Are any SDMB-ers (foreign language) teachers in Boston, D.C., or NY?

Factual Questions
1

I found out where I’ll be starting grad school yet, but it’ll be in either Boston, NY, or D.C., and my wife hopes to start a career as an k-3 Mandarin/French teacher. The problem is that neither one of us really knows how to go about this, so, as a preliminary step, I figured I’d list some questions here to get an idea of what we’ll need to know going forward. Once I know about grad school (within the next month, hopefully), I’ll start contacting the department of edu in that state.

  • My wife’s currently volunteering full time at a good elementary school here in Charleston, SC to get in class experience. She was also a teacher in Taiwan. That said, she’s not certified. What sort of certification will she likely need and how long does that take? Is it possible to start teaching and get certified at the same time? (I’ve heard of some programs in some states where people can start teaching and take night classes to get certified)

  • My wife is a native mandarin speaker, and she’s fluent in French. Will she need a special “foreign language” teacher certification?

  • Is there money (grants, scholarships, etc.) for Mandarin speakers who want to start teaching? I know the National Security Language Initiative, for example, has money to get teachers over here, but she’s already here, she just needs to be certified.

2

I’m not a foreign language teacher, but we’re in the DC area. Our school district does not have foreign language classes as part of the K-3 curriculum. However, my son has taken after school classes through this organization, which might be of interest to your wife.

3

BetsQ, that certainly would be of interest to her. I’ll pass it on. What it comes down to is that she enjoys working with children, and teaching seems to be the most conventional way to do that. If it turns out that we find a good family that wants a mandarin-speaking nanny for their children or if there is an after-school program she could work for, she’d be just as open to that.

She thoroughly enjoys teaching though.

I should note also that, while she wants to teach younger children, she isn’t against teaching higher grades. In the end, one of needs to be getting a pay check.