Online Courses for ESL and ENL Endorsements

For more than forty years, the TESL program in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has been helping on-campus teachers-in-training meet the ESL Endorsement requirements of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The same State-approved courses offered on campus are also offered online to in-service teachers; they are taught by the same internationally recognized TESL specialists who teach them on campus.

Minimal ISBE requirements for those who wish to teach ESL in public school programs consist of (a) coursework in designated content areas and (b) clinical experience in a public school ESL or bilingual education program. Those who wish to earn an advanced credential, the ENL Endorsement (for secondary certificates only), must satisfy the two requirements above, (c) take two additional TESL or bilingual education courses, and (d) complete a State-administered TESL proficiency test. For more information about these two endorsements, refer to the FAQs.

If you have questions that are not answered by the following information, you are welcome to contact Randall Sadler, coordinator of online courses in Linguistics, at ESLendorsement@illinois.edu.