okaya asked:
I am a chinese college student and major in law. I plan to go to the US to futher my study 2 years from now. Being very interested in language I want to be a mandarin chinese teacher during my stay in America. I was wondering if I need to meet some certain requirements, for instance, to get a certificate from a certain organization?
And is it easy to find a job as a chinese teacher in America?
Each state in the USA has difference requirements, so you really need to decide in which state you wish to teach. Go to this link to see what you need to do to teach in California.
As far as need for Chinese teachers, this is a great time to be a Chinese teacher in California. Where I live, in the San Francisco Bay Area, many high schools offer Chinese and so do middle schools. The schools, near where I live, that do not offer Chinese will offer it soon. The San Francisco Bay Area has a very high Chinese/Taiwanese population. As a result, the parents want their children to learn the language of their homeland.
Good luck!
Comment by PointHo — August 24, 2007 @ 6:23 am
Your best bet is become a Chinese tutor instead of a teacher. High schools, on average, have at most one Chinese class. There are more private courses available, though you should have some type of teaching experience to get hired by these organizations.
Comment by Beth J — August 25, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
On average — not talking about any specific state in the US — to become a high school teacher of Chinese, you would have to take at least several courses in Education — things like “Adolescent Psychology”, methods of teaching teenagers, teaching children with disabilities, methods of language teaching and probably a course on language acquisition. You will also need at least a BA or BS degree. There may be other requirements as well — fingerprinting, criminal background check, completion of seminars on things like child abuse prevention and reporting and workplace/school violence prevention. (Those are no big deal; just a couple of hours).
In most states, you will also have to take a set of exams in English, basic mathematics, basic science, and so on, and maybe a test about “teaching”. Most of these are multiple choice.
You should think carefully about whether you want to work at a high school. The educational culture in the US is very different from that of China, and expectations are quite different.
You generally will not be able to teach Chinese at a college or junior college unless you hold a Ph.D degree or (at least) a MA degree. More and more institutions want a Ph.D., although there are temporary jobs open for a year or two that do not require a doctorate or publications.
To tutor, of course, there are no specific requirements.
It will be an expensive proposition to become a certified teacher in the United States. I have a BS in Chinese, an MA in Chinese Linguistics, a Ph.D. in Teaching Chinese, another MA in Conference Interpreting, and I am being asked to take the equivalent of a third MA degree to get my certificate to teach high school Chinese. Price tag: could be as high as $18,000. So although there are many new Chinese programs and there are potentially many jobs available, be aware that it is not as easy to get one of those jobs as it might seem.
Last piece of advice: ALWAYS check all courses you take with the State education department BEFORE you start them, to make sure they will accept the course as part of your teaching certificate requirement. Avoid unpleasant surprises!!
Jia you!! :-)
Comment by transl8r — August 28, 2007 @ 1:04 pm