Although the U.S. is currently experiencing a serious teacher shortage at this time, that doesn’t signify it’s an easy task to obtain a job teaching in the us. Portion of that should apply the stringent requirements established with the U.S. government, and portion of that should apply the peculiarities in the American classroom experience. Let’s look at both these factors in depth.
The U.S. State Department, which coordinates a popular work visa program for foreign teachers going to America, lists seven different criteria that must be met before you teach with a U.S. school. First and most importantly, you have to have a teaching certification or license in your home country and meet all qualifications for teaching in this country. Secondly, you must be working as an instructor during the time of you — so you can’t “come from retirement” to land a teaching gig in America. You need to possess a university degree that’s similar to a four-year bachelor’s degree in the us, so you should have no less than a minimum of Couple of years of relevant teaching experience.
Those are simply the federal requirements, though. Additionally, there are their state, or local, requirements you have to meet. These may differ among all 50 states, as is also liberal to make minor tweaks to their teaching requirements to think their own specific needs. So, you might meet every one of the qualifications to teach in California – however, not in Texas. It varies over a state-by-state basis.
You need to also demonstrate English language proficiency, that’s natural enough, considering that you’ll be teaching to American students (regardless of whether most of them only speak English like a second language). Finally, you should pass an identification check to successfully are “of good reputation and character.”
But it’s the American classroom experience that’s possibly the most daunting. One big focus now could be the “Common Core” plus a related concept — “teaching on the core.” This means your teaching style must accommodate specific curriculum components — you’re not liberal to teach a topic how we might prefer. Secondly, there’s a significant focus now in American schools on “interdisciplinary” teaching. This means that you are not likely to use concepts from the 3 major different fields within your J1 visa for teachers, in order that a class has stopped being “just” a math class or perhaps a science class but also pulls in ideas from a discipline like “social studies.”
Finally, Americans convey a significant amount of emphasis on creativity, innovation and educational enrichment. This is quite different from the knowledge abroad, where questions usually have very specific answers, and there’s clear “right” and “wrong” in any response. The U.S. system places an extremely greater emphasis on a much more holistic classroom experience.
However, many foreign teachers – regardless of whether these are qualified at home and have many classroom teaching experience – often require a little bit of assist in navigating the U.S. system. American schools pride themselves on “getting the proper fit,” which requires foreign teaching candidates to present their background, skills and experiences in a manner that will likely be most engaging to U.S. schools.
Fortunately that two locations U.S. schools get each year a real shortage – math and science – also are already two locations foreign teachers might be most capable of help. This could turn out to be a “win-win” situation, where American schools can overcome their teacher shortage, while foreign teachers can leverage their skills and experiences in exactly those disciplines where these are most capable of help.
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