have an astronomic load of readings and homework that will definitely get me hopelessly desperate. Seriously, the process of becoming an English teacher appears to lack concreteness and seems to forget how to deal with what is truly important. Once we know about an aspect of the profession, do we really need to spend 3 weeks running around the subject when it's visibly acknowledged?!

I am a student teacher. I am completing my last semester at universtiy. I agree with you that some classes are not really interesting, but I think that this is just a question of opinion. Classes that you find boring will interest other people and vice versa. You may also find that some classe are useless. Nevertheless, I think that it is important to have knowledge about "things around our future profession." Teaching English as a second language is not just about teaching students to speak or write in English. Teaching ESL also involves that you know the English culture so that you are able to make links between your students' culture and the English culture. It also involves that you know what is glottal stop and fricatives so that you can help your students with their pronunciation.
So maybe we do not see all the importance of some of our classes at university for now, but I think that most of them will help us to be good and more complete English teachers.

I do agree with the fact that teaching English is also teaching English culture and that it is very important for students to know about the culture to better understand the language and where it comes from. However, I also agree with the fact that some of the courses go a little bit too far. Sometimes I feel that I am going to teach to College students. For example, I do not think that poets will be brought up in my classroom. But on the other hand, as I said earlier, it does provide us (future English teachers) with knowledge about the culture and the socioeconomic status of different periods in time, which is information we might relate to in our classroom. As for the phonetic class, I really think it is an important one, however, I think it could have been brought up to us in a more pedagogical way.

When I think about the usefulness or useless of the program at the university, I think first about the final goals of the whole learning process. For me personally, there are 3 goals:
- 1. To learn the subject itself that I will teach. In my case it’s English and I’m interested in different aspects of it, including cultural component (literature, poetry, theatre, grammar, phonetics etc)
- 2. To learn how to teach to students of different age, with different language backgrounds, with different learning purposes and with different abilities and personalities.
- 3. To develop my own personality. I think that this goal is obvious and is present each time we learn something. Learning helps us to explore ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, our interests and preferences.

That is why I found that most of the courses fit perfectly one of these goals. However, I think that the balance between Language and Pedagogy courses is not favourable. I would like to have more Pedagogy courses designed in the same way, combining theory and microteaching practice but dedicated to other subjects. For example, teaching children with disabilities, teaching adults etc. Even though these topics were discussed in Pedagogy courses I would like to have more opportunities to practice, try different teaching techniques, get acquainted with teaching experiences of my future colleagues before I start working at school. As well as I would prefer to have other courses designed to teach different aspects of the language: teaching grammar, written communication, arts, theater etc.

I also agree that our courses are sometimes boring in a sense that the material is not taught in a way that stimulates our interest. I find that there is something missing in our courses so that we are bored more of the time. It is obvious that we need language courses (literature courses, Phonetics, etc) as much as we need pedagogy courses (ESL Pedagogy) and the ones in the BEALS seem at first very interesting. However, the problem is that they are not correctly adapted to our field of study. It is important to know about the English language and culture as well as how to teach ESL, and these courses could be very interesting if well taught and linked to the teaching ESL field. Of course, we need knowledge about the theory underling the English language, but we need even more practical knowledge about teaching ESL in order to become well trained/educated teacher and teach effectively in the future.

You cannot expect every single class to transcend your expectations and elevated your mind. Some of those are only meant to help you work on very basic skills. Here in Quebec, we all know that one of the main objectives is to help us understand the target culture as most of us are native French speakers aspiring to become ESL teachers. You’re right: some classes look pointless, but on the other hand, I would be greatly disappointed, as a parent, if my child’s English teacher could only master basic functional language. Our goal is to embrace this whole new culture, mix it with ours and transmit to children language skills but also openness to other cultures. True, during my first practicum I felt really helpless the first time I was left alone with 25 nine-year-olds with only literature and phonetic classes under my belt but it’s up to me now to find whichever tools I’m missing to become a better teacher.

Of course all classes cannot be as interresting as every students would like. But I'm worried sometimes about the quality of the class and of the relevance. For example, a class on phonetic is good to learn how english language works, but should the teachers expect from students that never had classes of phonetic to be perfect and to know, without mistake, how to spell in phonetic everywords... I doubt so. Also some classes of very pushed grammar aren't that useful since most students will probably do the class and forget half of it. Why can't we learn how to teach grammar to young and old students, with the MELS program which is not even mentioning HOW.
I think some classes aren't appropriate for the Bac and that they should be rethought.

There are many of my classes that I find very repetitive and redundant. The content is the same, but presented in a different manner. In addition, I struggle with that kind of course. Why? I don't have any motivation and don't see any reason why I should take it. Please, revise the program. ...Actually, I'm glad that there are 4 practicums because each time it reminds me how I love this career and for nothing else in the world I would change.