Roberto Echeverria Castillo

C South St. between 5th and 6th

David, Panama 0426
Echeverria507@gmail.com
(507)6651-3978

January 18th, 2011

SIT Graduate Institute

David Program
E-mail: yarisajimenez@sit.edu

Dear Ms. Yarisa Jimenez and SIT Graduate Institute Staff:

It is with great enthusiasm that I submit my resume in consideration for a position as Director
de Programas Academicos Universitarios. I have a Master of Arts in Teaching with
concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages, from the School for
International Training in Brattleboro, VT. I have earned the TESOL Certificate from the same
institution (working with adults in a rural area of Costa Rica). Additionally, I have a Master in
Higher Education and a Postgraduate in Higher Education, with a concentration in E-learning
platforms. As a highly companioned and approachable teaching professional, with over 6
years of hands-on teaching experience, I am confident in my ability to become a valuable
member of your staff.

The enclosed resume will highlight my career achievements and showcase my achievements in
education. Being a versatile educator, I have taken the opportunity to instruct a variety of
students from various backgrounds and all facets of the society, in the United States, Costa
Rica and Panama. As a result, I am a compassionate teacher, who remains sensitive to the
learner’s unique needs, employs effective listening, provides whole and individual support,
integrates multicultural students’ backgrounds to the class, and uses encouragement to keep
the students motivated.

As a believer of the Experiential Learning Process, I integrate students to the class by creating
lesson plans based on their needs; working with the visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile
learning styles; and going through participation, description, interpretation, and response, in a
cycle that will never stop. Also, I integrate elements of realia, such as Cuisenaire rods, toys and
stick figures to the class, so the students will be able to utilize them as a mean to express and
produce language.

My teaching philosophy reflects my interests in collaborative authorship. Instead of the "full

frontal teaching" method of large lectures of autocratic seminars, I prefer student-centered
teaching that encourages learning by both students and teachers. I favor classroom dynamics
that permit dialogue and foster a degree of student input as to curricula and grading criteria.
And I like students to think about the class as a community. This means that in both
composition and literature classes, I have students spend a fair amount of time in smaller
groups in which they not only talk and think together, but write together. In keeping with this
emphasis on process, I have used the portfolio grading method in my writing courses, and have
been pleased by enthusiastic student reactions. I would be happy to send class syllabi and
student evaluations on request.
As a native Panamanian from David, working for Universidad Tecnologica Oteima, I have had
the opportunity to develop a complete study abroad program in the areas of tropical ecology
and sustainable agriculture with Florida State University in the David area. This experience
helped me to understand the dynamics of the whole program and how it geared to a successful
end.

I would enjoy the opportunity to meet with you in order to discuss how my diverse skills and
experience will enable me to make a valuable contribution to your institution. Thank you for
your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Roberto Eduardo Echeverria Castillo, M. A. T., Ed. M.

ESL/EFL Teacher