Teaching Assistants

GLN Teaching Assistants play a critical role in the GLN classroom, helping both the teacher and the learners.

Arabic ClassThe TA serves as a valuable collaboration partner for the teacher, helping them to develop their lesson plans and classroom materials. In the classroom, the TA helps out with classroom management, modeling, and various activities. After class TAs help the teacher assess how the class went and whether the students are comfortable with the material. They also update the class page, distribute class notes among the students, and can help answer any questions the students have between classes. Finally, TAs can substitute for the teacher if the teacher is ever unable to make it to class.

GLN’s learning approach focuses on giving students the opportunity to communicate with each other, and the TA’s role is particularly important in helping them. The TA also helps streamline the flow of the class, leaving more time for students to speak. Many of the languages GLN teaches also have multiple accents and dialects, and learning from both a TA and a teacher exposes students to a wider range of the target language.

 

Duties & Responsibilities

To ensure that the TA experience is positive, the program has the following requirements:

  • You must be able to attend all of the once-a-week, two-hour classes for the full twelve-week semester. All classes are metro accessible, primarily in downtown DC and Arlington.
  • You must be able to commit an additional 3-5 hours a week for class preparations and administrative tasks.
  • You must attend a mandatory TA Workshop
  • You must be able to use the language you would like to teach to explain abstract concepts, answer questions about common usage, and model near fluent pronunciation. To verify this, we require a TA to meet at least one of these requirements:
    1. Be a native speaker.
    2. Have a BA in the target language with 1+ years of experience living in a country where that language is primarily spoken
    3. Have at least 2 years of experience living in a country where that language is primarily spoken.

Benefits

Fun

GLN classrooms bring people together to share in the joy of learning about a new culture and language. We use a communicative learning method, which focuses on students and the teacher using the language they are learning to communicate with each other in a natural way. GLN classes are often filled with lively discussions, games, songs, and laughter, providing a rewarding experience for everyone involved.

Satisfaction

As a GLN Teaching Assistant, you will be helping a volunteer teacher in their work to give up to 20 students the opportunity to learn about a culture and language they might not otherwise get to experience. GLN’s classes promote cross-cultural understanding and bring people together, often leading to lasting friendships. As a TA, you would be instrumental to GLN carrying out this mission.

Career Development

As a GLN Teaching Assistant, you will develop skills such as cross-cultural communication, public speaking, teamwork, and training experience. Furthermore, GLN attracts professionals from a wide range of fields in Washington, DC, and the people you meet can form a valuable complement to your professional network.

 

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in serving as a GLN TA!

Here is a summary of the selection and onboarding process: