TESOL Certification Individual Pathway

The Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certification Pathway: Additional Classroom Teaching Certificate courses are designed for teachers who hold a valid New York State Teaching Certificate, have a Master's Degree and wish to earn TESOL Certification without having to earn an additional degree. Teachers can take these courses for professional development without going for certification. Candidates for certification must meet certain Content Core and Pedagogical Core requirements and must also meet any non-coursework requirements, such as the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations and fingerprint clearance, as specified. Graduate courses are offered in the program to assist teachers in meeting most of the Content and Pedagogical Core course requirements. The complete list of NYS requirements can be found by clicking here.

This is what is known as an individual pathway to certification from NY State. NY State allows teachers to receive this certification through this pathway by just taking the requirements that they need. NY State will accept previous courses that you may have taken (both on the graduate and undergraduate level) towards the certification. We recommend that to have a definitive answer as to how many courses you may need you must actually apply for certification by going to the following webpage: NYS Office of Teaching Initiatives  and access the TEACH Online System. Do this as soon as possible - even before you enroll in any courses!

It has been our experience that teachers may have already taken one or all of the following areas previously in college and they need to hear back from NYS about their acceptance of their previous coursework towards the certification: "Linguistics", "English Grammar" and "Teaching Literacy Skills Methods". We also know that it does take, on average, 2-3 months (pre-pandemic) for you to get your evaluation back from NYS and you may not want to wait that long to get started in the program. However, most teachers usually know that they haven't taken the 6 credits needed in: "Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages", so if they haven't heard back from NYS concerning the evaluation of their previous courses, we suggest that they take our 3 credit course EDU 5140, Teaching English as a New Language (which fulfills 3 credits of the "Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages") while they're waiting. Hopefully, by the time they are finished with that course they will have heard back from NYS and the courses that they need.

 

Please also note that NYS requires that you have 12 credits in college coursework in Language(s) other than English (including American Sign Language). It has been our experience that teachers may have some or all of the 12 credits in a language or languages other than English (foreign language) in their undergraduate coursework. If you have unmet language other than English credits, the requirement can be met by taking courses for undergraduate credit or through CLEP exams. Molloy does offer these courses at the reduced rate of tuition, usually in the summer, but sometimes in the fall and spring. If they are offered they will be listed under undergraduate courses in the schedule of classes below. You can also look to take the courses at a local community college or through SUNY Online The courses do not have to be in one language and coursework in American Sign Language will also satisfy the requirement.

 

Listed below are the graduate courses that we offer, as well as the sequence of courses (if you needed all the courses offered in the program, which would be unusual):   

Graduate course offerings:
- EDU 5140, Teaching English as a New Language (fulfills 3 credits of the 6 credits required in: "Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages")
- EDU 5252, Intro to Linguistics (fulfills 3 credit requirement in "Linguistics") 
- EDU 5254, Structure and Application of American English (fulfills 3 credit requirement in "English Grammar") 
- EDU 5062, Language and Literacy: Principles and Practices for Childhood Classrooms (Grades 1-6)
- EDU 5256, PK-12 TESOL and Bilingual Teaching Practices and Assessment in the Content Areas (fulfills 3 credits of the 6 credits required in: "Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages")

Please note that all of the courses are part of our graduate education master's degree program and the only difference in the coursework is that there are no requirements for field study or student teaching. NYS does not require teachers who are NYS certified to complete student teaching again when they are applying for additional certification.  The program is only open to teachers who are already NYS certified and have a master's degree.

Course Sequence
- You must take EDU 5140 ("Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages") first. 
- EDU 5252 (Linguistics) and EDU 5254 (English Grammar) can be taken be taken after EDU 5140. These courses should be taken one at a time.
- You must take EDU 5256 (2nd "Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages") last after the other 3 courses have been completed.
- EDU 5062 (Literacy Skills), if you need it, and the Language other than English required courses can be taken at any time.    

 

Schedule of Classes and Online Format
All of the graduate TESOL courses are offered entirely online. Most are offered in a totally asynchronous format and are not taught in "real time", meaning that students do not have to attend at a given time. However, there will be assignments due on specific days/times. You are required to start the class at some point during the first day of the course and you are not allowed to register past the first day of the course start date. Occasionally courses are also offered in a hybrid format, whereby most of the course is offered asynchronously, with some occasional “real time” sessions offered via Zoom at specific dates and time which are listed in the schedule. The online courses run for about 5-6 weeks and usually we offer two sub-sessions each semester, so that there are always courses starting up every month and a half throughout the year, including the summer.

 

Practicum, Field study, Observations or Student Teaching
Under this pathway you are not required to do a practicum, field study, observations or student teaching. NYS does not require teachers who are NYS certified to complete student teaching again when they are applying for additional certification. 

Summer 2024 Institutes Schedule of Classes

Registration for the Summer Institutes will begin on March 4, 2024.

Molloy's online admission/registration system is called Lion's Den. The Lion's Den web page for Professional Studies courses can be found at: https://lionsden.molloy.edu/ICS/Professional_Studies/

Please note: when you search for the term please select "2024 Summer I Institute" (courses starting before July 1) "2024 Summer II Institute" (courses starting after July 1) as the term in the drop down. If you put in the term "2024 Summer" it will include the non-discounted courses that you are not eligible to take.

 

Tuition
Each course in the program is offered at $945 per 3-credit graduate course. There are no application or course fees. This is a discounted tuition rate. Tuition is normally about $4,000 per 3-credit graduate course. The tuition is off-set by a professional development scholarship that is given to those teachers who already possess a master's degree and are not pursuing a master's degree with Molloy University. There are no other discounts given. Students and teachers who are pursuing a master's degree at Molloy University are not eligible to enroll in the TESOL Certification Pathway Cohort classes.

Application and Registration
The program does not have traditional application deadline dates because courses are offered throughout the year and they do not follow a semester schedule. There are no defined overall start and end dates for the program. Therefore, you can start the program at any time. The registration process is rather simple because you are not applying for a Molloy degree. There is an online application that you need to complete, but that is for information purposes only. Everyone is accepted as long as you are a NY certified teacher. There is no application fee and GREs are not required. If you are enrolling in the program for the first time, it will take a few days to process your application/registration form online.  Once you register for the first time you will be sent an email within one to two business days with your username to login your student account to access the system for future registrations and to access Canvas, our online learning platform.   You should register at least a week before the course start date at the latest in order to register for the first time. After that you can register up until the day before the class, but then you run the risk that a course could be full- our courses do close.  

Click on the following link to apply and register:Application and Registration 

 

Questions?
Email Krista Lombardo at klombardo@molloy.edu 

 

Below are some helpful links:

• Registration Procedure
• Requirements for the TESOL Individual Pathway outlined by NYS
• Directions on Applying for Certification (TEACH Online)
• CST Exam
• Grades and Transcript Request 
• Student Account, Technology Services and Canvas