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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’ve been in the field for many years. ESL jobs these days are actually not as easy to get as people believe, especially at the elementary school level. A few years ago they changed the certification rules and any teacher can take a Praxis test to get the endorsement. Prior to that move, they had to take about 6 extra classes to qualify if they did not receive that endorsement through teacher education program.

The year that this new rule was implemented, there were 10+ teachers at my school immediately bought a book and took the test. It is seen as a very easy path to get out of the classroom. They all passed and left the classroom. The test is basic common sense and anyone who has taught before & can retain information from reading a short book can pass. That’s from 1 single school. Imagine all the other schools with classroom teachers who also have the same plan. It became very difficult to get, just like any of the “coaching” positions or “specialists” that allow you to also get out of the classroom. This is only for elementary schools. I do think you will have a better chance at the high school or middle school level. ESL teachers at those levels are running their own classrooms like the other teachers so the incentive to get out of the classroom is no longer there.

Knowing Spanish is not “required,” although there are some principals who will have a preference for it, so those people will have an advantage. But a former principal that I worked for never hid this preference. She believed the kids will learn “more” if they have a teacher who can explain concepts/instructions in both Spanish and English. These teachers can also be used as unpaid interpreters during mandatory school events…

As far as special education, these job varies. It’s not all horrible/stressful. It really depends on what your specialization is and the school you work at.

This is what I would recommend researching these careers: school counseling, school psychology, SLP, OT, social work (school social worker). Some of these will give you a career path outside of education.[/quote]

FYI- the test which needs to be passed is not common sense questions like PP mentioned. You will need to know linguists and details about their language acquisition theories, the IPA alphabet, phonetics, advocacy laws, language acquisition assessments including bias/reliability/validity and hundreds of related ESL vocabulary terms,etc etc. The exam is very specific to ESL knowledge; it’s not a basic  generalized exam for all subject areas. FYI [/quote]

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