Teaching languages in the USA
 

Hi everyone,

I'm a French national who has been living and working in the UK for 5 years. I have always been fascinated by the US and I would like to work there for a year or two.

Being a languages teacher (French and Spanish) in a public school here in London, I would naturally look for a teaching position in the US, but I understand the regulations regarding education are different.

A friend advised me to apply for the Teacher Exchange Program from Amity and I would be interested to discuss with someone who has been in the program.

Also, if people in this forum work as languages teachers in the US, I would be interested to hear about their experience. I heard tthat teachers were not paid a lot in the US; is that true?

Thanks in advance for the information you'll give me.

C

Re: Teaching languages in the USA
 

Amity has discussion forums - you might do better posting there.


Define "not paid a lot". If teaching is your sole source of income and you live in Ottumwa, Iowa then you'd probably be doing pretty good. If you earned that same salary in Miami, Florida you'd be hurting!

Regardless, getting a job is easy. Getting a visa is not. You would need to meet US requirements for teaching (those requirements change state to state), and find a school board willing to spend $$K to sponsor you. At a time when many school boards are laying off teachers, you'd be hard-pressed to find one willing to spend the money to sponsor you when they can have a dozen or more teachers tomorrow... teachers who don't need sponsoring.

Ian

Re: Teaching languages in the USA
 

Thanks for your answer.

Really? I could not find any discussion forums on the Amity website. Maybe you were thinking about another one I might not know?

I rephrase: does a teaching salary allow you to live correctly in the US? Here in the UK, the salary is pretty good and higher than average. But, I guess it depends on the place you live, as you said.

I know that getting a visa is difficult, that is why I was thinking of applying through Amity, who would the one trying to find a school willing to sponsor me. This is just a project, if I have to find another job I will try something else.

Re: Teaching languages in the USA
 

Depends on the location and what you want out of life...you could probably do okay in the burbs of Boston if living in a flat share, but if you wanted to live downtown in your own place and eat out every night, then probably not.

Also depends on what is on offer for medical insurance.