Teacher Education

The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures prepares French, German, and Spanish teacher education majors to effectively teach learners in K-12 settings.

Our ongoing partnership with Unity Community Center, recognized by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ (ACTFL) Global Engagement Initiative, provides our teacher candidates with hands-on experiences with younger learners before their full semester of student teaching. Our teacher education program has achieved national recognition from the Council on the Accreditation for Educator Preparation (CAEP). And our graduates teach languages across Illinois, the U.S., and the world

Resources

Do you teach a high school world language and want resources to share with your students and their parents about taking a language (majoring/minoring) in college? Check out our world language resources.

Teacher candidates in our program form a close bond during their coursework, allowing them to develop their own professional community. Teacher candidates also attend a state language teachers conference, allowing them to meet in-service teachers from across the state and become a member of the larger language teaching community.

The World Languages Teacher Education program in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures has been designated IEPP exemplary for 2023.

Program Steps

Are you interested in teaching in Chicago Public Schools? Do you want to learn more?

The National Center for Urban Education at Illinois State offers experiential learning that focuses on giving students opportunities to enact social justice in urban communities.

STEP-UP is a program in which many of our teacher education candidates have participated. It is a four-week immersive fellowship available in a partner city that includes classroom experiences, summer programming, a community-based internship, professional development, guided reflection, and residency with a host family.

In collaboration with the Urban Teacher Preparation program, several LAN courses have been redesigned to include civic engagement field trips to Chicago.

Interested in adding an endorsement to your teaching certificate?

You can work towards an additional subsequent teaching endorsement while enrolled in your major. To learn about subsequent endorsement course and testing requirements, please review the subsequent endorsement guide and then discuss with your education advisor. If you have questions, you can e-mail teacheredcenter@IllinoisState.edu.

ISU Subsequent Endorsement Guide

Contacts

Laura Edwards

Director of Recruitment and Retention
Academic Advisor
Mary Tackett

Coordinator of World Languages Teacher Education/Student Teaching Supervisor

News and Events

World Languages Student Teacher Seminars

This spring, the World Languages Teacher Education Program has 13 amazing preservice teachers in the field completing their Student Teaching experience . As shown in the photo, students will come together three times a semester for a Student Teaching Seminar where they can get support, share their experiences, reflect, and discuss important teaching topics.
The World Languages Teacher Education Program Receives Distinguished Service Award

On November 11, 2022, The World Languages Teacher Education Program received the 'Unity Community Center Distinguished Program' Award. As part of their pre-student teaching clinical experiences, our students complete a total of 150 hours of clinical hours. During these hours, candidates have ample opportunities to observe, tutor, and assist small group and whole class instruction in schools and other agencies. These experiences include urban, suburban, and rural settings, and at least 50 hours must be completed in diverse settings. Hannah Jones and Natalie Graetz (in the picture above), and Darby Gladson received a distinguished volunteer certificate for outstanding service also awarded by Unity Community Center. The Unity Community Center is a multicultural center that provides programming for youth from families with limited resources. As an after-school site, Unity offers a positive, structured learning environment for youth 5-18 years old.
World Languages Teacher Education at the Future Teacher Conference

On October 21, 2022, the World Languages Teacher Education program participated in the Future Teacher Conference organized by the College of Education. With 1,300 high school students in attendance, the conference informs and inspires students about the process of becoming a teacher, and what to expect after graduation as they enter the classroom.

In the picture, senior Maria Ramos discusses the Spanish program with two high school students.
Seniors Attend the ICTFL 2022 Fall Conference in Naperville, IL

On October 14, 2022, our World Languages teacher candidates attended the annual ICTFL Fall Conference in Naperville, IL. Successful teacher candidates engage in ongoing professional development opportunities that strengthen their own linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical competence and promote reflection on practice. During the day, ISU students attended sessions related to culturally responsive teaching; diversity, equity and inclusion; Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL); and novice teacher support groups among others. The keynote speaker was Dr. Florencia Henshaw from the University of Illinois, who discussed general aspects of Second Language Acquisition in the light of her newest publication Common Ground. Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom (Focus, 2022).