The International Schools Review Forum

There seem to be very few mentions of language teachers on here and I was wondering what the international market is like for qualified teachers of French and Spanish at middle/high school level. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

Not so bad. However, many schools try to recruit these language teachers locally. They usually tend to be spouses of expats who are already in the country.

And do the spouses hold a teaching certification ??

Hi "Annebar", I would like to share more with you if you are ok. Could you send me your email :)
Ann

Indeed, does that mean schools think just anyone can teach languages or are there an abundance of spouses with language teaching qualifications?

Ann, I have just tried to send you a pm with my email but this service doesn't seem to be available to me.

[quote="AnneBar"]Indeed, does that mean schools think just anyone can teach languages or are there an abundance of spouses with language teaching qualifications?

Ann, I have just tried to send you a pm with my email but this service doesn't seem to be available to me.[/quote]

Most of our language teachers teach Mandarin. We have 2 Spanish teachers. One is a spouse qualified to teach it (and native speaker) and then we have one recruited from outside the school.

[quote="AnneBar"]There seem to be very few mentions of language teachers on here and I was wondering what the international market is like for qualified teachers of French and Spanish at middle/high school level. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.[/quote]

My school is advertising for a wide range of positions including MFL.

For science maths we have to be flexible. MFL we have nearly a 1000 applications and hundreds look employable. Recruitment method was role a dice to choose those for interview! In maths if you have a pulse you get an interview.

@ Annebar : my email is annpresa@gmail.com

The pm is not available for me too, don't know why...

Thanks Nemo, although not very encouraging to hear that there is so much competition for MFL jobs.

@Ann

Some of them do hold a teacher license, while many others may not have a license but do have lots of experience.

The PM functions on this board are disabled for security and anti spam reasons.

Its a very small niche group when it comes to language teachers. The upper tier schools tend to hire native language speakers with teaching credentials. Lower tier schools really prefer someone with native language experience regardless of having a credential. Most of these students have very well developed second and third language skills that your typical college language major just doesnt have. In those cases its the language skills that matter more then the credential.

At lower levels and earlier grades trailing spouses with language proficiency typically are hired, and in such cases its a part time or local contract.