Graduate Certificate in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
The graduate certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) (awarded by UNM) is designed to help teachers add a TESOL endorsement (granted by NMPED) to their teaching license, and to prepare other graduate and non-degree graduate students to teach English as a second or foreign language to adults in this country or abroad. For information on the TESOL endorsement and application procedures, visit the New Mexico Public Education Department website. In the TESOL certificate program, students gain an understanding of the theoretical and cultural foundations for the teaching and learning of English language and literacy across the curriculum and across K-16 teaching contexts. They learn methods to appropriately apply this understanding in different cultural contexts.
General Requirements
To meet the general requirements for a graduate certificate a student must:
- Complete a minimum of fifteen (15) credit hours of graduate course work;
- Fulfill any additional requirements established by the certificate program;
- Maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0;
- Have a Program of Studies approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies;
- At least 50% of the course work required for the certificate must be completed after admission to the certificate program, unless further restricted by the graduate certificate program;
- No more than one-third of the courses applied to the certificate may be “topics”;
- No more than one-fourth of the total course work credit hours required for the degree may be graded C, C+ or CR (See Grade Point Average policy);
- Must complete 75% of the course work credit hours required for the certificate at UNM; and
- Must be enrolled at the time certificate requirements are completed.
Program of Studies for Graduate Certificates - This must be done in order for it to be transcripted on your transcript. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the department the SEMESTER BEFORE they finish.
A graduate certificate student must file a Program of Studies with the Office of Graduate Studies by October 1st for Spring graduation, March 1st for Summer graduation and July 1st for Fall graduation. The Dean of Graduate Studies must approve the Program of Studies. The form may be obtained from the academic unit offering the certificate, the Office of Graduate Studies, or from the Graduate Studies Website. Students must be enrolled in a course the semester they file for the transcripted certificate.
Graduate Certificate in TESOL Requirements (15)
- LLSS 580 – Seminar in the Education of the Bilingual Student
- LLSS 556 – First and Second Language Development within Cultural Contexts
- LLSS 581 – Teaching English as a Second Language
- LLSS 558 – Literacy Across Cultures
- LLSS 559 – Second Language Literacy
Corequisites Linguistics (3 credits):
- LLSS 555 Language Study for Educators or any other Introductory Linguistics course
Language (6 credits):
- Any language courses (including ASL)
In addition to the coursework, students will be required to successfully complete the New Mexico approved TESOL content Exam. For more information on the TESOL exam, please visit: https://www.ets.org/content/dam/ets-org/pdfs/praxis/5362.pdf
Summer Endorsement Courses
In addition to courses offered during regular school semesters. The Bilingual/TESOL Education departmental program offers two Language Teaching Institutes during the summers that Teacher Candidates, looking for an endorsement, can take to complete required credits in a shorter period and reducing the coursework load during school year. The TESOL Summer Institute offers the following courses: LLSS 556, LLSS 581 & LLSS 559
Application
To apply, fill out the online application at http://www.unm.edu/apply/. Once the page opens, chose the Albuquerque Campus Application, then click on the Red Bar that says Graduate Application and Proceed with the process. The program application has an open enrollment policy.
The program has rolling admissions. The preferred application dates include:
Summer Semester: March 15th
Fall Semester: March 15th (open between January 15-May 5th)
Spring Semester: October 15th
Contact Cecilia Estrada at llssws@unm.edu for any questions.
Within the Program of Interest section of the application, the applicant will need to select all of the following choices:
- College: College of Education and Human Sciences
- Department: Language/Literacy/Sociocultural Studies
- Program/Major: Teaching English as a Second Language
- Degree: GCERT Teaching English as a Second Language
- Interest: General (GCERT-TESL)
- Complete the Graduate Online Application - Transcripted Certificate in TESOL
- $60 non-refundable application fee (credit card payment is part of online Graduate Application)
- One official transcript from each college previously attended (exception: UNM script)
