Job Discussion Forums

[acornrevolution]

Hello. I was wondering my best route to teaching ESL in public schools in America. When I come back, I will have 2 or 3 or more years of experience teaching ESL, and I have recently been contemplating getting a distance MA in TESOL. My BA is in anthropology, so my coursework is not applicable to any teacher specialization. Should I bother getting the MA and hope to get in on an alternate/temp. certificate, or is the MA worthless until I take a form post-bacc teacher prep-program?

Are there any distance programs that would allow me to get a US-based teaching license?

[chinagirl]

A master's in TESOL without student teaching leading to state certification in ESOL is, at least in my home state (NY) pretty useless in terms of getting into the public school systems. I'd advise you against distance ed for that reason. If anyone has had a different experience, please share!

[john_n_carolina]

....yes, the ESL job market is very slow right now.....you'll probably find a FullTime Highschool ESL position...but not much else...

A MA TESOL is becoming more and more of a niche-job market....writing for Cambridge, working for foundations,

check www.tesol.org for job descriptions that require a M.A.

best for you would be to get ESL certs (passing a state test, course, etc) and then start your MA TESOL after you get that highschool job....the state you are in may even pay for getting your Masters while working in a highschool.

[bdbarnett1]

In Texas you'd have to do a post-bac or alternative cert and pass the ESL test. I'm sure the MA would help you get hired...the online part is irrelevant. High school ESL would be your only bet, probably, but perhaps you could get on at a community college.

[bdbarnett1]

Not sure about private schools...perhaps you don't need a cert for that...but they pay peanuts, too, generally.

[Chancellor]

Here�s what New York State requires for those wanting to teach English to speakers of other languages (ESL or ESOL) in public schools:

Requirements for Permanent Certificate, English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Following are all possible pathways available to receive the certificate specified above. The specific requirements to satisfy each pathway are also listed.
Pathway: Approved Teacher Preparation Program
Requirements:
Hold a Valid Provisional Certificate - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Completion of a NYS Registered Program - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Institutional Recommendation - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Assessment of Teaching Skills - Performance/Video (ATS-P)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 2 Yrs
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

Pathway: Certificate Progression
Requirements:
Hold a Valid Provisional Certificate - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Assessment of Teaching Skills - Performance/Video (ATS-P)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Additional Education - Masters Degree
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 2 Yrs
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

http://eservices.nysed.gov/teach/certhelp/CertRequirementHelp.do

Keep in mind that this is for the permanent certificate; there's a professional certificate after that.

Requirements for Professional Certificate, English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Following are all possible pathways available to receive the certificate specified above. The specific requirements to satisfy each pathway are also listed.
Pathway: Approved Teacher Preparation Program
Requirements:
Completion of a NYS Registered Program - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Institutional Recommendation - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 3 Yrs
Mentored Experience - 1 Yrs
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

Pathway: Individual Evaluation
Requirements:
Education - Bachelors Degree
Minimum 2.50 Undergraduate GPA
General Core in Liberal Arts and Sciences - 30 S.H.
College Coursework - Artistic Expression
College Coursework - Communication
College Coursework - Information Retrieval
College Coursework - Humanities
College Coursework - Written Analysis and Expression
College Coursework - Concepts in Historical and Social Sciences
College Coursework - Scientific Processes
College Coursework - Mathematical Processes
Content Core - Major or Equivalent in One of the Liberal Arts & Sciences - 30 S.H.
College Coursework - Linguistics
College Coursework - English Grammar
College Coursework - Language other than English (including American Sign Language) - 12 S.H.
Pedagogical Core - 21 S.H.
College Coursework - Human Development and Learning
College Coursework - Teaching Students with Disabilities & Special Health-Care Needs
College Coursework - Teaching Literacy Skills Methods - 3 S.H.
College Coursework - Teaching Literacy Skills - 3 S.H.
College Coursework - Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
College Coursework - Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - 6 S.H.
College Coursework - Foundations of Education
Student Teaching - English To Speakers Of Other Languages - 40 Days
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Additional Education - Masters Degree
Graduate Coursework Content Core - English to Speakers of Other Languages - 12 S.H.
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 3 Yrs
Mentored Experience - 1 Yrs
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

Pathway: Individual Evaluation for Additional Classroom Teaching Certificate
Requirements:
Hold a Valid NYS Teaching Certificate
Content Core - Major or Equivalent in One of the Liberal Arts & Sciences - 30 S.H.
College Coursework - Linguistics
College Coursework - English Grammar
College Coursework - Language other than English (including American Sign Language) - 12 S.H.
Pedagogical Core
College Coursework - Teaching Literacy Skills Methods - 3 S.H.
College Coursework - Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - 6 S.H.
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Additional Education - Masters Degree
Graduate Coursework Content Core - English to Speakers of Other Languages - 12 S.H.
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 3 Yrs
Mentored Experience - 1 Yrs
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

Pathway: Interstate Reciprocity
Requirements:
Education - Bachelors Degree
Valid Level 2 or Higher Cert AND 3 yrs exp, OR completion of approved program - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Additional Education - Masters Degree
Graduate Coursework Content Core - English to Speakers of Other Languages - 12 S.H.
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 3 Yrs
Mentored Experience - 1 Yrs
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

Pathway: Certificate Progression
Requirements:
Hold a Valid Initial Certificate - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Additional Education - Masters Degree
Graduate Coursework Content Core - English to Speakers of Other Languages - 12 S.H.
Paid, full-time Classroom Teaching experience - 3 Yrs
Mentored Experience - 1 Yrs
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship

Pathway: National Board Certification
Requirements:
Hold a valid National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certificate - Early & Mid Childhood OR Early Adol, Adol & Young Ad - English as a New Language
Additional Education - Masters Degree
Graduate Coursework Content Core - English to Speakers of Other Languages - 12 S.H.
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance
Citizenship Status - INS Permanent Residence or U.S. Citizenship


Here's what's required for an initial certificate:

Requirements for Initial Certificate, English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Following are all possible pathways available to receive the certificate specified above. The specific requirements to satisfy each pathway are also listed.
Pathway: Approved Teacher Preparation Program
Requirements:
Completion of a NYS Registered Program - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
Institutional Recommendation - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Fingerprint Clearance

Pathway: Individual Evaluation
Requirements:
Education - Bachelors Degree
Minimum 2.50 Undergraduate GPA
General Core in Liberal Arts and Sciences - 30 S.H.
College Coursework - Artistic Expression
College Coursework - Communication
College Coursework - Information Retrieval
College Coursework - Humanities
College Coursework - Written Analysis and Expression
College Coursework - Concepts in Historical and Social Sciences
College Coursework - Scientific Processes
College Coursework - Mathematical Processes
Content Core - Major or Equivalent in One of the Liberal Arts & Sciences - 30 S.H.
College Coursework - Linguistics
College Coursework - English Grammar
College Coursework - Language other than English (including American Sign Language) - 12 S.H.
Pedagogical Core - 21 S.H.
College Coursework - Human Development and Learning
College Coursework - Teaching Students with Disabilities & Special Health-Care Needs
College Coursework - Teaching Literacy Skills Methods - 3 S.H.
College Coursework - Teaching Literacy Skills - 3 S.H.
College Coursework - Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
College Coursework - Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - 6 S.H.
College Coursework - Foundations of Education
Student Teaching - English To Speakers Of Other Languages - 40 Days
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance

Pathway: Individual Evaluation for Additional Classroom Teaching Certificate
Requirements:
Hold a Valid NYS Teaching Certificate
Content Core - Major or Equivalent in One of the Liberal Arts & Sciences - 30 S.H.
College Coursework - Linguistics
College Coursework - English Grammar
College Coursework - Language other than English (including American Sign Language) - 12 S.H.
Pedagogical Core
College Coursework - Teaching Literacy Skills Methods - 3 S.H.
College Coursework - Methods of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - 6 S.H.
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Workshop - Child Abuse Identification
Workshop - School Violence Intervention and Prevention
Fingerprint Clearance

Pathway: Interstate Reciprocity
Requirements:
Education - Bachelors Degree
Valid Level 2 or Higher Cert AND 3 yrs exp, OR completion of approved program - English To Speakers Of Other Languages
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Liberal Arts & Science Test (LAST)
New York State Teacher Certification Exam - Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills (ATS-W)
Content Specialty Test (CST) - ESOL
Fingerprint Clearance

Pathway: National Board Certification
Requirements:
Hold a valid National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certificate - Early & Mid Childhood OR Early Adol, Adol & Young Ad - English as a New Language
Fingerprint Clearance

http://eservices.nysed.gov/teach/certhelp/CertRequirementHelp.do


For the website link, select Classroom Teacher, English to Speakers of Other Languages, Pre-K to 12 - All Grades, English To Speakers Of Other Languages, and the type of certificate (Inital, Internship, Permanent, Professional, Supplementary, Transitional B, or Transitional C).

[chinagirl]

There is no more permanent certification in NY. That category is for the people who are grandfathered in on old certificates. New teachers need to apply for initial certification, after which comes professional certification.

[rusmeister]

[Chancellor]

[Vanica]

[chinagirl]

Vanica,

It's not completely useless, but it is a lot of extra time and money spent to do a master's in TESOL and then have to go back and satisfy unfulfilled state licensure requirements through a back door. The OP may or may not work in a state that will allow someone to teach on an emergency/temp/alternative license without licensure, but I know that with the exception of major urban districts (where working conditions can be quite tough) there are enough licensed ESOL teachers around that it would be difficult to find a position without a license. That would be the case in NY State for sure, with the exception of the NYC public schools. In addition, I think that alternate/temp licensure can be a difficult and stressful route to take. It's hard to be a first year teacher and have to go to more classes at night and weekends, on top of regular job responsibilities.

Anyway, masters degrees in TESOL that are not geared towards public school teaching are quite different from those that do - and then the OP would be missing a student teaching component which is designed to help teachers to train for the kind of work that will be required of them in public schools. It's very different. There's a lot of state-specific testing, for example.

In short, (at least in NY State), a person with an outside master's in TESOL applying directly to the state would possibly have a LOT of extra requirements to fulfill that could take another year of school to complete. So in my opinion it would be better to do the master's in the US in the state where the OP wanted to be licensed.