Foreign language teacher: features and job description

Today, knowledge of a foreign language is not a luxury, but a necessity. In order to have a successful career and climb the career ladder throughout your life, you need to know at least one foreign language - English. However, many specialists are not limited to studying it alone, which makes them competitive in the labor market. In this regard, the profession of a teacher of a foreign language is of particular importance in the modern world. Many applicants are eager to get this specialty and build a successful career.

What are the features of the profession? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this work? What is included in the job responsibilities, what is the competence of this specialist? We will talk more about this in our article.

Foreign Language Teacher - it is an irreplaceable figure in any educational institution. In this case, by far the most common and popular for learning is the English language. However, depending on the specifics and characteristics of the school or university A foreign language teacher can teach you Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Arabic or any other language.

Generally speaking, the tradition of learning foreign languages ​​has come to us since ancient times. So, for example, the first mention of the study of an additional language is related to ancient Roman schools.In addition, it is widely known that the nobility of Russia, striving to provide their offspring with the best possible education, insisted that they study the French language. Thus, we can conclude that the study of a foreign language is an integral part of the full-fledged education of any modern person. The process of learning new languages ​​has not lost its relevance at the present time. Concerning in the labor market, teachers of foreign languages ​​are quite in demand.

Before deciding whether you are ready to connect your life with teaching a foreign language, you should study all the subtleties of this profession, get acquainted with its advantages and disadvantages.

So, if we talk about the advantages of working as a teacher of a foreign language, then first of all we need to highlight the following factors.

• Help people. You can improve the life of your students, the profession gives moral satisfaction.
• Demand. Employment centers and message boards are filled with vacancies that are suitable for teachers of foreign languages, so you will never be left without work.
• High earnings. In some institutions you will be able to receive high material rewards for your work, for example, in private schools.
• Realization of creative abilities. Despite the fact that the teacher’s activities are somewhat limited by the rules and requirements, an employee who takes a similar position will be able to prove himself in creativity.
• Constant communication. Profession is perfect for extroverts.
• Social significance. Work as a teacher of a foreign language is respected in society.

However, at the same time, it should be remembered that the work of a foreign language teacher (like any other profession) is not ideal and has its drawbacks. Among them:

• constant emotional stress - such a thing as professional burnout is widely known and widespread among teachers;
• busy work schedule - often the work takes not standard 40 hours a week, but requires additional time, for example, on weekends or as overtime hours;
• a large amount of paper work - in addition to direct contact with your students, you will have to devote time to other activities, in particular - filling out documents and working with papers;
• stress - it’s no secret that conflicts often arise between teachers and their students or even parents of students;
• high level of personal responsibility – during the lesson, the student is under your personal responsibility.

In order to make work at school fun, as well as effective enough, you must clearly follow the job description, which spells out all the tasks and functions that you must carry out in the course of your professional activity. This list includes:

• conducting lessons;
• strict adherence to the developed curriculum;
• independent development of educational programs;
• the use of computer technology and other latest developments in the process of teaching children;
• discipline control in the lesson;
• record keeping (e.g. attendance log);
• checking homework;
• assessment of student knowledge;
• carrying out control work;
• organization of extracurricular activities (for example, excursions, master classes, intellectual games), etc.

The employer puts forward a wide variety of requirements for a teacher of a foreign language (both professional and personal). A modern teacher must maintain his competitiveness in the labor market, and therefore must prove his competence to the employer. This can be done with a portfolio and resume. Anyway, but a foreign language teacher should know what a professional standard is, have all the necessary skills, have good speech and meet the requirements in all categories.

Professional skills and knowledge - the most important column in the resume of a specialist, as well as something without which he will not be able to carry out his professional activities. These skills include:

• fluency in the taught language (both spoken and written);
• ability to translate from Russian into a foreign language and vice versa;
• availability of relevant higher education;
• knowledge of the order, rules and principles of curriculum development;
• ability to work with pedagogical documentation;
• possession of modern teaching technologies, etc.

It is important for the teacher to possess such personal qualities:

• sociability;
• love for people;
• desire to share knowledge;
• empathy and empathy;
• stress resistance;
• ability to maintain authority;
• ability to admit one’s mistakes;
• punctuality;
• optimistic mood, etc.

When filling out a resume, you should not rewrite all the qualities, it is important to consider your personality.

The rights and responsibilities of a teacher of a foreign language are usually spelled out in the job description, which will be issued to you by the employer after direct employment for the position.

The rights of a teacher may include the following items:

• give assignments to students;
• take part in the management of an educational institution;
• enjoy the rights stipulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
• improve skills, etc.

Moreover, liability may occur in the event of:

• failure to meet the requirements of educational programs;
• application of physical education methods;
• violation of the rights of students, etc.

In order to become a teacher of a foreign language, you need to study hard. After graduation, you need to decide on a specific university and field of study. In the admissions committee of a higher educational institution, you need to find out what exams you need to pass for admission to the chosen direction, and after that you should begin thorough preparation. Please keep in mind that the learning process will take several years (on average 4-6).

After graduation, you can start a job search. First of all, contact those employers from whom you have had an internship and practice during your training. An ideal first job for a foreign language teacher is a school. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that in order to remain competitive and in demand in the labor market as a specialist, it is very important to improve your skills and monitor the latest trends in this area. To do this, visit courses, master classes, trainings and conferences.

After you adapt to work at school and become more confident, you can apply for a higher position, for example, a school principal. You can also go to work in other organizations, for example, in institutions of higher education.