You teach English to people who already speak another language, in schools, adult centers or abroad. Modest pay, and work that changes someone's whole life.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$61,540
Starting out
$41,810
Experienced in a school district
$98,030
The national median is $61,540 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $41,810. The survey counts adult basic education, adult secondary education and English as a second language instructors together. Teachers who work in public elementary and high schools are counted with other school teachers instead, and they are paid on the district's salary schedule.
A published salary schedule
Set by the district, by years of service and degree level
School districts publish a grid: each extra year of service and each extra qualification moves you along it. It is slow, it is predictable, it comes with health insurance and a pension, and it is the most secure version of this job. Salaries differ enormously between states and even between neighboring districts.
Paid per course, no benefits
How a lot of adult and community college teaching actually works
Plenty of adult education and community college English teaching is part-time work paid by the course, with no health insurance and no guarantee the class runs next term. People stitch two or three of these together. Know that this is common before you plan a life around it.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is two years at a community college, a transfer to an in state public university to finish the degree, and the cheaper end of teacher preparation and the state licensing exams. The high end is four full years at the public university price plus a longer preparation program and a 120 hour certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages, which private language schools and overseas employers often ask for. Pell Grants do not have to be repaid, there are federal grants aimed at people training to teach high need subjects, and public school teaching qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after ten years of payments.
Fill in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Pell Grants do not have to be repaid, there are federal grants aimed specifically at people training to teach in high-need subjects, and public school teaching qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after 10 years of payments.
Pension and health insurance
Public school districts still offer defined pensions in most states, which is rare outside government work now.
School calendar
Summers and school holidays off if you work in a district. Many teachers use the time to study or to work abroad.
Loan forgiveness
Public Service Loan Forgiveness covers public school and nonprofit work, and there are separate federal programs for teachers in low-income schools.
A union
Most public school teachers are represented by a union that negotiates the salary schedule and class size limits.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Four years if you go straight into schools, five or six if you add a master's degree.
High school diploma
Grade 12
English, and take a second language as far as your school offers it. Having learned a language yourself is the best preparation there is.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Education, English, linguistics or a language are the usual choices. Any major works if you add teacher preparation afterwards.
Teacher preparation and student teaching
1 to 2 years
Supervised classroom practice, either built into the degree or taken after it. Required for a public school license.
State license with an English learner endorsement
Months
Pass your state's teaching exams and add the endorsement for teaching English learners. Every state names it differently.
Optional master's degree
1 to 2 years
A master's in teaching English to speakers of other languages, or in applied linguistics. Needed for most community college jobs and it moves you up the district pay schedule.
A second language
Struggling through a language yourself is the single most useful preparation for teaching one.
English
You will be explaining grammar you currently use without thinking about it.
Psychology
How people learn, and why an adult learns a language differently from a seven-year-old.
Public speaking or drama
Teaching a language is performance. Gesture, pace and repetition do most of the work.
To teach in a public elementary or high school you need a state teaching license plus an endorsement for English learners, and the name changes at every border: California issues authorizations through its Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Texas has a supplemental certification, other states call it an endorsement or an add-on. Adult education centers, community colleges, nonprofits and private language schools usually do not require a state license, and hire on a bachelor's degree plus a certificate, or a master's degree. Check the rules in your state early, because the school route takes a year or two longer and you cannot add it retroactively.
State universities with education schools
The standard route. The degree and the license are designed together, so you graduate ready to apply.
Community college first
Two years at a community college then transfer to a state university. The cheapest version of the same degree.
Master's programs in teaching English to speakers of other languages
Offered by many universities, online and in person. The usual requirement for community college teaching.
Certificate courses
A 120-hour course is the standard entry ticket for private language schools and for teaching abroad.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Bilingual authorization
Lets you teach content in another language, not only English. Paid extra in many districts and badly needed.
Adult literacy and high school equivalency
Teaching adults toward a GED (high school equivalency diploma) alongside English. It is often the same program and the same students.
Teaching abroad
A bachelor's degree plus a 120-hour certificate is enough to get hired in many countries. Low pay, low costs, and a fast way to get good.
Specializing in young learners
Teaching English to small children is its own skill set, and there is a certificate for it.
Volunteering at an adult literacy program
Almost every city has one, they always need tutors, and it tells you within a month whether you like this work.
Patience with slow progress
Language learning is measured over years. Some weeks nothing visible happens.
Cultural curiosity
Your class may hold a dozen countries and a dozen reasons for being there, some of them hard.
Classroom technology
Online learning platforms and quiz tools are standard equipment in these programs now.
A common assumption is that you must be bilingual. You do not. Most classes contain students from several countries with no shared language other than the English they are learning, so the whole method is built on showing, repeating and using the language itself. Speaking a second language helps you understand what your students are struggling with, and it is worth extra money if you add a bilingual authorization, but it is not the entry requirement people expect.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In a school you pull small groups out of their regular classes, or you sit alongside a subject teacher helping the same students follow a science lesson. In an adult program you teach an evening class of people who worked all day: a nurse from one country, a builder from another, someone who has been in the United States for three weeks. You plan around what they actually need, which is often filling in a form, talking to a landlord or passing a work test, not the textbook chapter. You assess constantly, because everyone in the room is at a different point.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Federal civil rights law requires school districts to take real steps so that students who are learning English can access the same lessons as everyone else. It is not optional and it is not a favor, which is why these teaching positions exist in every district in the country.
TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) International Association describes itself as the largest professional organization in the world for English language teaching. The field is genuinely international, and so is the job market.
For teaching abroad and for most private language schools, the standard asking price is a bachelor's degree in anything plus a 120-hour teaching certificate. It is one of the few professional doors that opens for a few weeks of study.
Children pick up pronunciation easily and cannot explain grammar. Adults learn grammar quickly, already know how the world works, and are embarrassed to sound like a beginner. The two jobs share a name and very little else.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.