K-12 Teacher Education Certification (STEP)

Program Requirements:

• Complete SED 3000 (or 300, 301, or 3001) with a minimum grade of 3.0 or B
• Complete WRT 1060 (or 160) with a minimum grade of 3.0 or B
• Earn a minimum GPAs of 3.0 in both teachable major and minor with no single course below a 2.0 or C
• A minimum overall GPA of 2.8
• Confirm SAT or ACT scores are on file with Oakland University

Students who have a baccalaureate degree in a foreign language from Oakland or from another institution may apply for the program. STEP admission requires a minimum 3.0 GPA in the major and minor disciplines; students may be required to take additional foreign language coursework at OU if their foreign language GPA is below a 3.0. Students may also need to take additional foreign language coursework if those taken do not meet all of the state content requirements for Foreign Language teacher certification. Transcripts should be evaluated by an adviser in SEHS in order to determine if additional coursework is necessary. Post-baccalaureate students who graduated with a degree in a Foreign Language do not earn a second degree; rather, they complete the requirements for recommendation for teaching certification.

Post-baccalaureate students who graduated with a degree in a field other than a Foreign Language (Spanish, French, German, Japanese or Chinese) will follow the STEP Foreign Language major curriculum, which includes both content courses and professional education courses; those students will also need to choose a teachable minor in which they will earn certification.

Post-baccalaureate students will need to apply and be accepted into OU's STEP in order to complete the professional education courses and intern teaching. Information regarding the application process and the program can be found under M.A.T. in Secondary Education.

Foreign language students who have been accepted into the STEP program are required by the State of Michigan to achieve a score of 'Advanced Low' for oral proficiency in an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI or OPIc) before they do their student teaching. Japanese and Chinese students will be expected to achieve a minimum score of 'Intermediate High'. The rating system corresponds to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines set out on the official ACTFL OPI website. The OPI is an interview conducted over the phone, the OPIc is an interview conducted with an avatar on your computer.

For more information, please read the OPI Information from our department.

Professional Education Requirements:

Students must complete a sequence of undergraduate course work in education, including:

• SED 3000 - Introduction to Secondary Education (4)
• DLL 4197 - Digital Technologies (4)
• RDG 4238 - Teaching Reading in the Content Area (4)
• FE 3010 - Educational Psychology for K-12 Educators (4)
• EED 3001- Managing the Classroom Community for U.S. Diverse Learners (4)
• SED 4100 - Minor Methods (4)
• SE 4401 - Introduction to Students with Special Needs (4)

Also required:

• EED 4240 - Elementary Foreign Language Teaching Methods (3)
• SED 4200- Secondary Foreign Language Teaching Methods (4)
• SED 4952 - Internship in Secondary Education (12)

For advising, please contact:

Director

Foreign Language Education
Dr. Raquel Prieta
[email protected]
370 O'Dowd Hall
(248) 370-2153

Advisers

Chinese
Dr. Mingming Liu
[email protected]
354 O'Dowd Hall
(248) 370-2050

French
Dr. Jennifer Law-Sullivan
[email protected]
366 O'Dowd Hall
(248) 370-2080

German
Dr. Angineh Djavadghazaryans
[email protected]
357 O’Dowd Hall
(248) 370-2063

Japanese
Dr. Akiko Kashiwagi-Wood
[email protected]
360 O'Dowd Hall
(248) 370-4565

Spanish
Dr. Raquel Prieta
[email protected]
370 O'Dowd Hall
(248) 370-2153