Instructor Spotlight: Rachel Kraut, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Rachel Kraut, Ph.D.

Why did you decide to become an instructor?

I come from a long line of teachers on my mom’s side. I suppose you could say it’s in my blood. Besides the familial influence, I genuinely enjoy learning and sharing that enthusiasm for certain subjects with others.

What’s your favorite lesson to teach and why?

I can’t say I have a particular favorite lesson to teach, but I do have favorite subjects. I love teaching pre-service and in-service language teachers. Whether it’s a class about culture, a teaching practicum, or a language assessment course (to name a few), I never tire of facilitating the professional development of fellow educators.

What's unique about your teaching style?

Two things in particular come to mind:

1. When I teach in-person courses, I use music very often to pump up the energy level during partner and group work. Students have always told me they enjoy this.
2. In online courses, I make efforts to weave my voice and personality into the content of the course so that students feel teacher presence as opposed to the experience of reading a textbook.

What do you find most rewarding about being an instructor?

The most rewarding part of being an educator is to see students achieve their goals, even if those goals were not directly related to the topics we covered in our course together. It is a joy to observe students who are (or will be) teachers growing in their confidence and professional abilities to better serve their own students.

Learn more about the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate Program.