What does a foreign language teacher do?
A Foreign Language Teacher helps students to learn a foreign language. They participate in school-wide activities, like recruiting new students, workshops, and other special events.
They also note how well learners participate in the learning discussions, grade their homework assignments, and evaluate their performances.
Foreign language teacher responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real foreign language teacher resumes:
- Supervise and manage class; facilitate and teach conversational Tagalog including cultural aspects.
- Work in conjunction with foreign language department in curriculum design and instructional strategies.
- Conduct after school ESL courses for teachers.
- Redesign curricular program to align with ACTFL performance guidelines and standards.
- Collaborate with local administrators to create curriculum suitable for ESL students.
- Evaluate entrance examination and place students in appropriate language level and coordinate language proficiency testing for all students.
- Conduct private and group conversation classes for intermediate to advance Japanese English-language learners, from students to business professionals.
- Deliver effective classroom presentation techniques and review, correct and reinforce instructional lessons to enhance the learning and retention process.
Foreign language teacher skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Foreign Language Teachers are proficient in Classroom Management, Student Learning, and Mandarin. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Foreign Language Teachers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Classroom Management, 14%
Maintain a strong classroom management with the ability to keep students focus on task and highly motivated.
- Student Learning, 10%
Analyzed student learning in order to administer a variety of appropriate differentiated assessments.
- Mandarin, 7%
Coordinated community outreach in support of continuity of Mandarin program.
- Target Language, 6%
Monitored each student progress by maintaining their attendance and progress report in the target language daily, weekly and by weekly.
- Public Schools, 6%
Integrated Restorative Justice philosophy as applied in Chicago Public Schools.
- Professional Development, 5%
Volunteered to attend professional development seminars, present innovative teaching strategies to colleagues.
Most foreign language teachers use their skills in "classroom management," "student learning," and "mandarin" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential foreign language teacher responsibilities here:
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a foreign language teacher to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need to work well with others for tasks such as instructing students and serving on committees." Foreign language teachers often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "manage the classroom effectively to promote content retention, interpersonal skills, and cooperative learning. "
Speaking skills. Another essential skill to perform foreign language teacher duties is speaking skills. Foreign language teachers responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need good communication skills to present lectures and provide feedback to students." Foreign language teachers also use speaking skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "coordinated cultural events for the russian-speaking students. "
Writing skills. This is an important skill for foreign language teachers to perform their duties. For an example of how foreign language teacher responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "postsecondary teachers need strong writing ability to publish original research and analysis." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a foreign language teacher: "emphasized all language skills: listening comprehension, reading, writing and oral communication. ".
The three companies that hire the most foreign language teachers are:
- CARE136 foreign language teachers jobs
- Boston Public Schools7 foreign language teachers jobs
- Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES2 foreign language teachers jobs
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Compare different foreign language teachers
Foreign language teacher vs. French instructor
A Spanish Instructor specializes in teaching the Spanish language in a classroom or one-on-one setting. Their responsibilities typically include preparing lesson plans according to the students' needs and capacity, researching and creating learning materials, facilitating discussions, conducting quizzes and examinations, organizing activities to enhance their language skills, grading the students' performances, and assisting students as necessary. Spanish Instructors monitor the students' progress while maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment for everyone.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a foreign language teacher are more likely to require skills like "student learning," "mandarin," "proofreading," and "professional development." On the other hand, a job as a french instructor requires skills like "foreign language," "literature," "grammar," and "teaching methodologies." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
French instructors really shine in the education industry with an average salary of $57,989. Comparatively, foreign language teachers tend to make the most money in the education industry with an average salary of $55,935.On average, french instructors reach higher levels of education than foreign language teachers. French instructors are 11.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Foreign language teacher vs. Instructor of spanish
A teacher-in-training is a teaching professional who offers technical teaching assistance to teachers in developing effective behavior management and instructional strategies to support student learning. The teacher must collaborate with principals while employing diverse techniques to increase the effectiveness of student learning. By observing classes and then giving feedback to teachers about their teaching style, classroom management, and techniques are some of the responsibilities of a teacher-in-training. The teacher must also develop a wide array of curriculum materials and lesson plans for classroom instruction.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real foreign language teacher resumes. While foreign language teacher responsibilities can utilize skills like "mandarin," "public schools," "proofreading," and "kids," instructors of spanish use skills like "literature," "teaching methodologies," "spanish language courses," and "foreign language."
On average, instructors of spanish earn a higher salary than foreign language teachers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, instructors of spanish earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $61,981. Whereas foreign language teachers have higher pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $55,935.instructors of spanish earn higher levels of education than foreign language teachers in general. They're 5.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for foreign language teachers in the next 3-5 years?
Larry Herzberg Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Asian Languages, Director of Asian Studies, Calvin University
Foreign language teacher vs. Teacher-in-training
A Summer School Teacher is a teacher who works during the summer period. They develop and implement schemes of work and lesson plans in line with curriculum objectives. Generally, they have the same duties as a school teacher.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a foreign language teacher is likely to be skilled in "student learning," "mandarin," "target language," and "proofreading," while a typical teacher-in-training is skilled in "staff development," "student achievement," "student engagement," and "yoga."
Teachers-in training earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $39,697. Comparatively, foreign language teachers have the highest earning potential in the education industry, with an average salary of $55,935.When it comes to education, teachers-in training tend to earn similar degree levels compared to foreign language teachers. In fact, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Foreign language teacher vs. Summer school teacher
Types of foreign language teacher
Updated January 8, 2025
