Opportunities for Spanish/ESL Teachers (Manchester, Nashua: fit in, school districts, property taxes)

[samander03]

Hello.

I'm a U.S. citizen that is currently living in Europe. My wife (who is Spanish) and I are considering a move to New England, specifically New Hampshire. I've never been to the northeast, but I've heard nice things about it. We've read up quite a bit on the different states there, and New Hampshire seems the best based on safety, family life, low taxes (excluding the notorious property taxes), etc.. What we would like to know is the feasibility of working there in our specific fields, and we're hoping that someone on this wonderful forum might be able to enlighten us a bit more. We've seen quite a few offers in our fields, but we're nervous about such a large change without some first hand knowledge of the area. I studied Biology, but I have been working for the past 5 years as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher here in Spain, and I enjoy it quite a bit. I'm also fluent in Spanish and I know conversational German. My wife has two Bachelors degrees in Spanish Literature and Spanish Philology, and is almost finished with a third Bachelors degree in English Philology. She is near fluent in English and her native tongue is Spanish. Are there a lot of opportunities for us in New Hampshire? Is there an interest in learning Spanish and/or a need for English courses for foreigners? I would be thrilled if anyone could let me know. As I said before, there are a lot of ads for local school districts etc. pertaining to both of our fields, but I'd be interested to hear from someone that works in/knows something of either one on the ground there in New Hampshire. Thank you a lot for reading all of this, and I look forward to the possibility of being neighbors with all of you soon!

[NH2008]

Spanish teachers - sure. Some districts start teaching Spanish as early as 1st grade, and based on my very limited anecdotal experience, there's a shortage of native Spanish speaking teachers in NH schools. That said, define "near fluent." Is your wife fluent enough to communicate with non-Spanish speakers, as the job would require? Also, the public school system is bureaucratic and she will have to be licensed to teach here - three bachelor's degrees may not be as useful to her as an education degree or MA in Spanish.

ESL - I'm sure it exists, but opportunities will be relatively few. NH has changed quite a bit but it doesn't have anywhere near the influx of immigrants that, say, New York or California does. I think opportunities will be around Manchester and Nashua, or perhaps within driving distance in Lowell, MA or Maine.

[samander03]

Thanks for your response NH2008.

She can communicate with non-Spanish speakers without any problems. I said "near fluent" because she might sometimes put a word in the present instead of past tense, or because she still has a noticeable (but understandable) Spanish accent when she speaks English. To ease any fears that the schools might have she is going to take the TOEFL exam here next month. That will give them a measurable score (for reading, writing, listening and speaking) to go by as well as the conversation that they will have with her in an interview.

We read about the licensing. Apparently it isn't that hard though, as (from what I read on the NH DOE website) she can do most of the process through the mail. It also seems like it won't be that difficult to get her degrees validated in NH, as they will do that through the mail as well.

Thank you a lot also for the ESL advice. I'm not really sure what we're going to do about me. I speak Spanish fluently, but I have no degrees to back it up as I learned it through conversation here. That being the case, I could really only tout it as a benefit in the sales/service industry, and I'd rather work in education.
Hopefully we'll get things sorted out, find jobs and make our way out there. We're both tired of Madrid and looking for a smaller, quieter place to settle down. We think that New Hampshire might be it.

Thanks again for your advice. We really appreciate it.

[psr13]

Originally Posted by samander03

Thanks for your response NH2008.

She can communicate with non-Spanish speakers without any problems. I said "near fluent" because she might sometimes put a word in the present instead of past tense, or because she still has a noticeable (but understandable) Spanish accent when she speaks English. To ease any fears that the schools might have she is going to take the TOEFL exam here next month. That will give them a measurable score (for reading, writing, listening and speaking) to go by as well as the conversation that they will have with her in an interview.

We read about the licensing. Apparently it isn't that hard though, as (from what I read on the NH DOE website) she can do most of the process through the mail. It also seems like it won't be that difficult to get her degrees validated in NH, as they will do that through the mail as well.

Thank you a lot also for the ESL advice. I'm not really sure what we're going to do about me. I speak Spanish fluently, but I have no degrees to back it up as I learned it through conversation here. That being the case, I could really only tout it as a benefit in the sales/service industry, and I'd rather work in education.
Hopefully we'll get things sorted out, find jobs and make our way out there. We're both tired of Madrid and looking for a smaller, quieter place to settle down. We think that New Hampshire might be it.

Thanks again for your advice. We really appreciate it.

Regarding you, many states have an option where you pass an equivalency test in the subject you wish to teach. I'm not sure if New Hampshire does, though. At least in California your major doesn't matter as long as you can pass the test.