Teacher Discussion Forums

[ZeroTX]

Hi all,

I'm a native English speaker and an educator with over 10 years of experience in schools. I am considering becoming a bilingual education teacher at the elementary school level in either Texas or maybe even New York City. I believe that I can pass the required Spanish proficiency test to be a bilingual teacher, but I wonder what is the perception of principals, parents and other bilingual educators of a teacher whose first language is English and SECOND language is Spanish? I ask, because it seems like the majority of bilingual teachers are native Spanish speakers who have English as their second language, to varying degrees of proficiency.

Z

[Michellekj]

It took me three years before I could hold a conversation in an intermediate level of spanish, that is the level of vocabulary. But my grammar is still not very good, past and present tense.

Yes, you must pass the Spanish test to become a bilingual teacher, and, in some english franchise schools like Harmon Hall you have to sit a spanish test in the job interview. Which I did.

Some TESOL trainer instructors will tell you that you don't need to speak the language of the students you are teaching. My personal opinion is that this is a bit of a myth, if a teacher doesn't make the effort, or at least try, then how can a teacher expect to gain the respect of the students and community the teacher is serving?