The 2025 ITA group in front of Drexel's Mario the Magnificent statue with Anne Politz, associate teaching professor in the ELC.
This story was written by English Language Center Operations Manager Diana Steif.
Since 1980, the English Language Center has provided the expertise and service to Drexel University for international teaching assistants (ITA). Over the past 45 years the ELC has trained more than 1,000 doctoral students from over 20 countries.
While the English Language Center is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, it provides ITA training for any department at Drexel University. This past summer, the ELC welcomed and served its 45th cohort of international PhD scholars at Drexel University. Anne Politz, associate teaching professor in the ELC, has coordinated the ITA program, and has been providing teacher education services to Drexel since 2007. This year, Ania Feliksik, PhD, assistant teaching professor in the ELC, joins her as a co-instructor.
The ELC has grown and responded to changes, challenges and technologies over the years. Since 2022, it has offered ITAs a hybrid program with two weeks of online training followed by two weeks of in-person experiences on Drexel’s campus.
During the online portion, participants learn about teaching in a U.S. university context, understanding Drexel student culture, engaging students in active learning and creating an inclusive classroom environment. When the participants arrive on campus, they attend workshops with offices across Drexel’s campus, such as Disabilities Resources and the Office of Civil Rights Compliance. During those interactive workshops, participants discuss and role-play typical classroom scenarios, and use their recently learned linguistic and cultural skills to manage potential classroom situations. The training concludes with each participant preparing a “mini lesson” from their field that incorporates all teaching skills and strategies developed throughout the training. A cohort of undergraduate students attend these lessons and engage with the ITAs as though they were in a real class.
What is the program like for its participants? Here are some selected quotes from former ITA participants that were pulled from an anonymous program evaluation:
- “I loved the training program! I can't even begin to explain how happy I was to have participated in it. I learned so much about teaching in the U.S. and felt welcomed in Philadelphia (and Drexel in particular). Still, the thing that made me the happiest was to feel (for the first time in my life) that I can actually be a good teacher. I am even looking forward to having my teaching assignment at Drexel.”
- “ITA was an amazing experience that I wish every international PhD student can attend. Not only did the training taught me much more about teaching and specifically teaching at Drexel, but it was also a great starting environment for my new residence in Philly, connecting me with my colleagues and orienting me with my upcoming student life at Drexel. Thank you for all the effort and skills you put in the training!”
- “I think the program was awesome. We made friends in our first week, and it was a gentle introduction to school life.”
The beginning of the ITA program dates back to 1980, when the Office of the Provost sponsored a preparation program for international graduate students who have been awarded teaching assistantships. From 1980 to 2020, the English Language Center has provided in-person training for four weeks every August as a service to the University. The training focuses on language, pedagogy and the culture of the North American classroom with the primary goal of orienting new graduate teaching assistants (TAs) to the United States and readying them for their tasks in the upcoming academic year.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the training was redesigned into an online format. Some aspects of the program worked well in the online format; however, the loss of practical teaching experiences and community building was notable. The relatively new hybrid format is representative of the evolution of this program.
To nominate an incoming international PhD student to participate in our training, please contact Anne Politz at ato24@drexel.edu and provide documentation of the student's teaching assistantship award. This can be an offer letter or other official communication from the nominating department.