I am a teacher in a public urban middle school in California with certification in K-12, English, and Social Science. I also have an add-on as Language Development Specialist, allowing me to teach ESL k-12. I taught a humanities to limited English speakers (6th grade) for quite a few years and I currently teach drama and have designed and taught a new course (this is the second year) for newcomers and students newer to English (grades 6-8). My class has 11 different home languages. I have taught for 25 + years, mostly middle school.

My question: I am thinking of a change of venue, perhaps after retiring, particularly teaching overseas; or teaching a semester abroad and a semester here for my final years in the public school system (don't want to lose the pension). While I have extensive experience teaching children and many English language learners, I do not have TESOL certification (language acquisition theory and structural grammar was part of my LDS credential training, however)...Is it necessary for me to get that certificate to teach overseas? If so what kind of training/program would you recommend for someone with extensive teaching experience? Any thoughts on this would be helpful. I am particularly interested in using drama to teach literacy in English, as that is my field of expertise.

Richard--Berkeley, Ca.