Those who would like to become a Latin teacher will need to study this language thoroughly. Since Latin is a dead language, it is not taught with the regularity of some other languages, so it can take some searching to find universities that will allow people to major in this subject. Also, due to decreased demand for learning this language in many settings, people may need to specialize in several foreign languages so they maximize chances of employability after study.
There are some high schools that employ a Latin teacher and some people will be interested in teaching at the high school level only. Should this be the case, people will want to first earn a bachelor’s degree either in Latin or in another foreign language with Latin as a minor. Some specialize in learning a variety of languages that no longer exist like Ancient Greek and Latin, but they usually don’t do so if they’re going to teach high school.
After a bachelor’s degree, a person will probably need a teaching credential and this could take one or two more years of study. Some students also use this time to concurrently earn a master’s degree, which opens up the possibility to become a Latin teacher at the community college level. The extra studies may also be rewarded with additional pay.
Those wanting to become a Latin teacher at community colleges and not at high schools usually don’t need a teaching credential. The master’s degree may suffice but only for schools where there is less competition for jobs. Some community colleges have few employment possibilities and won’t hire teachers who don’t posses a doctorate.
It’s often recommended that people who want to become a Latin teacher at community colleges continue language studies to the doctorate, and it’s definitely necessary for most people who seek employment at universities. Since Latin is a relatively limited language, people in doctoral studies usually do specialize in several languages. These studies could be solely based on archaic languages or might evaluate modern languages and compare them to their predecessors.
Anyone who wants to become a Latin teacher should start early by beginning foreign language studies in high school or sooner. If classes aren’t offered, students might consider learning from books, television programs, Internet learning programs or DVD/CDs or many students can enroll in Latin classes at local community colleges. It’s usually recommended that people learn romance languages first, if they can’t take a Latin class, like French, Italian, and Portuguese, since these bear some similarity to Latin. From there, the goal may be to attain fluency in as many languages as possible.