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Yes, I think it's worth it if that is what you want to do,
assuming you focus more on middle or high school,
get the ELAR 7-12 certificate as well, and are flexible
where you go. If you have to be in Houston or Austin,
you're chances of success are going to drop a lot. Let
me give you a few serious points to consider about
teaching ESL in Texas:

1) There are two tests your ELL students will take,
TELPAS which is the English proficiency exam and
STAAR, which is the state subject competency exam.
There is a STAAR exam for ELLs but it's still an ELA
exam. No one cares how well you do in TELPAS, they
care about STAAR, in fact, they really only care about
STAAR, that's everything.

2) You will always be fighting uphill. As soon as your
students are language proficient enough to succeed
on the STAAR, they will be exited out and will be some
other ELA teachers score contribution, not yours. You
will spend a lot of time just like special education
teachers explaining to people why your students are
not successful.

3) Your students are not going to be motivated to
learn English, especially in cities that have a high
number of immigrants. These students will come and
go as they move around and head back and forth
across the border. They don't need to learn English,
they can get along pretty well just speaking Spanish.

4) You will be doing twice the work in half the time.
You will have to teach both ELA and ESL. The
expectation is that students will increase one level of
proficiency per year. The problem is the beginner level
is huge, it covers 80% of the scale, and beginner
describes a lot of different students at various
proficiency levels.

5) It will be your fault. In many schools with large ESL
populations the school is constantly struggling to
make AYP. When they don't succeed its blamed on
ESL and Special Education students.

On 10/24/16, Delaware Duke wrote:
> In your opinion, is it worth it to try my luck in
> obtaining an K-12 job in Texas. Here is an example
of my
> background.
>
> One year of experience in teaching ELA in a private
K-12
> school.
>
> A year and a half experience in teaching English
> Composition and ESL at a Community College.
>
> Two years experience in working as a subcontracted
private
> language instructor for corporate employees and
spouses.
>
> Have a master's degree in English, and have been
deemed
> highly qualified in Secondary ELA.
>
> Working on a second master's degree in the
Teaching of
> English as a Second Language, which will include
the
> completion of an approved student teaching
program.
>
> Spanish proficiency is basic, but am willing to
improve,
> including taking more classes at a local community
college
> in the near future.
>
>
>
> On 10/23/16, Paris wrote:
>> Those programs do exist, but they don't hire for
those
>> types of positions. Those are veteran teachers
whose
>> assignments were a carry over from when ESL was
a foreign
>> language program, or it's teachers that couldn't
handle a
>> classroom anymore and are moved into support
roles. The
>> focus is hiring bilingual teachers for elementary
ESL
>> instruction. Either the district has enough to do
>> immersion or they use shifting inclusion and
resource.
>> Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, they can be
>> selective, they get the bulk of applicants that have
>> exactly what they want and need.
>>
>> An L1 other than Spanish, that's like looking at a
drop
>> of water in the ocean, this is Texas. They would
assign
>> the student to the regular elementary classroom
and
>> provide them ESL support, because in Houston,
Dallas,
>> Austin, and San Antonio they can find a para or a
sub who
>> could service the student in the students L1, and if
they
>> couldn't they would assign a district or campus
ESL
>> teacher to inclusion in PEIMS and just muddle
through it.
>> If it's not Spanish it's not a significant population
of
>> students, one maybe two. That way the district can
claim
>> they are legally providing services they are
required to
>> even if it doesn't mean much.
>>
>> Most elementary schools in Texas don't have the
>> resources, space, or staff to do ESL resource or
>> inclusion, there are so many students it's not cost
>> effective. You have to understand that in some
campuses
>> and districts half or more of the the student
population
>> is eligible for ESL services. There are campuses
that
>> will exit out students to monitoring without
services,
>> because there isn't another classroom to put an
ESL
>> teacher. There are schools (middle and high
schools) with
>> such high ESL populations that teachers
essentially
>> co-teach and instead of a teacher having a
classroom
>> there is a work room with the special education
and
>> language support teachers where they have a desk
and they
>> move between classrooms all day.
>>
>> On 10/23/16, Delaware Duke wrote:
>>> Thanks for your reply.
>>>
>>> Are you saying there are no pure ESL programs at
the
>>> elementary level, as its all being lumped together
with
>>> Bilingual programs? What about ELLs whose L1
isn't
>> Spanish?
>>> In what classroom do they get placed?
>>>

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