Certifications Required to Teach German, French, Italian, Spanish or English

If you are interested in exploring and entering the profession of teaching languages online, here is an overview of all the language certifications you would need to teach German, French, Italian, Spanish or English online.

Who should be looking into this?

• Persons interested in exploring and getting into teaching a foreign language professionally.
• Qualified teachers wanting to extend their teaching into a work from home job, teaching their native language as a foreign language.

Interest in Germany as a place to work and to teach has increased rapidly in recent years. There is also a rising demand for German courses. If you are native-speaking German and want to teach online, you are in demand!

You will need a DAF (Deutsch als Fremdsprache) or DAZ (Deutsch als Zweitsprache) certificate to teach German as a Foreign Language. Your language proficiency level is determined by this certificate course and placement test at the time of registering for the course.

The Goethe-Intitut offers this teacher training certificate worldwide via online and face-to-face formats.

To teach French you require a DAEFLE certificate. This certificate enables teachers to teach French as a Foreign Language (FLE) to non-French speaking students.

This DAEFLE diploma is intended for persons looking to get a diploma to teach French globally, or for those wanting to specialise in a specific French language field or audience.

The diploma is offered by Alliance française Paris Île-de-France in collaboration with the CNED via online training. There is an entry test you would need to pass to progress on the course, and the course consists of 6 modules and a 6-hour exam. Yup, that’s around 480 hours of training!

DITALS is the certification that confirms your proficiency in teaching Italian to foreigners and to teach Italian online, you will need this.

There are different levels of qualifications offered within this certification: Ditals BASE; Level 1 Ditals and Level 11 Ditals. The University for Foreigners of Siena offers all three certification options, dependent on the level of Italian you would like to teach.

More info on Italian DITAL can also be found here. 

To teach Spanish online, a DELE diploma (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera / Diploma of Spanish as a Foreign Language) is needed.

There are 6 levels of DELE Spanish Diplomas, ranging from A1 for a basic everyday language communication certificate, to levels C1 and C2 – the more “master levels” of the diplomas.

Choose from the best Spanish as a second language schools that offer DELE preparation courses here.

Depending on where you teach – different countries and different schools and learning centres – have different minimum requirements for levels of education. Generally, you will need a bachelor’s degree and then a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course certification.

For a more in-depth guide on English language qualifications, see here.

We are here to help you do just that!

See here for potential job opportunities for the above listed languages, as well as Turkish, Arabic and Hebrew prospects when available, and tips on nailing your online teacher interview!