I want to teach, but which direction?

[Atonement]

Right, so I've decided I want to teach foreign language. I have three years of Spanish under my belt, plan to take French in college, and would love to learn anything else I can. Though, I'm stuck. I want to teach, but I don't know if I want to teach to English speaking students, wanting to learn Spanish or French, or if I want to teach English to Spanish speaking students. I really want to travel, so that's where my teaching English would come in. And in some other nations, you don't have to have a degree to teach there, so I could teach English there, but Spanish in the USA, which would be the most versatile. Any suggestions of what I should do?

[woody92]

well i think you should do what you want...
what do you feel more tempted to do?
do you mind changing countries?
i would teach english in a foreign country (PERSONLY)

i speak flewent english and spanish and you can PM me if you want to chat in spanish! I LIVE IN SPAIN, but i am from the UK.

[The Joker]

You aren't fluent in English, you can barely type it.

[woody92]

you aren't fluent in english, you can barely type it.

thanks!!!!

I also have a disability soo dont blame me!!!!

NO HARD FEELINGS!!!

[AllThatIsLeft]

okay, let's all calm down.


Addi i recommend going to teach English elsewhere, your spanish is good, but it also needs work. which a Spanish speaking country would help alot. and you can kill two birds with one shot.

[hotttz]

I have forgoten how to post a new discution. how do i do that again???

[The Joker]

thanks!!!!

I also have a disability soo dont blame me!!!!

NO HARD FEELINGS!!!

I'm not, I'm just saying, if you have a disability, it would make it hard for you to teach somebody something.

I'm not insulting you for your disability, many people who don't have one can't teach very well.

[woody92]

I'm not, I'm just saying, if you have a disability, it would make it hard for you to teach somebody something.

I'm not insulting you for your disability, many people who don't have one can't teach very well.

ok thank you, but just to let you know i have taught before and they were young kids (4 to 7 year olds).

sorry about the last post i just got a bit stressed, still no hard feelings!
your a cool guy!

[KaelKaos]

Addison, I've been told that the only way to REALLY be fluent in a language is to go to that country, and not just learn the language, but live it. I think you should do that regardless of whether you want to teach a foreign language or teach English. I think after you really know the language, you can decide on what you want to do. I've got 4 years of French under my belt, but hell, I don't even know all the tenses.

[woody92]

Addison, I've been told that the only way to REALLY be fluent in a language is to go to that country, and not just learn the language, but live it. I think you should do that regardless of whether you want to teach a foreign language or teach English. I think after you really know the language, you can decide on what you want to do. I've got 4 years of French under my belt, but hell, I don't even know all the tenses.
I completely agree with you because I am English, and I live in Spain, now I can speak SPANISH and ENGLISH fluently, ok in English I struggle to spell, but I have never really been taught to spell in English, plus I have some other issues to contend with.

[The Joker]

If you want to travel, and you don't need a teaching license, and you know the language, go for it!

[Jean Poutine]

I looked into teaching English as a second language in China. French is less popular there, of course, that's why I was looking into English.

Aside from the obvious problem of me being able to write and speak fluently but having a French, non-native accent, from what I've gathered, any school that doesn't require AT LEAST a bachelor's degree (in any subject, though) is up to no good with you, along with whatever extra relevent certification you may bring. If you go through something like JET, that's different business - your training is provided, I believe.

After all, hiring someone without qualifications to teach English only on the basis of being a native speaker is like hiring an Algebra II student to do engineering work.

I seriously doubt that you perfectly know your own language's inner workings and I can't blame you, I don't know all of French either (although it IS my area of study, so I'm pretty damn good). What is a gerund and how do you use one? When does word order deviate from standard SVO? When do you use x verb tense? What is the difference between a coordinating and a subordinating conjunction? What is an adjunct and how do they affect sentances? What are all the possible pronunciations of the grapheme "gh"?

These questions may seem pretty silly to you...I'm willing to bet you don't know the answer to at least one of them out of the bat. I'm not blaming you or trying to denigrate you. It's just how it is. You know innately what tense you need to use and what a gerund actually is and consists of. I had to learn it from scratch and thus can explain to you exactly how your language works, because I had to memorise the rules by heart. Most of them are second nature to you, you don't even need to think about it. However, that's not the same thing as knowing why, how and when. That's not the same as relaying knowledge that may be completely foreign to people. And you're going to be able to do that all in Spanish?!

Case in point : a gerund in English is a verb form used as a noun. A gerundio in Spanish is an adverbial participle. You feel that without a license and appropriate training, you're going to successfully convey the difference between the two concepts with 3 years of Spanish?

Chances are, you could do the same with Spanish to a native Spanish speaker. Someone here could try and do the same to me in French, and they'd probably succeed if I did not study my language at such a high academic level. I know my mom can't tell me why she uses the subjunctive tenses, 95% of people could not, they just do it.

If your goal is to TUTOR and MONITOR, and not actually teach, then there is no problem with being simply a native speaker. Your job will be to just speak with students. We've got a few foreigners at college doing this sort of job. They wouldn't be able to teach. They can't, they don't have the linguistic training for it, they don't have a sufficient French speaking ability for it. There's a reason why teaching X as a foreign language diplomas have tight quotas. It's hard. If you want to actually teach, you've got a very long way ahead.

[MisterAndrews]

I would suggest training as a teacher in the USA (or UK - I don't know where you're from) to get a teaching licence (QTS) and then take it from there.
You could start in Spain, but if you need to move back over, you won't be able to teach with out QTS.

So, I would suggest doing an English Education degree. This will allow you to teach English QTS.
When you have the degree, then move over to Spain to teach English there.

Some universities will let you do that degree with Spanish as a MINOR - you can teach English AND Spanish if you do this.

[Antares]

If you feel like you want to travel and get out of the US, then you should probably find a foreign job. I know three teachers who in the past year got really really good deals to go teach in Asia and south pacific. They would pay you a lot of money and take care of a lot of fees and other costs to get you there. Being in the other country teaching would also help you learn the language a lot better and make it easier to teach since you are using your native tongue 70 percent of the time.

I think its a good idea really.

Also, don't forget that there are schools that are language schools where they speak a language other than English. For instance, there is a French language school not far from here where most instruction is in French although it is technically a public school.

So yea...lots of options Addi, it just depends on where you find the opportunities.