MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages alumni profiles

Pai-Chiao Lee

Year of graduation: 2024
Home country: Taiwan
Studied: Full-time in Nottingham 

Pai-Chiao chose to study at the University of Nottingham because of its strong academic reputation and high ranking. She was particularly attracted to the university’s commitment to research excellence and the opportunity to learn from leading experts in the field.  She was  awarded a postgraduate excellence scholarship, which allowed her to pursue her studies without undue financial burden so overall, the combination of academic excellence, a supportive environment, and financial support made the University of Nottingham the ideal choice for her. 

 "The TESOL course has significantly contributed to my career development by providing me with theoretical knowledge which consolidates my professionalism in English language teaching. It also enhanced my soft skills, particularly in communication and teamwork."

Pai-Chiao particularly enjoyed the Managing Language Teaching and Developing Teachers module as it provided her with knowledge that is beyond language teaching theories and had a strong focus on language teachers. She said "as an English teacher myself, it was a wonderful experience gaining a deeper understanding about how a language teaching organisation operates, how language teachers can develop professionally, and how to have an effective leadership. I strongly recommend this module to people who aspire to be not only a professional language teacher but also a competent leader at a language school. You get to acquire a more holistic understanding about language education."

Asked what was the best part of the course, Pai-Chiao said "the fact that I made so many good friends who share the same wavelength. Their support and loving energy are unwavering, and we made so many good memories together. My postgraduate year is my last year being a student, and I am confident to say that this is the best student year ever."

Commenting on support received during the course, Pai-Chiao had regular meetings with her personal tutor, which not only focussed on her academic development, but were used to check life was OK generally. She also took advantage of the free academic English courses offered to students to prepare for their academic study, and found that extremely helpful. 

Pai-Chiao thinks students should choose the TESOL course because it offers a comprehensive and well-rounded education that prepares them for a successful career in English teaching. The course provides a solid theoretical foundation in language acquisition and pedagogy, which is crucial in facilitating the professionalism in the field. She said "if you have passion for English language teaching, if you have several years of teaching experience, and if you want to further your theoretical knowledge about English language education, then you will benefit a lot from this TESOL course."

Hamed Nastaran

Year of Graduation: 2024
Home country: Iran
Studied: Full-time in Nottingham 

Hamed was looking for a credible university and Nottingham stood out to him as organised, with an informative website offering everything he needed to know. Hamed feels the MA TESOL perfectly complements the CELTA and DELTA qualifications he already had to open up new career paths. He plans to integrate the learning from the course with AI, but has yet to decide if it will be in the form of further education or a future project. 

Hamed enjoyed all the modules as he appreciated the great tutors and felt comfortable expressing himself, asking questions and challenging what he had learnt. But his favourite module was Language Teaching: Methodology and Curriculum, firstly because he had studied it a lot before and secondly, he felt it was a beautiful story that goes through what happens and why in English language teaching, with each part of the story complementing the others, making it so memorable that no effort is required to remember them!

Receiving support from everyone was the best part of the course for Hamed and he said that no matter what academic questions he had, there was always someone ready to listen to and address his concerns. His tutors would send materials and links even without him asking for it when they heard that he was interested in talking about a topic. His personal tutor was Dr Jane Evison and Hamed's opinion is this was the best thing that could have happened for him as she was very professional and caring and connected him to specific departments if he had any concerns. This included the well-being team, libraries and other academic colleagues as needed. Hamed feels infinitely thankful to Jane.

Hamed has been amazed by the passion and dedication of the course tutors and said it is incredible to see how much they cared about his entire experience at the university, giving support in both his educational and personal journey. He has loved his time at Nottingham and would like to thank Dr Paul Knight for being so kind, clear and responsive saying "he teaches with a passion and is an excellent course leader to be supervised by, or be friends with." 

Hamed's advice for students thinking about this course is to take it easy and enjoy your time in the UK advising not to get fixated on just studying as it will be too demanding, expecially if you are here alone. Join some societies and sports clubs and go out with your firends, alongside studying. Whilst the course demands a lot of study time, you need to prioritise your well-being too!

Ziqing Guan

Year of Graduation: 2024
Home country: China
Studied: Full-time in Nottingham

Ziqing chose to study at the University of Nottingham due to its strong reputation in China and because the faculty and course aligned with her career goals. She says the course has significantly enhanced her skills and knowledge making her more competitive for higher level roles so feels it has opened new career paths and deepened her expertise. She particularly enjoyed the Language Teaching: Methodology and Curriculum module because it provided practical insights and hands-on experience that were directly applicable to her career interests.

Interacting with a diverse cohort and engaging in meaningful discussions with peers and staff was the best part of the course for Zinqing as she felt the collaborative environment enhanced her learning experience. She also received excellent support through regular feedback from tutors and access to additional resources, so felt it was a supportive academic community.

Rigourous curriculum, experienced faculty team and the opportunity to develop skills that are highly valued are the reasons Ziqing feels you should choose this course. Her advice is that you actively engage with the course materials and participate in discussions as this will maximise your learning experience and professional growth so you can be a good teacher.

With personal and professional growth to carry forward her whole life, Ziqing says her time studying at the University of Nottingham has been enriching and transformative.

Yuka Kawamura

Year of Graduation: 2023
Home country: Japan
Studied: Full-time in Nottingham 

Yuka choose to study at the University of Nottingham because she wanted a diverse community. She felt the course helped with her career because she was able to explore different perspectives that inspired her and she aims to continue to pursue various approaches and try out multiple measures to ensure that she can apply them in her teaching context.

Yuka enjoyed the Materials and Technology in Language Education module and the dissertation the most and said she was inspired to explore the significance of cultural dimensions and subsequently, these aspects formed the core of her dissertation through the modules and the research. 

Asked what was the best part of the course, Yuka said "We were trained to be independent, far different from educational service in my country. At the same time, we were provided with various support by dedicated personal tutors and academic tutors as well as Centre for English Language Education tutors. I am grateful for their heartfelt support. It was such a great experience to be back as a student surrounded by such promising young people."  

Asked if she had a message for potential applicants considering this course, Yuka said everything will be a great experience...undoubtedly, you will enjoy being stimulated by diverse people.

Carlos Murillo-Miranda

Year of Graduation: 2020
Home country: Costa Rica
Studied: Part-time online

Carlos said he chose to study at the University of Nottingham because he wanted a quality distance learning masters and the university consistently ranks highly in the university league tables. Added to the prestige, the core modules were extremely relevant for his day-to-day teaching practice. 

Carlos explains how the course has helped him saying "During the course I had a very high teaching load. I spent ¾ of my time as an English teacher, I then accepted an opportunity to work part-time as an academic consultant for a relevant publisher. After this I was offered a teaching position in Costa Rica's highest ranked university in the Faculty of Education.  Working three jobs while studying the masters was a big challenge. However, the modules are so well-structured and relevant for my teaching practice, that I found time for them because of my high motivation. I was also able to access them in my own time as they were available on demand. In addition, these job opportunities were in part thanks to the fact that I was taking the course at the University of Nottingham. The course has also influenced my teaching  lot. There was a great focus on analysing theory, reading research articles and contextualising them so that they aid my every-day teaching. In terms of my future plans, I am looking forward to starting a PhD and finding a job abroad. I would like to put the knowledge I acquired into practise in different contexts."

Carlos felt it would be unfair to choose one specific module that he enjoyed the most as he said all of them expanded his knowledge and opened up a world of curiosity in the field of language teaching and even educational leadership. He said that that the best part of the course was the tutors, the core materials for each module and being able to learn from a wide variety of peers who expressed their opinion from vastly different contexts. He said that even though he studied online, he felt extremely close to his peers and tutors. Communication was excellent with tutors and he felt humbled by their approachability and willingness to help when needed or required.  

Carlos was sad to conclude this course because it was a great experience for him as a teacher, learner, and human being. He said that anyone who decides to do this course can be confident that they will receive quality treatment, education and knowledge from the University of Nottingham.