Instructor Qualifications for JPN 1011 & 1012

The qualifications listed below reflect the minimum qualifications a high school instructor must meet before applying to teach the UMN courses JPN 1011: Beginning Japanese I and JPN 1012: Beginning Japanese II.

Licensure

CIS instructors must have a valid Minnesota teaching license or an approved alternative.

Experience and proficiencies (all required)

• Three years of experience teaching at the high school level and at least one year of experience teaching advanced level Japanese.
• Native or near native fluency in Japanese. Speech must be reasonably unaccented, generally grammatically correct, and employing appropriate vocabulary and register. Candidates who are non-native speakers of Japanese will demonstrate Advanced-low level skills based on ACTFL standards. Commitment to staying current with both pedagogy and content through reading, ongoing professional development, and/or graduate coursework.

Demonstration of advanced, relevant content knowledge (select one)

1. Graduate degree in the field(s) of Japanese, Japanese language instruction, world language instruction, or second language acquisition;
2. Graduate degree in any field and 18 graduate credit hours in field(s) of Japanese, Japanese language instruction, world language instruction, or second language acquisition;
3. Graduate degree in any field, such as education, plus six equivalent experience options from options A through F, below;
4. Undergraduate degree in Japanese, Japanese language instruction, world language instruction, or second language acquisition, plus seven equivalent experience options from options A through F, below.

Description of Equivalent Experience Options (only required if #3 or #4 is selected above)

A: Graduate credits in Japanese or a related field

Related fields include, but are not limited to, Japanese language instruction, world language instruction, or second language acquisition. Credits need not have been taken as part of a graduate degree program.

• Three semester-length credits is considered one experience
• Can be applied up to seven times

If including this option in your Description of Professional Experience, include a list of relevant graduate coursework. For each course include the title, where taken, and number of credits earned. Faculty will evaluate the courses you list for relevancy to the topics taught in the UMN course or to advanced topics in the same field. If the applicability isn’t obvious from the course title, please describe the relevance.

B: Professional development workshops in related fields

Related fields may include workshops sponsored by CARLA, the American Association of Teachers of Japanese, or other relevant workshops, training, conferences, or seminars.

• 30 hours of professional development is considered one experience
• Can be applied up to seven times

If including this option in your Description of Professional Experience, include a list of each professional development workshop, the sponsoring group or organization, and total hours. Refer to Faculty Guiding Questions #1: Discipline-specific professional development.

C: Fellowships or awards for recognition of Japanese language instruction

This includes recognition of high school or undergraduate teaching from a school, district, state, regional, national, or international organization.

• Each award is considered one experience
• Can be applied up to two times

If including this option in your Description of Professional Experience, describe your awards using tips from Faculty Guiding Questions, #8: Receiving an award or other recognition.

D: National Board Certification in World Languages

• Include a copy of your certification letter or certificate with your application
• Fulfills one option

If including this option in your Description of Professional Experience, describe your certification using tips from Faculty Guiding Questions, #11: National Board Certification.

E: Years of successful and effective teaching experience in a course leading to undergraduate credit

These should be Japanese courses, including dual credit, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or teaching undergraduates on a college or university campus.

• Two years of teaching is considered one experience
• Can be applied up to seven times

If including this option in your Description of Professional Experience, describe your teaching experience using tips from Faculty Guiding Questions, #3: Teaching of a course leading to undergraduate credit for students.

F: Serve as a content or pedagogy trainer or coach, or student teacher supervisor

To apply this option, Japanese or related content must be embedded in pedagogy.

• Each year in role is considered one experience
• Can be applied up to two times

If including this option in your Description of Professional Experience, list and describe roles using tips from Faculty Guiding Questions, #9: Experience requiring regular use of skills or content knowledge related to the field or to #7: Student teacher supervisor.