A Day in the Life of a Italian Language Teacher Back to Top

Overview

Italian is the sixth most popular language taught in American schools. However, the instruction of Italian is decreasing dramatically in both elementary and secondary schools. Today, only about 2% of schools offer Italian. The duties of an Italian teacher include creating lesson plans, planning activities, creating and grading tests or assignments, and engaging students. Italian teachers must immerse students in the language by constantly speaking, writing, and reading Italian, and encouraging the students to do the same. Most importantly, however, an Italian teacher must be fluent at Italian and English. An Italian teacher must often teach the history and culture of the language, so knowledge and interest of these topics is important as well.

Elementary and Middle School

Italian is rarely offered at the elementary level. Among elementary and middle schools, the most common foreign language program is the exploratory model, which provides introductory exposure to the language. Language focus programs are the second most common program for elementary schools, emphasizing listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture. The remainder of elementary school programs usually use the immersion model, which provides students with the opportunity to attain high levels of proficiency in the foreign language. When a student reaches middle school, he or she is usually given the chance to choose which language to study, and Italian may be one of those options. Middle school courses often focus on building on the language programs used in elementary school to provide a basis for high school instruction.

High School

High school Italian classes typically instruct reading, writing, listening, speaking, and culture. An Italian teacher can teach anywhere from level one to five. High school foreign language classes move away from the simple translation of middle school and begin to instruct students on writing, reading, listening, and comprehending. At each level of Italian, students will be more immersed into the language and are expected to retain each of the levels before.

Italian teachers must earn a bachelor’s degree in Italian, and must be fluent in both English and Italian. They must also obtain a teaching certificate in the state they wish to teach in. It is also highly recommended to obtain a a foreign language certificate. Currently, only 31% of elementary level foreign language teachers have this certificate, so having one will certainly put you above the competition. The majority of high school foreign language teachers are certified to teach a foreign language. One quarter of elementary schools and nearly one third of secondary schools offering languages reported being affected by a shortage of qualified language teachers. The most affected schools were elementary schools in rural areas and high schools with a large percentage of students from a low-socioeconomic background. The need for qualified foreign language teachers is growing, and the average salary for the secondary level is slightly higher than that of the average teacher, $56,000.

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