General Requirement
All MS students are expected to have at least one semester of teaching experience. This effort shall be documented by at least one credit of SOILS 602 during at least one of the semesters of teaching. (Note: Even though one credit of SOILS 602 is required, it cannot be counted towards fulfilling the credit requirement for the degree.) Equivalent teaching experience completed outside of the Department may be substituted for this requirement upon written approval of the thesis adviser and graduate program coordinator. Students may waive this requirement only by written concurrence of the thesis adviser, graduate program head, and department head. Students on departmental assistantships (as opposed to grant or privately funded assistantships) have a teaching responsibility beyond this. This experience shall consist of up to one semester of assistance with one section of a course for each semester the student is on a departmentally funded (as opposed to grant funded) assistantship.
English Test for Teaching
Graduate students whose native language is not English are required to take and pass the Penn State American English Oral Communicative Proficiency Test before they can teach at Penn State. The Program in English as a Second Language administers this test. Scores on the test determine any remedial action and when a student can assume teaching responsibilities. Additional information on this test is available at http://aplng.la.psu.edu/academicPrograms/ita_whatIsAEOCPT.php .
