However the U.S. is now experiencing an intense teacher shortage right now, that doesn’t mean that it’s all to easy to get a job teaching in the United States. A part of that should do with the stringent requirements established through the U.S. government, and part of that should do with the peculiarities of the American classroom experience. Let’s examine those two factors in greater detail.
The U.S. State Department, which coordinates a favorite work visa program for foreign teachers coming to America, lists seven different criteria that really must be met before you teach with a U.S. school. First and above all, you have to have a teaching certification or license at your residence country and meet all qualifications for teaching in that country. Secondly, you need to be being employed as an instructor during your application — so that you can’t “come from retirement” to land a teaching gig in the united states. You need to also have a university degree that’s equivalent to a four-year bachelor’s degree in the United States, and you have to have no less than no less than Two years of relevant teaching experience.
Those are simply the government requirements, though. In addition there are the state, or local, requirements you need to meet. These can differ of all 50 states, as they are liberated to make minor tweaks on their teaching requirements to think their unique specific needs. So, you may meet each of the qualifications to train in California – although not in Texas. It varies on a state-by-state basis.
You need to also demonstrate English language proficiency, which can be natural enough, given that you’ll be teaching to American students (even though many of them only speak English like a second language). Finally, you should pass an identification check to actually are “of good reputation and character.”
But it’s the American classroom experience that’s possibly the most daunting. One big focus now is the “Common Core” as well as a related concept — “teaching towards the core.” That means your teaching style must conform to specific curriculum components — you’re not liberated to teach a subject matter the way you might prefer. Secondly, there’s an enormous focus now in American schools on “interdisciplinary” teaching. This means that you are not supposed to use concepts from many different fields in your J1 visa for teachers, so that a class is not “just” a math class or possibly a science class but additionally pulls in ideas from a discipline like “social studies.”
Finally, Americans convey a tremendous amount of concentrate on creativity, innovation and academic enrichment. This could be quite different from the ability abroad, where questions usually have very specific answers, and there is a clear “right” and “wrong” in different response. The U.S. system places a much greater concentrate on a far more holistic classroom experience.
That said, many foreign teachers – even though these are qualified both at home and have many classroom teaching experience – often require a little bit of help in navigating the U.S. system. American schools are proud of “getting the proper fit,” knowning that requires foreign teaching candidates to give their background, skills and experiences in a manner that is going to be most engaging to U.S. schools.
The good thing is that two locations U.S. schools get each year a real shortage – math and science – also happen to be two locations foreign teachers might be most in a position to help. This could turn into a “win-win” situation, by which American schools can overcome their teacher shortage, while foreign teachers can leverage their skills and experiences in exactly those disciplines where these are most in a position to help.
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