How to become an ESL teacher?

Question

I live in California. I am looking to get my bachelors in English (what's the specific English degree required for ESL teaching?) Also, I'd like to travel abroad and teach in a Spanish speaking country to gain experience. What are the degress required in order to do this?

Answer 1

All you need in order to teach ESL is a state certification.  It sounds like you would like to teach in a bilingual setting rather than an ESL setting.  For ESL classes, the teacher just uses different techniques to help children who have English as a second language, but the children are fluent in English.  The teacher doesn't have to know that second language in order to teach the child.  He/she just needs to know the techniques.  In a bilingual classroom, the children may speak some English, but not fluently.  With bilingual programs, children are taught in spanish and english.  Either way, you just need a certification specific to that area (i.e. ESL, Bilingual, etc).

Hopefully that helps!