Bilingual/Bicultural Education
Are you a teacher? Are you bilingual? Become a Bilingual/Bicultural Education teacher!
More than 5 million students in the U.S. are learning English, and that number is expected to grow. But many school districts have a shortage of bilingual teachers, and some districts even pay bilingual teachers more money than other teachers.
What is bilingual/bicultural education?
The Bilingual/Bicultural Education minor prepares future K-12 teachers to teach academic content (math, science, language arts, etc.) in two languages, such as English and Spanish.
This minor prepares you to teach in a variety of bilingual settings where the goal is bilingualism and biliteracy for K-12 students, including:
- Spanish immersion classrooms: English-speaking students learn academic content for a majority of their day in Spanish.
- Dual language classrooms: English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students are combined for instruction that uses both languages to teach academic content.
- Maintenance bilingual classrooms: Spanish-speaking students learn academic content in Spanish and English to maintain the native language and acquire English.
What are the benefits of bilingual/bicultural education?
There are many benefits to Bilingual/Bicultural Education for children, such as:
- Higher academic achievement than English-only instruction.
- Students are less likely to drop out of high school.
- Promotes reading and writing skills in two languages.
- Develops positive attitudes towards other peoples and cultures.
- Builds self-pride and self-esteem.
The program offers 30 hours of clinical teaching in a bilingual classroom with guidance from a bilingual teacher and the program advisor, so you're prepared before you student-teach and before you start looking for a job.
Our minor program is approved by the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board, meaning you can apply for an endorsement to your Minnesota teaching license.
Winona State is the only public institution in Minnesota that offers a minor in Bilingual/Bicultural Education for pre-service teachers.
What about teaching English as a Second Language?
If you're interested in Teaching English as a Second Language? Check out Winona State's ESLT major and the TESOL minor.
What’s the difference between TESOL and Bilingual/Bicultural Education?
The goal of bilingual/bicultural education is proficiency and literacy in two languages, whereas the goal of TESOL programs are proficiency and literacy in English.
What are the language proficiency requirements?
Bilingual/Bicultural Education teachers must demonstrate advanced spoken and written proficiency in English and the language of their students (e.g., Spanish).
Our program prepares you to read, write, and speak at an advanced academic level, so you can teach your students effectively in both languages.
View the Bilingual/Bicultural Education minor requirements.
What teaching licenses can get the bilingual/bicultural education endorsement?
Minnesota currently allows these teaching licenses to add the Bilingual/Bicultural Education endorsement:
- Elementary Education (K-6)
- Math Education (5-12/7-12)
- Science Education (5-12/7-12)
- Social Studies Education (5-12/7-12)
- School Health Education (5-12/7-12)
What endorsement options are there for licensed teachers?
We can help you get the endorsement via Add-On!
We evaluate your prior coursework, help you get any new courses you need, and set you up to complete the 80-hour practicum with your own students.
You must demonstrate advanced language proficiency in the target language (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hmong, Somali, Spanish, etc.).
Contact us to get the process started.
What other languages are available?
Our program is flexible enough for all languages! You need a composition course, a culture course, and a linguistics course in the language you plan to teach in.
Contact us to help you get the coursework you need.
