How to get a Spanish Teaching Certification?

Question

I'm native Spanish speaker and have a B.A. in International Relations. I also have a business in Spanish tutorials online, but don't have a Teaching Certification yet.

What are the requirements to be a Spanish certified teacher if I want to teach elementary school in the U.S.? Where can I get the certification? How much time will it take? How much does it cost?

Answer 1

The same way you get any teaching certificate.  

You need a four year education degree, in your case, a minor or second major in Spanish....yes, second major is best.

Teacher certificate from the state you wish to teach in, as each state is different for their requirements.

Minimum is 4 years, probably closer to five unless you can work on the certification in your senior year.  Cost for a degree varies also.

Answer 2

Normally, foreign language teachers work at high schools (usually) and middle schools (occasionally) in the US. Elem schools that hire foreign language teachers are pretty rare.

Each state has different requirements for teacher certification. You can find them on the state's Department of Education website (just do a web search for the state you are interested in).

At a minimum, you'll generally need at least 15 or so credits of education classes. (The website will list the specific ones usually). At most universities, 1 credit costs $300 or more. You might also do a master's program in education. One year is the probably the shortest amount of time it could take to get certified; two years is possible depending upon the state.