Currently, I am finishing my statement of purpose, which I need to write in order to apply to graduate programs. In my statement, I want to describe my teaching experience (for a semester, I taught a course in Mathematics for undergraduate students; the classes had a form of seminars). However, I don't want to use a word "teach", because it is used many times in the very same paragraph. I found two possible options. The first is to say:
For a semester, I gave seminars in Mathematics.
The other possible option is suggested by my friend, who studies in the US:
For a semester, I led seminars in Mathematics.
However, neither of these options sound right – according to Google, they are not actively used.
I would like to wonder, what is the common way to describe teaching experience in this case? How to formulate the sentence I mentioned without using the word "taught"?
Best Answer
Held seminars
and
Conducted seminars
are often used, and have higher ngram scores than led or gave seminars, although two of the examples provided by the Cambridge online definition of Seminar both use give.
So it would appear perfectly acceptable to stick with ‘gave’, but if you wish to emphasize the involvement of others you might prefer ‘conducted’, which has a more sophisticated ring.