Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Do You Have to Speak It to Teach It When I was completing my undergraduate studies, I decided to complete the requirements for the ESOL endorsement. I really enjoyed my classes and wanted to work with the ESOL students once I began my teaching career. However, the school that I starting teaching at didn't have any ESOL students, so I never got the opportunity to apply the skills that I learned to work with such students. Though I don't speak Spanish or any other foreign language fluently, do you think I have the quills necessary to teach ESOL students. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I think you don't have to be fluent in the language, but you should definitely be familiar with basic words and their culture. If you are able to, I would suggest traveling to the countries that majority of your students are form so you can learn how they lived and adapt the changes between their previous home and the US.