BootsnAll Travel Community

I'm thinking of changing careers and becoming a Spanish teacher. I've always wanted to become fluent in Spanish (I'm intermediate right now) and the thought of teaching it to others appeals to me (even though the pay stinks, I have this fantasy of taking my students to spanish-speaking countries....)

Any advice out there? Pros/cons?

I'm in the middle of taking education classes so that I can teach French to high school students. I also have to take a few more French classes so the state in which I live will recognize me as 'highly qualified' even though I already have taken and passed their silly little test that assesses my language ability. No, I'm not at all slightly miffed at this fact. The bureaucracy, however, could care less about my disgruntled state.

If you already have a 4 year degree, most education classes, these days, can be done online, as part of a post-bac program. While the benefit of this is that you can 'attend' class in your holey underwear and no one is the wiser, you are forced to suffer through the poorly composed comments of your classmates. It has become quite disheartening to me to realize that many of America's future teachers can't spell nor realize that there is a fantastic feature on their computer that can help them with this problem. Even more disturbing is the bandwagon agreement that the standardization of education is a good thing.

All of my lamenting aside, in a year, if I stick with this, I could have my own classroom filled with young minds whom I can indoctrinate teach the many wonders of being able to communicate in French. The thought of that keeps me going. Well, and that said classroom will be ripe with children eager to travel abroad with a guide who can hold their hands as well as share in their excitement, all for a small yet reasonable fee, of course.

Many community colleges are now branching into post-bac certification programming, which makes it a more affordable option than returning to a traditional 4 year university.

It is certainly doable -- just be patient with the process.

I've been teaching Spanish for 18 years. In all that time, I've found that most of the students are only interested in taking the class for college and have very little interest in learning it otherwise.

I still enjoy using my language skills and reaching the occasional student.

As for the money, if you can stick it out, you will eventually reach a comfortable income. Also, you have two months every year to travel. As for taking student trips, I did it once and wouldn't do it again. But, I have a colleague whose done it most years she's taught.

But definitely gain fluency before teaching it.

If you have any specific questions, you can contact me directly.

I am in the midst of the career change, just finishing a masters in education so I, too, can teach foreign language (Italian). I'd prefer to teach it at the elementary level but the problem is that there aren't too many schools in my area that offer programs in languages other than Spanish. As AJV said, if you already have a 4-year degree, you can take the requisite education courses just to obtain certification. Or, you can do as I did and go back for a whole new degree. In my area at least Spanish teachers are in demand, as are ESL teachers and bilingual teachers. I am planning to go back for the ESL certification soon; I needed a break, though, as I just finished the masters in December.

Ciao freesia,

Per che hai deciso studiare italiano quando ci sono altre linque piu parlate nel mondo? Insengavo questa linqua, quindici anni fa. Ancora, non ci sono molte scole dove insegnano l'italiano.

Hai studiato in Italia? Io ho studiato a Perugia.

If you have a 4-year degree, some school districts will pay for your teacher training and certification. That's what mine did. They will also reimburse for ESL certification.

Let me tell you right now. If you want a teaching job in the US, get ESL certification. It makes you VERY hire-able, whatever your subject of interest may be.