TESL Degree in UM FAQs

Assalamualaikum.

I've been getting a lot of messages especially when it's the UPU season or interview season for degree. Haha. I guess everyone searched for 'TESL in UM' or something, and they'd end up on my blog. I'm writing this post to answer some FAQs that I received. Here's the post on my Interview at UM

Please note that whatever I went through was in 2014, and the system might have changed.

Q: What are the qualifications to enter TESL Degree in UM?
A: Well, first of all you need at least a 3.00 CGPA during your foundation, or matriculation, etc. Actually you can refer here.

Q: Is there an interview? Perhaps an exam or test?
A: Based on my experience, we only had to undergo an interview. It depends on which interviewers you will get. During my interview, I was asked to teach anything for like a minute or so. Just prepare something to teach. Hahah. Then, yeah, just be yourself and be confident. If you really want to be an English teacher or something along those lines, it will show through.

Q: What are the courses you have to take?
A: Some of the courses I took were about grammar, listening and speaking, reading, basic philosophy, literature (poems, short stories, drama), and many more. So basically you learn a little bit about the topics and you will learn how to teach them. There are also courses that involve curriculum and assessment. Basically preparing you to become a teacher. However, the recent intake, 2016/2017 TESL students have a totally different syllabus. So, my experience isn't what you're going to face. I'm not entirely sure what exactly is the recent syllabus but perhaps you can stalk someone somewhere hahahah, sorry.

Q: What are the chances of me getting accepted into this course?
A: I honestly can't say because it all depends on the administration. But let me just tell you that the batch above me has like 30-ish (?) students, while my batch only has 20 of us. But, the batches below have over 30 students. So, yeah, I don't know, just try your best and you might be one of the chosen ones.

Q: How does it feel like being in TESL?
A: It's so much fun! Hahahah. All the people here are happening and we can go crazy at times. We're pretty much the noisiest of all. Plus because there's not many of us, we're really close to each other and we just know each other. Unlike other courses where there are like 100 of them in one lecture, then divided into small tutorial groups. We see each other almost everyday and it's always the same faces hahahah.

Q: Besides TESL, what other courses do I have to take?
A: There are some compulsory university courses that I took which are Kemahiran Maklumat where you have to learn how to use the library and how to search for valid and reliable articles and such. Then there's Tamadun Islam dan Tamadun Asia where you learn about..... the tamadun hahaha. And then Jalinan Masyarakat where you have to do social engagement projects. Besides that where is also co-curricular where it's actually a course you have to take for one semester. Some of the courses are dikir barat, teater, keroncong, seni lukis, event management, tarian tradisional and so many more. But you only have to choose one. Other than that, there's elective courses where you are required to complete 3 credit hours of it. These courses are from outside of your faculty. So since you may be from the faculty of education, you need to take courses from let's say, science, business, islamic, etc. I took 2 science courses in two semesters, making it 4 credit hours. Because all the 3-credit hour courses are not my liking. Haha. It depends on the lecturer but my lecturers taught us very basic about their respective courses.


So I guess that's all for now? That's all I can remember being asked about. Good luck to those wanting to pursue TESL Degree in UM!! You're not going to regret it, I'm sure. But please do note, these are all based on my experience from 2014-2017. Things may have changed, the syllabus and such. So, yeah. All the best!

xoxo,
Zue.