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 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| On_the_road Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 4538 days ago 23 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish | Message 1 of 11 04 December 2011 at 10:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm considering a career as a language teacher (German and English), but I'm not sure whether I'm skilled enough to be able to teach them. How good do you have to be at a certain language in order to be able to teach it, what do you think? Edited by On_the_road on 04 December 2011 at 10:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5629 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes  1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 11 05 December 2011 at 9:31am | IP Logged | ||
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If you want to teach your languages at schools, you need a university diploma for German (germanistics) and English (anglistics). From my experience they prefer native speakers as teachers at commercial language schools. You could as well teach languages at adult education centers (= Volkshochschulen in German or Folkehöjskoler in Danish), there I would recommend you to have a C2 - level and a good pronounciation in your foreign languages.
By the way, on which level is your English and German? Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 05 December 2011 at 9:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5793 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 11 05 December 2011 at 10:49am | IP Logged | ||
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That really depends on where you intend to teach. In most school systems in Europe, the teaching standard is awful, so you don't actually have to be that goo. But as you're in Sweden and you study languages most of your school lives....
German: Pretty good English: Really good. ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| On_the_road Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 4538 days ago 23 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish | Message 4 of 11 05 December 2011 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm thinking about teaching here in Sweden, and as you say most people are pretty good at English here. I have studied English at the University but my experience is that it doesn't do very much to improve your skills beyond an intermediate level - I am not that much better now than I was before I attended University, especially not when it comes to speaking. Perhaps the only way to reach a high enough level in order to be able to teach is to move to a country where the language is spoken? How long do you think one would have to be there to become fluent? (I know that it varies from person to person of course but do you think that three months in an English-speaking country would be enough, or are we talking a couple of years?)
My level of English is somewhere around C1 I would think but I am not that good at German yet. Edited by On_the_road on 05 December 2011 at 8:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5008 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 5 of 11 16 January 2012 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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As Cainntear pointed out, modern teaching standards tend to be awful so you don't really need to be very good. Anyway, even if only for intellectual honesty reasons, I wouldn't recommend anyone below C2 to think about teaching.
Since C2 is not that hard either, I'd advice you to have a look at the C2 exams and see how scary they seem to you to get a better idea of how close to it you are. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5867 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 6 of 11 23 January 2012 at 11:51am | IP Logged | ||
I wouldn't say that. (lol) Teaching standards aren't that bad. But just to get around the competition -- yes -- you will have to know German to C2 if not near-native. The Goethe Institute's Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom used to be the highest qualification to teach German in a foreign country. It was affordable (compared to a degree in German studies) but unfortunately it's not available anymore. I would seek out what possible places you'd want to teach (or ask the state) and find out what qualifications they require for schools. In Germany teachers need a state-certified education to teach in a state school. Anywhere else you just have to ask. First the language and then the qualification. @on-the-road, I think three months in an English speaking country would do, but it would have to be a total speaking environment. Edited by Sunja on 23 January 2012 at 11:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5008 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 7 of 11 24 January 2012 at 12:15am | IP Logged | ||
So you're sort of implying that C2 is nowhere near native? :) I guess how bad standards seem to you depends on your own standards. I'm talking about the 'communicative approach', which is dominant in English teaching for foreign speakers nowadays, and seems to be in German and Spanish as well. Such classes demand of a teacher being a reasonably good speaker of the language, a good entertainer and very little else, thus that and that only is what you get most of the time (seems like a chicken and egg question). I'm sorry but your typical CA classes are pretty weak compared to the kind of intensive stuff you see here all the time, which is what I've come to expect from any language student or teacher I would call 'good' or 'serious'. The good news is, if you're serious about it you'll probably surpass amply the official requirements, even if you lack in the 'entertainment' field. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5867 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 8 of 11 24 January 2012 at 11:35am | IP Logged | ||
Well, ... they're not always the same. Maybe someone who passes C2 is just good at memorizing and passing tests? To be fair, not all natives are familiar with all the advanced grammar on the C2 exams ^^ For a person to teach English/German at a kindergarten then C2 is not required. A degree in education might be required though! At any rate I think it's a good idea from on_the_road to get experience living in an Eng-speaking country. I know it would be impossible for me to teach French without having lived in France and I think that it's also similar for Germans who want to teach English. If they have no experience living in an Eng-speaking country then it's hard to get past the competition when it comes time to apply for a job. In my above post I was referring to state schools and adult community colleges.Private institutions may not be so strict since they run differently than state schools and so they might have different criteria for hiring. Private tutoring franchises (like Berlitz) may only require C1, but I'm not 100% sure. The pay is bad but it's good for the teaching experience. Edited by Sunja on 24 January 2012 at 11:38am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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