The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition’s (NCELA) Wyoming report states that its K-12 schools had 2,349 ESL students in 2007. While this number is not staggeringly high, it does show a marked uptick as compared to the same population in 1997, growing at a rate of almost 32 percent. In fact, the University of Wyoming says that its ELL population is increasing at a faster rate than any other social group in the state. The top five home languages of Wyoming ELLs are Spanish, Japanese, Farsi, Russian, and German.
Wyoming’s Prospects for ESL Teachers
The Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing, created by the U.S. Department of Education, reveals that the state has reported critical shortages of qualified educators in several subject areas. English as a Second Language has shown up every single year and at every grade level since 2004-2005. As of 2013-2014, related subjects such as elementary grade core subjects, English, middle-school Language Arts, Reading, and Spanish were also on the shortage list.
Wyoming TESOL Job Boards
- Wyoming Public Schools maintains an Openings page listing jobs for teachers as well as classified positions.
- The Wyoming Job Vacancies board lists district, administrative, teaching, specialist, and support staff positions. This jobs board is sponsored by the Wyoming School Boards Association.
- I-TESOL has occasional ESL and bilingual education positions posted on its Employment Web page.
- Wind River Tribal College has compiled a list of Employment Opportunities at the college.
Wyoming Resources for TESOL Teachers
- I-TESOL, the Intermountain Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, is comprised of professionals and graduate students in the fields of multicultural, bilingual, ESL, and EFL education. It is the regional representative of the international TESOL organization because Wyoming does not have its own affiliate, but shares one with Utah and Idaho.
- Wind River Tribal College has a grant-funded bilingual education training program focusing on Native language, culture, and literature. The college’s Web page also contains links to Arapaho songs, stories, and language information.
- Central Wyoming College’s Online PTSB Courses include several professional development choices for educators, including classes in instructional technology, TESOL in core content areas, literacy teaching methods, and foreign languages.