Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Bilingual, ESL, or Foreign Language Teacher teaches foreign languages to students in elementary to secondary schools. This includes English as a second language. Common foreign languages which are taught are Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, German, Dutch, Russian, Mandarin, and Arabic.
Job Outlook
There were 1598 Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 39567 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher industry, which includes the Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $62,327.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $58,026.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $55,561.
Education and Experience
Posted Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 49.12% |
| Master's Degree | 22.56% |
| Doctoral Degree | 4.27% |
| Other | 9.18% |
Posted Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 65.18% |
| 3 to 5 years | 29.5% |
| 6 to 8 years | 2.89% |
| 9+ years | 2.44% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Teaching (59.54%)
- Spanish Language (41.27%)
- Communication (37.22%)
- English Language (28.4%)
- Writing (20.88%)
- Multilingualism (18.04%)
- Planning (16.65%)
- Interpersonal Communications (13.86%)
- Foreign Language (10.68%)
- Research (9.28%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Language Education (9.69%)
- Teaching English As A Second Language (14.09%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Educational Assessment (11.28%)
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) (14.89%)
- Special Education (11.13%)
- Classroom Management (18.29%)
- Curriculum Development (19.21%)
- Adult Education (6.89%)
- Lesson Planning (34.95%)
- Learning Styles (13.19%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Linguistics (7.18%)
- Language Acquisition (6.36%)
- Dual Language (5.06%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Linguistics (100%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Spanish Teacher
- ESL Teacher
- High School Spanish Teacher
- World Language Teacher
- ESL Instructor
- Foreign Language Teacher
- French Teacher
- American Sign Language Teacher
- Bilingual Teacher
- Spanish Instructor
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- English / Language Arts Teacher
- Middle / High School Teacher (Other)
- Elementary School Teacher
- Vocational Education Instructor
- History / Social Studies Teacher
- Reading Teacher
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Bilingual / ESL / Foreign Language Teacher jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Chicago Public Schools (640)
- Language Trainers (265)
- Boston Public Schools (231)
- Fusion Academy (226)
- Clark County School District (223)
- Madison Metropolitan School District (201)
- Language Learning Network (191)
- Orange County Public Schools (176)
- Wayne-Finger Lakes Boces (171)
- Fusion (155)
North Carolina
- Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (94)
- Fayetteville Technical Community College (79)
- Wake County Public Schools (64)
- Johnston County Public Schools (43)
- Durham Public Schools (41)
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (31)
- Cumberland County Schools (29)
- Union County Public Schools (27)
- Alamance/Burlington Schools (26)
- University of North Carolina (18)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- English as a Second Language (ESL) Master's Degrees
- English as a Second Language Add-on Teacher Licensure
- NC Teach@NC State Teacher Licensure
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.