The teaching internship is a critical professional development experience for novice teachers to strengthen the necessary competencies in applying pedagogical skills in actual classroom work. However, the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed educational practices to prevent the further spread of the virus. While the shift to remote online learning appeared to be a sensible option, recent studies have indicated a range of challenges faced among teachers and learners. In this paper, we describe the experiences of pre-service teachers who have undertaken an online teaching internship program in the Philippines during the pandemic. Specifically, we argue that while the online teaching internship may be helpful for preservice teachers in gaining relevant professional development experiences in the new normal, different challenges, specifically (1) interaction in an online environment, (2) lack of self-confidence in teaching and (3) technical difficulties. Despite these challenges, the online teaching internship afforded opportunities such as (1) development of learner autonomy, (2) collaboration with supervisor, and (3) modeling teaching strategies in online learning. Given these insights, there is a need to develop a more calibrated internship program that recognizes the challenges and opportunities afforded by online teaching and learning. © 2021 Editorial Board TESL - EJ. All rights reserved.
Online Internship Experiences Among Pre-service ESL Teachers in the Philippines: Challenges and Opportunities