Elementary Multilingual Education, BAE

Arizona State University

Prepare to educate and advocate for multilingual learners. Specialized coursework paired with team-based internships and residencies allow you to obtain teacher certification and endorsements after graduation so you can start a career in a high-demand specialty in education.

This BAE program in elementary multilingual education prepares students to become educators for linguistically and culturally diverse learners in grades K-8. Students have opportunities to specialize in several areas, including transborder and cultural studies, Indigenous education and Spanish.Course topics include language diversity, dialectal variation, funds of knowledge (i.e., collections of knowledge-based cultural practices), and practices that value cultural and community engagement. Students learn processes for identifying English language learners as well as how to develop and support the needs of students with individual language learning plans. Students also receive preparation in teaching elementary content areas, including math, language arts, social studies and science with a specific focus on meeting the academic and linguistic needs of English language learners.Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College has developed a team-based approach to teacher preparation, allowing students to participate in professional experiences (internships and teaching residencies) with a team of peers while receiving guidance and support from ASU faculty members and highly qualified certified teachers. Team-based professional experiences are designed to prepare students to work with mutually supportive colleagues to address the academic and social-emotional needs of learners. The primary goal of professional experiences is to provide students with multiple opportunities to apply knowledge learned in coursework to practice in the classroom.Students complete a series of internships prior to a semester-long full-time teaching residency. With the support of a certified mentor teacher and ASU faculty, students are able to practice what is learned during coursework in learning environments.Graduates are eligible to earn an institutional recommendation from ASU for Arizona teacher certification in Elementary Education, K-8, as well as an endorsement in either bilingual education or English as a second language from the Arizona Department of Education. In order to teach in an Arizona public school, graduates must pass the appropriate Arizona educator exams: National Evaluation Series or Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments. In addition, students must complete six credit hours of a foreign language or equivalent and pass an appropriate language proficiency test to be eligible for the bilingual education or English as a second language endorsement.