Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

OK, can someone please clarify the differences in the purposes/roles of a
FLES teacher as opposed to an ESL teacher ?

from what I understand.

ESL- you have the children for the sole purpose of teaching them the English language.

FLES - if you have non speaking kids in a classroom, it's best to have a FLES teacher?

and I cant understand why you need a secondary language degree before getting a FLES (which is foreign language in the elementary level)?

this is all making me crazy. im fluent in two languages, give me a freakin break with all this legal stuff

and it baffles me that an ESL teacher doesnt have to speak another language?? are they kidding ? (so it makes sense to hire someone who just got an ESL degree but doesnt speak let's say spanish, rather than someone who speaks Spanish fluently and can completely relate to the translation of things for a child.

I subbed in an ESL classroom numerous times and the kids were shocked and thrilled that I was able to communicate with them in Spanish as well as English.

I plan to look into online certifications, but will contact Boces before doing this. Does anyone have online schools they recommend ? (for ESL)


If anyone can shed some light on any of my rambled topics, i'd really appreciate it.

Message edited 5/12/2009 7:18:03 AM.

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

FLES in my school is teaching the students another language. Our FLES teacher is certified in Spanish and French.


The reason why you don't need to speak another language for ESL is because ESL students are not one variety. I had an ESL class (secondary level) and there were Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, etc students...the ESL teacher that worked with them learned the techniques to help them learn English no matter their native language. I think the Peace Corps uses a similar method when teaching their volunteers.

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

Just because you are a native speaker doesn't mean you should automatically have the right to teach a FLES class. As a matter of fact, native speakers are usually the worst teachers at the lower levels because they have no idea how to teach the grammar or explain the differences. In fact, my first language is English as you know and I would be an AWFUL English teacher, being native doesn't mean anything other than you know more vocabulary than someone like myself that learned it in school.

FLES has NOTHING to do with ESL. I am not sure where the confusion lies.

ESL- the teacher is teaching English to a variety of students that do not speak English. They do not all speak Spanish, in fact it's not bilingual education, so the point is to get them used to working in English and not in their native language, that is bilingual education.

If you need anything else FM me

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

I'm certified in ESL and I do not speak another language. Yes, in my particular district, Spanish might help me when speaking to some of the parents. However, Spanish will not help the children who speak Haitian Creole, Urdu, etc.

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

The other posters here have already made the point I was going to say. Many ESL populations in one school speak a variety of languages so if you speak Spanish that's great for those kids but what about the kids from Turkey, Lithuania, the Mid East, etc? I have made a great effort trying to learn Spanish to help that population but there are many kids in my school that do not speak Spanish.

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

Thanks for all the replies !

Message edited 5/19/2009 7:09:57 AM.

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

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Message edited 5/18/2009 11:02:03 PM.

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

Good luck!!

You know in the years you have been pondering this, you could have been certified like 5 times over already, right

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

Posted by Karen

Good luck!!

You know in the years you have been pondering this, you could have been certified like 5 times over already, right

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

In my limited experience, both ESL and Bilingual certifications are always in demand and I definitely don't think either would be a waste of $$.

Keep us posted!!!!

Re: Questions: ESL, FLES, & online classes ?

thanks karen !!