According to an analysis provided by the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA), Utah’s K-12 schools classified 52,635 students as ELLs during the 2007-2008 academic year. This statistic marks a 37.5 percent increase from ten years earlier. The top five languages spoken by ELLs are Spanish, Korean, Navajo, French, and Vietnamese.
Utah’s Prospects for ESL Teachers
The Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing, published by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education, states that while Utah has experienced critical shortages of qualified ESL teachers in the past, it has not reported any additional need for them since 2004. However, as of 2013, the USOE reported dual-immersion elementary education as a teacher shortage area. In general, Utah does not have the demand for ESL educators seen in the nearby states of Nevada and California, but there are some prospects for bilingual educators.
Utah TESOL Job Boards
- Teach Utah, an official recruitment tool of the USOE, uses the online service Teachers-Teachers to post current job openings in Utah public, private, and charter schools, as well as employment for coaches, trainers, specialists, administrators, instructional support personnel, pupil services, and trainers.
- I-TESOL (Intermountain Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) posts occasional listings on its Employment Web page.
Utah TESOL Teacher Resources
- I-TESOL, or the Intermountain Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, represents Utah bilingual and ESL educators as part of the international TESOL organization. Membership also includes educators in Wyoming and Idaho.
- USOE maintains a list of Loans and Scholarships for state educators.
- Utah Education Network is a web portal for students and educators. It offers professional development, workshops, webinars, educational programming and other teacher training opportunities via distance learning formats.
- Bilingual and foreign language educators comprise the membership of the Utah Foreign Language Association (UFLA).