Job Discussion Forums

[vallillo1983]

Hello, i am an Italian/uk citizen and i teach French and Italian in a UK public school. I have also taught tesol in Italy. I have a 4 year degree in Modern Languages, a teaching licence (pgce) and a celta.

i would love to come a teach in N.America and i was wondering if there is a demand for French and Italian teachers (are these taught in state schools out there?) and if so how can i get legal work as a green card seems impossible to get!

I am also interested in Montreal, is there a demand for my skills there?

Cheers guys

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

At first you talk about North America, then you mention laws that exist only in the US, then you talk about going to teach in French Canada.

There is a huge need for French teachers in Ontario, Canada right now (French is a mandatory course up until the end of the first year of high school and is offered to the end of highschool at every school. There are also French immersion schools and a French school system in Ontario as well). Especially if you are Catholic. We have a seperate school board that is publically funded and you need to be able to get a parish priest letter stating you are a practicing Catholic in order to get a job- it's so bad that they will take Catholic people who have not yet completed a non-education undergraduate degree over someone with provincial certification (which means a B.ed= a PGCE) to work as teacher's aids. Being able to teach Italian would help you get a job as well, because it is a common elective language at high schools (so are German, Latin and Spanish).

You would need to go through the Canadian immigration system or else run the risk of working under under the "We cannot find a Canadian across the entire country who can do this job" rule. My high school German teacher (she was a certified teacher of German and French and her husband was doing doctoral studies at a university- that's why she was in the country) was working under that rule and had to go back to Austria when a single person graduated from a Bachelor of Education programme certified to teach both languages (I heard a rumour that the Canadian person actually lived in BC!) The person did not end up working at my old high school and the school soon dropped German as an elective language altogether.

Immigration is not a quick process (understatement), but once in Canada as a permanent resident (not yet a citizen) you can get your PGCE accepted by the Ontario College of Teachers, although they may make you jump through some hoops first. I'm not sure how it would work in Quebec, if Montreal is the only Canadian city you'd want to live in. There may be rules (either written or unwritten) that only allow francophones to teach French language in Quebec.