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“…a groundbreaking book that will…engage, inform, and connect with present and future teachers and teacher educators.”                 

---Stephanie Vandrick, Foreword to Narrating Their Lives

The field of TESOL has called attention to the ways that the issues of race and ethnicity, language status and power, and cultural background affect second language learners’ identities and, to some degree, those of teachers. In Narrating Their Lives, Kamhi-Stein examines the process of identity construction of classroom teachers so as to make connections between their personal and professional identities and their instructional practices. To do that, she has selected six autobiographical narratives from teachers who were once part of her TESL 570 (Educational Sociolinguistics) class in the MA TESOL program at California State University, Los Angeles. These six narratives cover a surprisingly wide range of identity issues but also touch on broader instructional themes that are part of teacher education programs.

Because of the reflective nature of the narratives—with the teachers using their stories to better understand how their experiences shape what they do in the classroom—this volume includes provocative chapter-opening and reflective chapter-closing questions. An informative discussion of the autobiographical narrative assignment and the TESL 570 course (including supplemental course readings and assessment criteria) is also included.

Although language teacher preparation programs expose future teachers to a variety of approaches, methods, and techniques, the transition from training environments to real classrooms is not a straightforward one. Navigating the English Language Classroom is designed to bridge the gap between the highly theorized view of the language classroom presented in language teacher preparation programs and the first years of teaching. Written in accessible language and filled with principled pedagogical practices, the chapters can be integrated into any teacher training program. Novice K–12 and post-secondary teachers can turn to Navigating the English Language Classroom as a self-study resource to help them navigate the first few years in their classrooms. 

Each chapter offers context; a case study; common concerns; and concrete, research-based practices that link theory to practice in an easy-to-access manner. Readers will learn how to face several challenges, including:

• lesson planning and delivery
• classroom assessment
• integrating technology into the classroom
• using corpora in the classroom
• establishing a professional identity