Plenty of people go to school to become English teachers, but what about those that go to school wanting to teach English to people that don't natively speak the language? Why would somebody want to teach English as a second language? What are the benefits of choosing to teach English to those that won't learn it just from listening to their parents? Here are five reasons to consider choosing teaching English to those that speak other languages as a career path.

Be An Ambassador

You're giving yourself an opportunity to not only educate others about your language, but to educate them about your country and way of life. Your job is not only to educate people but to present the very best that the United States has to offer. Not only will you be teaching them about us, but you'll be learning more about them, which you can then impart to others.

Travel Opportunities

There are plenty of job opportunities to teach English to non-speakers right here in the United States. What you might not realize is that there is a large and growing demand for educators to travel to other countries and teach English to students there. Teaching abroad not only allows you to educate more students, but it gives you the opportunity to travel while teaching.

Learn Another Language

If you're teaching English to those that don't natively speak it you're probably going to have to use some of their language to help get your points across, especially in the beginning. Also, if you travel abroad to teach the language it will help to have a working knowledge before you ever arrive so that you can more easily jump into the teaching process, but you'll be surprised how quickly you'll learn a new language by being immersed in it. Sometimes it's just easier to teach certain concepts about another language in a language that your students already understand.

Teach Others About Your Culture

Teaching English as a second language is not unlike when American students take foreign language classes - you're not just learning the language, you're learning about the culture. Part of your job as an educator is to act as an ambassador, and part of that duty includes teaching others about American culture. It's an increasingly small world, and the better we understand each other the better.

Learn More About Your Own Language

You never realize what little idiosyncrasies of English you take for granted until you try to teach it to somebody that doesn't instinctively know them. While as native speakers we may not think of things like verb conjugation, when you have to teach the language to somebody that doesn't know these things already you'll have to really sit down and delve into the depths of the language. Remember what it was like taking Latin, Spanish, or French and having to learn the different ways verbs could be conjugated and then try to imagine doing that with English.

Eddy Ayala is a staff writer for Master-Degree-Online.com, where he writes on various grad topics including online graduate programs. More recently he highlighted the Top 10 TESOL Certification programs available for students today. Eddy welcomes all feedback on his articles.