Careers and Jobs Teaching English as a Second Language

English is now considered as the lingua franca of global business. Consequently, for ensuring success in job roles internationally, it becomes all the more important to learn English if it is not your native language. There are several programs that facilitate this such as TOEFL. TOEFL stands for Test of English as Foreign Language. TESOL is another program on similar lines and when expanded, it means Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Among the plethora of such programs, ESL or English as Second Language is gaining prominence. Interested individuals looking for careers in this discipline need to have a minimum Bachelor’s degree and need to be certified in ESL. The criteria may differ several times. For example, in some countries, a Master’s degree is an expectation whereas in some cases, teachers are expected to be native English speakers. There are other opportunities that also arise in pursuing programs like ESL such as performing roles of interpreters and translators. The programs may be known by different names considering that they have been renamed a few times. For example, English as Second Language [ESL] evolved into Teaching English as Second Language [TESL] and now Teaching English as Foreign Language [TEFL]. However, getting certified in one meets the criteria for the others too. Institutions offer various programs for equipping teachers, translators and interpreters in the techniques of teaching English to other language speakers. These are usually short duration certifications and courses.

Opportunities are bright in this field with Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting that job growth will be positive in this discipline. Salaries are attractive with median annual incomes of adult literacy and remedial education teachers at $47,830 in 2007.

University of Phoenix, Strayer University and CDI College are the front runners in providing quality programs in this discipline followed by Argosy and Kaplan Universities.