With an undergraduate background in translation and interpreting, Sofía aspired to further her knowledge and career prospects by studying MA Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Bath.

After visiting the UK as part of an undergraduate exchange programme, she was eager to return to advance her studies. This led her to Bath.

Now working as an English language teacher in her home country, Uruguay, Sofía spoke to us about her experience at Bath and how it has shaped her career.

A degree with a global focus

I always knew that I wanted to do a master’s, and I knew that I didn't want to do it in Uruguay. There are excellent teachers here – who I'm very fortunate to have studied under – but I wanted to try to get out of my comfort zone a bit.

I was speaking to a friend from my exchange group and as soon as I brought Bath up, he said ‘That’s a really great uni, you should check it out.’

So, I started looking and I found Bath’s MA TESOL course. I loved that it emphasised English being a global language, and what teaching is like in the world of today. I think other universities don't necessarily focus on that, so I was glad to see that Bath did.

Everybody was super welcoming and embracing of the different varieties of English. No one was ever made to feel any less for not being native speakers of the language, or for coming from different backgrounds. Rather, we were encouraged to apply our own experiences to what we were learning – which was highly valuable.

Going beyond the theory

The practical aspect of the course was a big attraction. Assignments always had an element of bringing what you studied to a real life context of your choice.

Many of the courses I saw from other universities seemed very focused on theory. In my academic career, I've found that theory is a very good rule book to follow initially. But, the more you get involved in the profession, the more you realise that those rigid sets of rules don't always apply in teaching.

Bath’s TESOL course gave us critical thinking tools and skillsets to perceive the world in a different way. At the end of the day, I think what people want from this type of course is for it to actually feel useful - which it definitely did.

A close-knit community

Studying TESOL meant being a part of such a close-knit community. I felt like the lecturers really cared about their students. They were extremely friendly and always super open to receiving any suggestions. Plus, they were quick to answer emails and often available to give advice. I benefited from this quite a few times.

My cohort was very diverse, with people from countries such as Japan, the United States, China, and the UK. In one of our lectures, our teacher put a lot of work into finding research that represented everyone's countries. This meant we were able to share personal insights from our own teaching experiences at home.

It was so meaningful when the lecturer acknowledged how Uruguay is under-represented in research and give me the space to bring it to the table.

The department were also open with providing opportunities to further our studies. I remember one time Professor Gail Forey, who is an expert in language education and teaching development, showed up to a lecture. She talked about working on a project with a school in Bristol and asked if anyone would like to get involved.

The fact that she came to us with this opportunity was great. I don’t think any professor ever shied away from sharing their expertise or experience.

Receiving a special commendation for my dissertation

My dissertation was awarded a special commendation in the British Council ELT Master's Dissertations Award. The award recognises dissertations within the field of TESOL that have the potential to make an impact.

I wanted my research to make a difference to communities I have been a part of, using a bit of everything that the course at Bath has taught me. This is why I did my dissertation on teaching English to mixed-age classrooms in Uruguay. Due to teaching staff shortages, classes sometimes include a range of age groups. The current programme struggles to cater for the diversity in teaching students, for example, aged 3 to 13 in the same class. My dissertation aimed to address this under-researched issue.

The department were very supportive when I was completing my dissertation. My supervisor, Dr Samantha Curle was very communicative and engaged with my research. Whilst the dissertation was stressful, it was also incredibly rewarding.

I’m very grateful for the recognition by the British Council, and for the opportunity to research a topic I deeply care about. Uruguay is very under-represented in global education research – and through Bath I was able to put a spotlight on this.

Progressing my career

The Department of Education was great at providing opportunities for professional development.

Alongside my studies, I was involved in a separate research project. When discussing my research interests with Professor Gail Forey, she suggested that I applied to a project she was working on alongside Dr Reka Jablonkai, whose research focuses on applied linguistics. This is how I became involved with the British Academic Written English Secondary School (BAWESS) corpus project. This studies the role of language across different disciplines.

Working on the BAWESS project was one of my favourite experiences at Bath. I gained valuable insight into real-life research and how it is conducted. Being a part of this fuelled my passion for research.

After doing my master's at Bath, I came back to Uruguay with the qualifications to confidently teach higher level courses. I am now teaching English at the same school I went to when I was younger, which feels very rewarding.

One of my biggest takeaways from doing a master's is that I can now be a positive role model to my students. Most of the courses that I teach now are very rigid and structural. I think the TESOL course at Bath has shown me that, whilst structure is useful, there is so much more to the English language.

Therefore, I aim to set my students up for success, which often means passing exams. But I also try to offer them a more diverse and open perspective of what the English language is like. That means, for example, showing them a video that’s not from the BBC, but from somewhere else with a different accent.

Thanks to Bath, I have the tools to support my students in seeing their native language as a strength, and in the validity of their own accents. Ultimately, I hope to make them confident in finding their place in the world as English language speakers.