Speaker
Description
The mentoring of beginning teachers is a critical component of the induction of new teachers into the profesion (Thomas, 2000). Mentoring, according to Anderson (1988), is a nurturing process to help promote inexperienced teachers’ professional development and should be made a formal practice. Given the vital role of mentorship, beginning teachers at a faculty of English language teacher education in a university in Hanoi are required to participate in a mentoring program in which they are supported professionally, instructionally as well as personally and emotionally by more skilled and experienced teachers in the faculty as mentors. To evaluate this mentorship practice, particularly to find out what teacher mentees value and what they wish to be removed from the program, this study was carried out. The analysis of the data collected from a survey questionnaire and interviews with the 10 mentees revealed that beginning teachers highly appreciated the program in almost all aspects except for the amount of paperwork involved and the unnecessary pressure caused by unplanned classroom observation by the Dean for formal assessment. It is believed that by letting the voice of the mentees heard, the mentoring program can be tailor-made to answer the needs of those it is intended for.
Biography
Can Thuy Linh is a teacher of English at Faculty of English Language and Culture, University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi. She has been teaching English for 21 years. Her main areas of interests are English Teaching Methodology, Extensive Reading and Teaching English to Young Learners.
