Teaching German and English at second level??

id0ntkn0w

Hi, im considering returning to uni to study German and English as i would love to teach these subjects at second level (I am already a private music teacher). But before investing a lot of tume and money I need to understand the job market better.I've been told by a few people that everyone can teach English and that although there are not a lot of students choosing German that there is a shortage of teachers. Ive been studying German for a few years now for fun (I love languages) but I want to be careful... not choosing to return to uni simply because I'll enjoy it, theres got to be a strong possibility of a job afterwards. Any German/English teachers out there who can help me make my decision?

solerina

There is a massive surplus of English teachers so it won't be easy to get a job. Not everyone can teach English, your friend is mistaken, my colleagues who teach English seem to have the most corrections in the entire staff room. German is a minority subject so getting a job in it won't be easy. As a subject combination...I can't comment !!

evolving_doors

have a think about how you're going to start off, I.e. sub work.
'most' language teachers I know have 2 languages ... (some with irish... mostly irish and french for some reason). Even then, they are often drafted in to cover for a 3rd lang if no sub can be found at short notice, so a lot have upskilled or are upskilling into a third even though they might be full time.
So maybe id go for german and french ... with a view to tagging on spanish or Italian later.
Irish might be a handy second subject as its core so statistically more students take it.
But then again if it doesn't work out in ireland ,and yer free and single then 2 foreign languages might serve you better abroad rather than being qualified in Irish.

Thats my take on it but maybe a language teacher here might have more insight.

katydid

Gebgbegb wrote: »

have a think about how you're going to start off, I.e. sub work.
'most' language teachers I know have 2 languages ... (some with irish... mostly irish and french for some reason). Even then, they are often drafted in to cover for a 3rd lang if no sub can be found at short notice, so a lot have upskilled or are upskilling into a third even though they might be full time.
So maybe id go for german and french ... with a view to tagging on spanish or Italian later.
Irish might be a handy second subject as its core so statistically more students take it.
But then again if it doesn't work out in ireland ,and yer free and single then 2 foreign languages might serve you better abroad rather than being qualified in Irish.

Thats my take on it but maybe a language teacher here might have more insight.

To be honest, I think it's not a great combination. I did French and German, and added on English by night - that was thirty years ago. But any jobs I got were with English and French, very rarely German. I eventually got a job teaching French and German, but I'm not teaching either any more.

I hate to say it, but German is the problem here. Much as I love it, it's not a popular subject.

id0ntkn0w

It seems really hard to decide! I have a background in French, Italian and Irish also and so maybe I need to look at what is the best combination. I love Italian and French (not so keen on Irish...but everyone has to take Irish and a vice-principal told me last year in passing "If I was picking a language to teach, hands down it would be Irish, that's where the shortage is".
Whatever I decide, I want to give myself at least 2 years to brush up on the language (s) so that when I enter uni, I'm not under too much pressure from the get go.
As if all five were on the table: Irish, French, German, Italian, Spanish...which two would have the strongest employment prospects?
i know its weird but languages are my hobby anyway so I'm quite open minded.

solerina

Irish is definitely the strongest subject, its a core subject...almost every child in the school will do Irish and cannot drop it, unlike the other languages. It is also the most difficult subject to get a decent sub for..we have had issues with subs for Mat leave posts in recent years anyway. French would be next best I think anyway.

id0ntkn0w

solerina wrote: »

Irish is definitely the strongest subject, its a core subject...almost every child in the school will do Irish and cannot drop it, unlike the other languages. It is also the most difficult subject to get a decent sub for..we have had issues with subs for Mat leave posts in recent years anyway. French would be next best I think anyway.

Thats what I suspected...Its awful that you can get turned off a subject by having a difficult teacher...thats what happened for me with Irish, maybe its time I looked at the language...without thinking of the teacher...we had an ongoing battle (although I'm sure I was no walk in the park at that age) always liked french though..beautiful language. Thanks for the reply

katydid

id0ntkn0w wrote: »

As if all five were on the table: Irish, French, German, Italian, Spanish...which two would have the strongest employment prospects?
i know its weird but languages are my hobby anyway so I'm quite open minded.

I would say Irish and French

rainbowtrout

id0ntkn0w wrote: »

It seems really hard to decide! I have a background in French, Italian and Irish also and so maybe I need to look at what is the best combination. I love Italian and French (not so keen on Irish...but everyone has to take Irish and a vice-principal told me last year in passing "If I was picking a language to teach, hands down it would be Irish, that's where the shortage is".
Whatever I decide, I want to give myself at least 2 years to brush up on the language (s) so that when I enter uni, I'm not under too much pressure from the get go.
As if all five were on the table: Irish, French, German, Italian, Spanish...which two would have the strongest employment prospects?
i know its weird but languages are my hobby anyway so I'm quite open minded.

Only about 300 students take Italian for leaving cert every year so your employment prospects there would be limited to non existent I'd imagine.

The most likely combination is irish with one of the other three. French is far more popular than german or Spanish. Have a look at the stats on examinations.ie and you can see how many take each subject.

id0ntkn0w

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Only about 300 students take Italian for leaving cert every year so your employment prospects there would be limited to non existent I'd imagine.

The most likely combination is irish with one of the other three. French is far more popular than german or Spanish. Have a look at the stats on examinations.ie and you can see how many take each subject.

Thanks so much for your input. I never thought to look at examinations.ie
i took out my French books and notes last night to have a look over them. such a shame European languages are not promoted more in Ireland. such an advantage to have them.