Language teachers build skills, earn license in new Middlebury program

Meigan Clark has always loved languages, literature and teaching.

Those passions are ones she explored as a student at Middlebury Union High School through various extracurricular activities and they eventually led her to her current position teaching French at a charter high school in New York City.

“(The position) allowed me to try teaching, see how I liked it before getting my certification,” Clark said. “Now I’ve decided that is the career path I want to pursue. I love working with young people, with teenagers, getting to support them as they grow.”

This summer, Clark is back in her hometown taking part in a program that will further expand her options for a career teaching languages. She’s one of 19 students enrolled in the inaugural class of a new Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) with Licensure program being offered through the Middlebury Language Schools. The program offers participants a secondary teaching license in modern languages that’s valid for teaching grades 7-12 in U.S. public school systems.

“Beyond that, getting to have the immersion experience, getting to take high-level language, literature, linguistic courses in French with other students who are so passionate about the content is an amazing and very enriching experience,” she continued.

The program is offered in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. At the end of the 18-month program, students obtain a master’s degree leading to licensure.

There are a few different components to the offering, the first is a six-week summer semester that kicked off in June.

“We have three classes a day; it’s about three hours of class … Most of the students in the MAT program, we have our classes together,” Clark said. “The classes are very small, so you really get to know the professors.”

Outside of their courses, students take part in various activities on campus, such as clubs, films and guest speaker events. Clark is involved in the theater workshop within her language school, which was set to put on a play this week. She noted there are also French baking and cooking activities, a choir and several other types of events for students.

Participants live on campus and have meals with other students in their language school.

“It’s a good mix of a lot of work for our courses, a lot of studying, and also a lot of socializing in the language, which is a very cool experience,” Clark said of the program.

After this summer, students will complete four online, asynchronous courses throughout the academic year. They’ll return to Middlebury College next summer for another six-week semester and finish off the program with 13 weeks of student teaching and a final 15-week course.

“(The program) is designed for working professionals, probably people who already have some role in education, are on this rhythm where you can get your summer off,” said Thor Sawin, associate dean of Language Schools for curriculum.

NEED FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Sawin, who developed the new MAT program, noted the offering is one people have been asking for. He also pointed to a need for foreign language teachers, particularly after the pandemic.

“The statistics show that it’s the hardest position to fill, some years it’s after special education teachers, some years it’s even harder than special education teachers,” he said. “I think a lot of the time it’s because foreign language teachers are the only one in their language in their school. Whereas the math teachers and the English teachers kind of have a department, you’re often on your own as a language teacher.”

“Often it’s the case the school actually still wants to continue the language, but they can’t find a qualified teacher who’s willing to do that, especially in smaller areas,” he said.

The need for foreign language teachers is being felt around the country, including at Vermont schools. Sawin noted schools in the Addison County area have been fortunate.

“(Locally) we have those teachers, but when they retire eventually or if for some reason they need to leave the field, will they be able to find someone to replace (the teacher)?” he said. “What ends up happening in a state like Vermont is you were lucky that you had a person who was a Vermonter who had the right qualifications who was willing to be around.”

Sawin is hoping the program will help address some of that need.

SOMETHING UNIQUE

The new MAT program is one of just a few such offerings around the country. Sawin pointed to a handful of similar programs, noting that unique aspects of the Middlebury program include classes taught in language and a focus on teaching foreign languages to middle and high schoolers.

For Clark, the people she’s met through the program are part of what she’s enjoyed most about it.

“I’ve already made so many amazing friends here … even if you’re a master’s student and you have a very high level of proficiency with the language, communicating only in a language that is not your first language is very taxing,” she said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie in being in that situation together.”

Sawin and Lesley Huston, assistant director for the MAT program, have already seen a lot of interest in the offering. Students have come from around the country to attend, and in some cases, students enrolled in other master’s programs offered through the Language Schools have switched over to the MAT offering.

“I’m really impressed that we have a diverse cohort in many ways,” Sawin said. “Not just in the way they look, but their stories and where they’re at in their professional lives is very diverse, the kinds of school experiences they have and where they want to go … There’s a lot for them to learn from each other in that regard.”

Sawin and Huston have been encouraged by the program’s inaugural cohort and the interest shown in the new offering thus far.

“I think it’s really exciting to see so much interest in language teaching still,” Huston said. “With the world as it is right now, you’d think people would not be choosing to be language teachers, but they are and they’re young people, and it’s exciting.”

Applications for the Summer 2026 session of the Middlebury Language Schools open on November 3, 2025.

Find out if you’re eligible to apply for the new MAT with Teaching Licensure program here.