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Instructional Assistant - ESL
Instructional Assistant-ESL #1173


Pathway:
Family and Human Services

Standards:
There are McRel or MCTM standards for this career.

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Career Profile:
Instructional Assistant-ESL #1173

This Spanish translator was thirteen years old when she moved to the United States from El Salvador. She did not speak any English when she arrived and was enrolled in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes in a public high school in Iowa for three years The day she graduated from high school, she addressed the graduating class in both English and Spanish. Her speech impressed the school administrators so much that she was asked to apply for a job to assist Spanish speaking students in the district.

Her current job responsibilities include teaching ESL to kindergarten students, translating printed information to parents, contacting Spanish speaking parents at the teacher's request and accompanying the school's counselor and principal on home visits when a translator is necessary. She finds her job very rewarding in that the children admire her just as she admired her teachers.

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Will you continue to do this for many years? AUDIO TEXT
Will you continue to work with the younger children? AUDIO TEXT
How do you work with families? AUDIO TEXT
What do you do if a student doesn’t do what you request? AUDIO TEXT
Are you exclusively an ESL teacher? AUDIO TEXT
Do you only work with Spanish students? AUDIO TEXT
What is your favorite part of your job? AUDIO TEXT
What is your least favorite part of your job? AUDIO TEXT
Do students ever speak both Spanish and English at the same time? AUDIO TEXT
What is your salary? AUDIO TEXT
What is your advice to students who want to do this job? AUDIO TEXT
What age is the best age to learn a second language? AUDIO TEXT


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