By Lauren Lamb
University News Service
September 30, 2008
Texas State University-San Marcos Intensive English Language Program (TSIE) professor Beverly Ingram Sladek has been recognized as the 2008 Texas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Region III Teacher of the Year.
The Texas TESOL is a regional chapter of TESOL, a global association of instructors who teach English as a second language.
Sladek has been teaching since 1972. She received her master of arts degree in teaching English as a foreign language from the University of Texas in 1976. Sladek joined the Texas State faculty in 2000.
Sladek has taught in English to students in New York, Algeria and Mexico. She has given presentations to fellow TESOL instructors in the U.S., Japan, Mexico and Germany.
“From the moment 36 years ago when I met my first intensive English class of students from Italy to Saudi Arabia, I was hooked,” Sladek said.
In 1988, Sladek co-authored the textbook, From Writing to Composing. A second edition was published in 2004.
“Beverly is dedicated to teaching her students both the skills they need to succeed at the university and the cultural information they need to navigate life in the U.S.,” Linda Muñoz, director of TSIE, said. “Beverly knows how to recognize, appreciate, and respect each of her students as individuals struggling to learn their second or third language.
“Beverly is the last to leave each day she teaches,” Muñoz said. “She spends hours with students after classes reviewing videotapes of their presentations and talking to them about strategies to improve their English.”
Sladek said her approach to teaching is not a new one.
“I don’t teach ESL as much as I teach people ESL,” she said. “While I’m endlessly fascinated by learning about my language and culture, my fascination becomes a passion when it comes to helping people grasp and use the linguistic and cultural knowledge they need.”
Sladek will accept her award at the Texas TESOL annual conference, to be held Nov. 6-8 in Dallas.
For more information, visit www.textesol.org.