Welcome, Ms. Flint!

Welcome to our community, Ms. Alissa Flint!

Ms. Flint is our newest English Language Support (ELS) Teacher. She has a bachelor’s degree with a prime focus on teaching Spanish. For three years, she worked with our sister school in Wuxi, and we are delighted to now welcome her to Tianjin.

Ms. Flint shares that she has always loved school and helping people. “That’s where my desire to be a teacher really fits is I really like helping students understand.” With her background in learning and teaching Spanish, Ms. Flint draws from her own experiences to support students in their English education and creates an environment aimed at boosting their aspirations to study and engage in the content.

“Learning doesn’t have to be boring. It doesn’t have to be standing in front of a board and everyone listening, so I try to make it engaging, especially because I have to give them a lot of vocabulary.” The best way, Ms. Flint says, for students to memorize vocabulary is to play games that challenge them to recall what they’ve learned.

Ms. Flint recognizes learning English as a tool that students can use within the classroom and outside of it. With this in mind, she helps to strengthen students’ abilities through task-based learning. “I like to make things communicative, so setting up activities or situations for students in which they have to genuinely use the language… giving them situations in which they need to use it to accomplish a task.”

During the first week of school, students took WIDA tests to assess their proficiency in English. With these results, Ms. Flint and our other ELS teachers will have data to understand where students’ skills are so they can plan practices according to their levels and aim for greater success and learning.

This year, Ms. Flint’s goal is to encourage students to become more independent learners. She explains while students will eventually graduate out of ELS classes, they remain English language learners. “They need to continue to be aware of new vocabulary and grammar, and be aware of their growth, even when I’m not there.” Having an independent mindset will equip students with skills to develop a greater understanding and set them up for success in their content classes. 

Together, let’s welcome Ms. Flint! Please greet her if you see her around campus.