<p>Does anyone have any information on the teaching profession? Daughter is majoring in business and Spanish with the idea that she may try to teach Spanish if business doesn't pan out. We've been trying to get information on the job market for teachers. My friend, who changed careers in her late 40's has been having an awful time trying to get a job teaching elementary school in a nice, suburban school. We had heard that Spanish could be a good field. Daughter could never get through an undergraduate major in math or science. Do they want Spanish teachers who aren't native speakers?</p>
<p>All of the Spanish teachers at my school aren't native speakers, so I would assume the job market is still pretty open.</p>
<p>(And, after asking my brother, who is taking Spanish in college, it seems his teachers aren't natives either: his current one is Belgian and his last was Greek(?).)</p>
<p>My kids' high school was desperate for Spanish teachers a couple of yrs. ago. They had to drop some classes and move kids from Spanish to a Social Studies class due to lack of teachers. Only two at our sch. are native speakers. S2 had one of them last year and said she was the worst of the three he had for Spanish.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. What part of the country are you in? Are many of the teachers new(ish)?</p>
<p>I live in Massachusetts, and while two of the Spanish teachers have been there for years, the other two are very new (and those positions have been replaced at least twice during my four years of high school).</p>
<p>Is your daughter certified to teach Spanish? Has she taken the Praxis exam? Has she considered being an ESOL teacher in addition to just teaching Spanish? We are in northern VA. Spanish is offered in high school and middle school. A few schools offer it in elementary. In our school, we have had the same spanish teacher for as long as I can remember but she also teaches several ESOL classes. </p>
<p>If she ends up in an area where there is a big population of spanish speaking parents -- she will be called upon to translate (make calls home, sit in on meetings etc.) unless the admin. has a spanish speaking secretary/clerk/liaison. It takes a big chunk of time out of the day especially as these meetings are scheduled during their planning periods. From what I hear -- she might make more money being a translator versus a teacher!</p>
<p>My daughter is only a sophmore in college but it seems to make sense for her to try and figure out what the job market is before preparing for something. She loves history and little kids but supposedly the market for social studies teachers and elementary ed is totally saturated. We have a new history teacher at my son's middle school and she said they had 400 people apply for her job. Why they picked her is another story...</p>
<p>The nice suburban schools where we live, where the wages are really good, probably don't have many parents who only speak Spanish but the ESOL sounds like a good idea anyway.</p>
<p>At the high school where I teach there hasn't ever been a native speaker teaching Spanish classes and we are in CA where native speakers abound. We have a native speaker running the English Language Development program and he does provide spport as detailed in MTnest's post. </p>
<p>I studied Spanish in hs and in college and have been teaching since forever and only one Spanish instructior I have encoutered has been a native speaker so at least in my experience it is the exception rather than the rule.</p>
<p>The trend around here (SW PA) is to expand language education, offering it earlier and trying to get more kids to learn a language. While the area is saturated with elementary, English, and social studies teachers, I have not heard that there is an oversupply of Spanish teachers. My sister who is a high school French teacher has never had trouble landing a job.</p>
<p>amazon, the thing to be aware of is that states have different, complex, and sometimes changing requirements for teacher certification, and it's not always super-easy to move between states. Public schools generally require certification, private and Catholic schools generally don't and generally pay less.</p>
<p>If she wants to be certified when she finishes college, she needs to pay attention to that right now. If there's an education department at her college, they should be up on certification standards, at least in that state, and probably in neighboring states, too.</p>
<p>There are also a number of programs (the most famous and most difficult to get into being Teach For America) that try to get uncertified recent college grads into teaching. Some of them combine this new-teacher experience with a plan to get certified -- see The New Teacher Project.</p>
<p>If your daughter loves history and spanish she could consider getting a degree in secondary education or bi-lingual education (there is a shortage of bi-lingual teachers across almost all subject areas in NYC). She could even look into getting dual licensed to teach both history and spanish</p>
<p>Here's a link to the National Educators Association website. NEA:</a> National Education Association. There should be a section with seperate state associations links there.</p>
<p>Useful for checking general trends, areas/subjects of need, job boards, certification requirements, standards.</p>
<p>I'm familiar with this from a music teacher's standpoint as son was headed that direction. There may be seperate/additional professional associations for language specialists as well. For music, these included ASTA, MENC, MTNA and others.</p>
<p>Her current college may also have a very knowledgeable education staff/department and formal prepared info she might want to look into as a point of reference.</p>
<p>There are also federal programs that allow teachers to reduce/forgive federal student loans if they meet certain criteria regarding subject and area/specific schools and districts.</p>
<p>Just some places to look for info, from a layman who had to inform himself.</p>
<p>My D's university has a greater than 90% placement rate for its education graduates. (I think last year it was 97%) What the professors emphasize to the students is that they can find a job teaching, but it might not be in a desirable "nice, suburban school."</p>
<p>When I was a newly certified teacher, I was in a region where it was very tough to get a job. If that's the case where your D might be teaching, I recommend that she concentrate on getting the very best grades she possibly can and go as far above and beyond as she possibly can in her student teaching experience, because those credentials and strong recommendations are like gold in a tight job market (as is certification in more than one teaching specialty).</p>
<p>My first job was in a tiny rural district where I taught middle school and high school Spanish, high school language arts, middle school social studies, and one period of primary music. I was a native Spanish speaker, so I was able to test out of the first two years and only needed the upper level grammar and comp, Spanish and Latin American civ and lit courses, and foreign language methods to meet requirements for a major. I double majored in Spanish and history and also had a minor in English (and got an emergency certificate in music based on some coursework and experience as a private piano instructor). I started out intending to teach elementary school (after having worked at the level for a few years as a paraprofessional), but I fell in love with history in college and decided I wanted to teach it at the secondary level.</p>
<p>Your D really needs to consider demographics in the desired market to decide if the advice to pursue ESL or bilingual education certification makes sense. I'm a bit hesitant to recommend it without knowing anything about your area, because funding for bilingual ed (and to a lesser extent, ESL) is really dependent on which way the political pendulum swings. I think the advice to look as history as a second certification is good, and I wonder if business education might be another possibility? My school offers courses such as business law, accounting, international business management, marketing, and entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>I agree with others that it's not necessary to be a native speaker, but it is important to have a high level of fluency, and it bothers me to see language teachers who barely speak the language and would flounder in an immersion setting themselves. I'll add that teaching a foreign language is really satisfying. It's a subject that really lends itself to creativity and activities that students generally find fun. On the other hand, although I love history, I haven't yet hit on a really engaging way to teach a few topics. </p>
<p>One last thing, your D needs to talk with her advisors ASAP. It is really hard to fit everything in for the requirements of a major plus teacher certification, and adding a second teaching area makes it even more of a challenge. That is especially true if she is in a small college that might not offer certain courses every semester (but also in a large university where it is tough to get into classes before they fill). Unfortunately, it doesn't really leave room for exploration or taking courses just because they sound interesting if they won't meet requirements toward her program.</p>
<p>If it's so hard to get a teaching job in a nice suburban school, why are teachers viewed as under paid?</p>
<p>The full-time teachers in nice suburban schools where I live are not underpaid, generally, except for the early childhood people.</p>
<p>In our area of northern Virginia, beginning teachers start at around $42,000/year. Jobs for the "nice" suburban schools are competitive as teachers don't tend to leave those jobs!! However with the economy even jobs at the "lesser" schools are being filled quickly! We have plenty of teachers from Michigan and other states (they couldn't find jobs in their states). Next year the budgets will be tighter thus I am not sure if they will be hiring as many teachers as before.</p>
<p>Very interested in this thread, as one of my Ds is in a school where she can get a MA or MS in teaching (can't remember which) with one additional year post BA. She plans to major in either Spanish or French, though is currently competent in both, and then get the teaching certification. </p>
<p>Question, is it easier or harder to get starting teaching jobs with a MA? What would be the advantage of this over Teach for America?</p>
<p>It depends on the licensing requirements on the state/city she wishes to work in. It is not necessary in some areas to have Masters for initial certification, however, you will need it for permanent certification. In NYC, you cannot get permanent certification without a Masters Degree, but you have 5 years in which to complete the requirements for permanent certification. In some places, coming in the the department of ED will place you at a higher payscale.</p>
<p>for example:</p>
<p>scenario 1
In NYC, a teacher coming straight out of college (bachelors) no experience. will have a starting salary of $45,530</p>
<p>scenario 2</p>
<p>In NYC, a teacher with a Masters degree and no experience. will have a starting salary of
50,071 (you must also factor in the $ lost while student is attending grad school and not earning an income).</p>
<p>scenario 3
A teacher comes straight out of college and starts working. Attends grad school in the evening and takes 2 years to complete the masters. Will have a salary of $52,975.</p>
<p>Teach for America and Graduate education</p>
<p>Teachers w/masters degree start at a higher salary in Northern VA too. Keep in mind that some administrators will hire teachers w/experience & only a BA over an inexperienced teacher w/masters. Plus the school division will pay a portion of your tuition if you pursue your masters/doctorate too!</p>