How to Become an

Arabic Instructor

The complete career guide to be an Arabic Instructor: salary, job growth, employers, best schools, and education you may need to get started.

Why We Love It

  • $69,520
    Potential Avg. Salary
  • 11%
    Job Growth Rate
  • Growing Demand
    Job Outlook
  • Dependable Daily Workload
    Career Attribute

An Arabic instructor is an expert at instructing students and developing their Arabic listening, reading, writing and speaking skills, using a range of modern language training curricula.

Recommended Schools


What is an Arabic Instructor?

Duties

As an Arabic Instructor, you must handle the following responsibilities:

  • Utilize various types of media and training techniques in classroom settings such as computer-assisted learning, mentoring courses, multimedia resources and live training opportunities.
  • Undertake regular performance assessments of existing Arabic-English foreign language instruction programs to make recommendations and implement such changes.
  • Collaborate with language studies experts from academic, government and private sectors to keep track of best practices in the field to incorporate such developments in teaching curricula.
  • Create and implement day to day lesson plans and make notes on students’ learning progress or the lack of, sharing feedback in weekly or monthly reports.

Day In The Life

As an Arabic instructor, you have the choice of teaching any level of education, corporate organisations and federal agencies. Based on your location, the daily job responsibilities will vary. For example, if you are an Arabic instructor at a university, you will not be working with the same students compared to an instructor at the intelligence department of a defence company.

If you are an instructor in higher education, your role may require you to conduct research, present your findings at a conference, and take part in administrative committees. By contrast, at a corporation or consultancy, language training lessons must be created with a specific purpose for a professional audience. In general, all foreign language instructors focus on training their students with respect to grammar, reading, pronunciation, vocabulary and writing. You will also be involved with planning the progress of each lesson, keeping records of student performance and creating class assignments.

Work Schedule

The working hours in this role can differ based on the kind of employer you work for, but can involve working over weekends and late evenings to meet deadlines. Overtime is also common due to planning lessons in advance, grading class assignments and other backend duties. Some Arabic instructors choose to take on part-time opportunities or part-year work for greater flexibility in work schedules.

Growth Of The Job

In general, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects employment for teachers in grades K-12 to increase by 6% between 2014 and 2024. The growth is mainly because of an increasing population and existing teachers retiring from their positions. The BLS has also reported that the demand for postsecondary foreign language teachers will grow by 13% during the same time period. Arabic instructors will see a steady rise in demand and potential job opportunities as travel becomes more frequent, and the need to communicate with international residents becomes a required skillset.

Typical Employers

As an experienced Arabic instructor, you will find jobs with commercial language schools, public and private schools, and other academic institutions like colleges and universities throughout the country and overseas. Alternatively, you can look for positions with industry and federal branches that require language training. Some are even self-employed and work on projects on a case by case basis.

Recommended Schools


How To Become an Arabic Instructor

To start off with a career as an Arabic language teacher, you will first need to get at least a bachelor’s degree in this language. During such a program, you will familiarise yourself with Arabic culture, literature and history, along with the language itself. If you have an advanced language degree, you will be qualified to teach at community colleges and at universities.

For teaching at big corporations or government agencies, you must be a native Arabic speaker. For instance, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) only employs individuals that are native speakers of a language. Further, having a teaching certification or credential is advantageous to compete with other aspiring candidates.

If you look forward to teaching full-time at a college or university, you will typically need to complete a doctoral program in the foreign language of choice, in this case it is Arabic. In addition, you need to demonstrate extensive knowledge in Arabic, demonstrated by a detailed fluency test. A doctoral program also requires you to have an original piece of research or contribution to the field to prove your deep knowledge of the subject area.

As an Arabic instructor at an elementary, middle or high school, you must have completed all teacher certification requirements, which usually involves enrolling in an accredited degree program, classroom teaching and a comprehensive exam, based on which state you are in.


Arabic Instructor Salary Data

We’ve provided you the following to learn more about this career. The salary and growth data on this page comes from recently published Bureau of Labor Statistics data while the recommendations and editorial content are based on our research.

National Anual Salary

Low Range

$45,630

Average

$69,520

High Range

$118,530

National Hourly Wage

Low Range

---

Average

---

High Range

---

How do Arabic Instructor salaries stack up to other jobs across the country? Based on the latest jobs data nationwide, Arabic Instructor's can make an average annual salary of $69,520, or --- per hour. On the lower end, they can make $45,630 or --- per hour, perhaps when just starting out or based on the state you live in.

Salary Rankings And Facts

  • #202 Nationally for All Careers

  • Above Average Salary Nationally


Highest Education Among Arabic Instructors

  • 43.3%   Doctorate
  • 35.7%   Masters
  • 16.2%   Bachelors
  • 2%   Associates
  • 2.4%   College
  • 0.2%   High School
  • 0.2%   Less than High School

Job Growth Projections and Forecast

2014 Total Jobs

37,200

2024 Est. Jobs

41,300

Job Growth Rate

11%

Est. New Jobs

4,100

How does Arabic Instructor job growth stack up to other jobs across the country? By 2024, there will be a change of 4,100 jobs for a total of 41,300 people employed in the career nationwide. This is a 11% change in growth over the next ten years, giving the career a growth rate nationwide of Above Average.

Growth Rankings And Facts

  • #160 Nationally for All Careers

  • Above Avg. Growth Nationally


What Companies Employ The Most Arabic Instructors

Industry Current Jobs New Jobs Needed % Increase
Colleges, universities, and professional schools; private 14,100 1,900 2%
Colleges, universities, and professional schools; state 11,900 500 1%
Junior colleges; local 4,700 600 1%

Want To Be an Arabic Instructor? Get Started!

Generate your free SmartPlan™ to identify colleges you like, and potential ways to save on a degree or certification program toward your career with courses, offers, and much more!

Enroll Now and Get Started

or Learn More →