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.

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.

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. 

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