International Teaching Assistants

CITL offers a variety of programs to support international TAs at USF. See the programs below for more details. If you have questions, please reach out to Dr. Jane Harvey (jkharvey@usf.edu). 

International Teaching Assistants Support Workshops 

Academic Culture and Communication (ACC) Series 

Join with other ITAs from different departments in a series of six weekly workshops to learn more about how to be successful in the different TA roles (grading, office hours, running labs, and teaching). The topics covered are:  

• Communication in US culture
• US learning and teaching theories
• Expectations of instructor and student behavior
• Holding effective office hours / one-on-one interactions with students
• Giving oral and written feedback to students
• Dealing with sticky situations

The workshops are in person on Wednesday afternoons from 2:00-3:00 starting on September 12 to October 16. If you attend all workshops, you will receive a certificate of completion. 

Click here to sign up for the ACC workshop series by August 30.  

Note: the sign-up form allows you to indicate that the Wednesday 2:00 time does not work for you. If several ITAs indicate they would like to attend but the time does not fit their schedule, there may be a second ACC series at a different time.  

Speaking and Pronunciation Skills (SPS) 

Join with other ITAs from different departments to learn and practice how to develop pronunciation and speaking skills to help you communicate more effectively and comfortably. The workshops are delivered by graduate students from the Speech Pathology program, whose expertise is in helping people improve their speech.  

The workshops are in person on Thursday afternoons from 2:00-3:00, starting on September 11 and ending October 17. If you attend all workshops, you will receive a certificate of completion. 
 
Click here to sign up for the SPS workshop series by August 30.  

Connections and Interactions with USF Undergraduate Students 

CSD Collaboration 

This program is an opportunity to be partnered with a Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) program undergraduate student (Note – international English is NOT a disorder!).  Once you have been connected (Dr. Jane Smart, CSD, and Dr. Jane Harvey, CITL), you and the UG student decide when, how and how often you meet. ITAs benefit from this collaboration because the CSD students can help them develop their English pronunciation, as well as give them opportunities to develop fluency and other speaking skills and learn more about US academic culture. The UG students benefit from the opportunity not only to practice the speech development skills and strategies they learn in their courses, but also to learn about other cultures and other departments and programs at USF. 
 
Click here to sign up for this collaboration. You will be asked to indicate the days and times that you are able to meet so that we can partner you with an UG student with a similar schedule.   

Judy Genshaft Honors College (JGHC) and ITA Culture Exchange Program (CEP)  

This is an eight-week long program that involves an ITA being paired with a JGHC undergraduate student. You will meet with the UG student online or in person for one hour a week during which you discuss various aspects of your different cultures. There are also four bi-weekly group meetings for all UGs and ITAs in this CEP program, during which groups of ITAs and UGs collaborate to discuss topics and create intercultural ideas.  
 
The biweekly meetings will be held from 11:00-12:00 on the following Tuesdays: Sept. 17, Oct. 1, 15, and 29.

Click here to sign up for participation.