How to Become a High School Spanish Teacher in Texas

A bachelor's degree in Spanish is all that is needed to become a high school Spanish teacher. These programs look deeply at the Spanish and Latin-American culture, as well as Hispanic history. Along with these background courses, you can anticipate several courses in the language, including specific topics such as Spanish for the sciences or business terms. You'll also look at the linguistics, syntax, grammar, and sociolinguistics of the Spanish spoken and written language.

If you are a native Spanish speaker, you may be fluent enough to pass any of the TExES exams required. If this is the case, consider a degree in secondary education. This program will focus on learning how to work with high school students and how to better reach them. Some Spanish teachers take on additional teaching roles, so this can allow you to seek endorsement in another area of teaching as well.

An educator preparation program (EPP) can either be taken individually or along with your bachelor's degree program. Some programs include teacher certification preparation, and these are often approved by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) as an appropriate prep program. Other times, you'll need to continue your education with a graduate-level certificate or graduate degree program that focuses on educational theories and skills. Along with courses, you'll take part in a teaching internship. This will put you right into a high school Spanish class, working with real students as they struggle to learn the foreign language.

TExES exams are a major requirement for teacher certification. All teachers are required to take the TExES Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities EC-12 assessment. The cost for this exam, and all other TExES assessments, is $131 a piece. There are 100 multiple-choice questions on this exam that look at four domains:

• Designing instruction and assessment
• Creating a productive classroom setting
• Implementing responsive instruction and assessment
• Professional duties

Foreign language teachers must also take the corresponding TExES LOTE assessment to be certified. Spanish teachers are just one of the many certifications available in Texas. The Languages Other than English (LOTE) Spanish EC-12 has 128 questions in total, eight of which are constructed-response questions. This exam looks at six areas:

• Instruction and assessment
• Cultural understanding
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking Spanish

Fingerprints are required of all Texas teachers and school staff. In order to be fingerprinted, you must first sign up with the ECOS system and pay a $39 background check fee. After this, you'll then go to a local Texas MorphoTrust site for digital fingerprinting. These digital fingerprints can allow for a quicker background check than the paper counterpart. There is an additional fee of $10 for fingerprints at the time of fingerprinting.

In Texas, you'll use the Texas Examination of Education Standards (TExES) exams. While the knowledge may be familiar to you, the following sources can help you study for the exams to do better.

• Prepare for the TExES Exam
• TExES PPR EC-12 (160): Practice & Study Guide