How to Become a Licensed Language Instructor

Teaching English to Chinese students

There are thousands of languages, and for many people, the fulfillment of their life dreams requires mastering at least one foreign tongue. The demand for licensed language instructors is constant and worldwide whether your native tongue is English or Hindu, you can find a job teaching language.

Here's how you can boost your pay--and your skill--by earning your license as a language teacher.

Things You'll Need

• Strong skills in at least one language

Instructions

Earning Your License

1. Determine the country and region in which you wish you teach. Teacher requirements vary greatly around the world. If you want to lead a classroom in many countries, you'll need to have completed extensive training in that country.

2. Determine whether you want to be an official teacher or a tutor. In many cases (particularly if you want to teach English abroad), you can earn a language certificate that doesn't authorize you to enter the school systems, but which verifies that you are a trained instructor.

3. Choose a training program that fits your needs. If you want to teach English abroad, for example, you may enter the CELTA program to earn a license that will help you get jobs around the world. If you are teaching English in the United States or Canada, you may want to get a TEFL or TESOL license.

4. While you are earning your license, take on a few casual tutoring jobs. These jobs will give you solid teaching practice and references that will help you land a job in the future.

5. Once you've earned your license, the easiest way to find language-teaching jobs is via the Internet. For English teachers, websites such as daveseslcafe.com offer comprehensive international job listings. For other languages, craigslist.org and other job-listing sites can help you find work.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice makes perfect. The more you practice teaching, even in other subjects, the better teacher you'll become and the more work you'll find.

• Watch out for jobs, especially English-teaching opportunities abroad, that ask you to pay a large fee or move to a foreign country before you receive any training. Some of these companies are running scams and will leave you jobless. Use reputable companies and ask for references before entering into a commitment.

References

• Starting out as a TEFL teacher
• Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA)
• Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

Resources

• Dave's ESL Cafe - Resources for teaching English abroad
• TransitionsAbroad - Work, Study, and Live Abroad