Has anyone done this? I currently work in a high-stress, long hours, finance position and would like to take 6 months to a year to do something completely different. I'm very interested in doing something that gets me immersed into a culture, while allowing me a little bit of travelling/living money. I'm very interested in Eastern Europe, southeast Asia, and Latin American countries. I'd love any tips, information, experiences that anyone has with this and specific programs. It wouldn't even have to be teaching, however, I assume that this is the most appropriate fit.

Thanks.

6/13/2007 10:49:12 AM

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Private lessons for whatever sport your good at
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6/13/2007 10:54:44 AM

I've spent a substantial amount of time over the years living and working in various Eastern European countries. Not specifically as a teacher but a few projects were in related areas. There are a number of regular here on TWW that can offer great advice, and it might help if you narrowed down what you are interested in doing. IE: teaching english, teaching normal classes at an American/international school, working with kids in an afterschool type setting, teaching at the university level, or none of the above. Also, what level of immersion are you looking for? Do you want to be in a rural village where no one speaks english and you dont speak the local language or are you looking for a bigger city setting where some or a lot of people speak english but where you will be able to pick up the language in time?

6/13/2007 11:15:28 AM

While I would put 100% effort into whatever I was doing, I really don't care what it is. I just want an excuse to go somewhere, make a little money, meet people, and learn a new culture. I get along very well with kids, but don't necessarily have a burning desire to teach for the sake of teaching. I'd be happy with teaching english as a language, I think. I'm a finance person, and very good at math, so I'd probably be interested in that, however, I'm sure that presents issues depending on where I go. I speak Spanish fairly well, so that'd be an advantage, however, I'm very interested in non-spansh speaking countries as well. I guess I just want to do something that won't require a huge time commitment, but will let me be of help to people, earn a little living money, and allow me to meet people. I'd probably prefer a city, but if the opportunity was right, I could be in a smaller place...just depends on what's going on.

6/13/2007 12:42:31 PM

As I mentioned before, American/International Schools are always an option in most of the countries that you would want to go to. Youd be able to teach in English and finding a Math position shouldnt be terribly difficult. It would be mostly diplomats kids and other afluent kids from the area. However, like most teaching positions, they would likely not hire someone for only a few months.

You may want to look into some of the humanitarian aid/development organizations that focus on an issue that interests you. Through some of the projects that Ive worked on previously I have run into a few 'long-term volunteers' (they were generally provided housing and a small salary, so not truely volunteer). Most of the ones that I ran into were working in youth centers for 1-6 months. Most of the time they were granted a lot of leeway to develop their own project to implement in the center. Most of these youth centers that I personally have contact with are in Bosnia but they can be found elsewhere around E. Europe and beyond.

Finding work in the regions that you mentioned isnt likely to be a huge problem so it may help narrow your search if you pick a few countries that interest you the most to focus on.

6/13/2007 12:55:57 PM

/message_topic.aspx?topic=466987

might be helpful

6/13/2007 1:16:27 PM

llboyd,

You have 3 options as far as teaching goes:

1) Teach at British or American K-12 schools abroad. You need a teaching qualification for that, which I suspect you don't have. Here is one that you can get online: http://www.drexel.com/online-degrees/education-degrees/certificates_main.aspx (don't worry about the dot com URL, that is the online division of Drexel University in PA)

2) Teach ESL/EFL at universities, language centers (Berlitz, etc), companies, or militaries. For that, you need a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certificate. You can look online as well if you want to get one, or you can do a 1-6 month program in the US/Europe/Asia at one of many places that offer those certifications. In Japan, however, some place do accept native speakers without certificates. See http://www.eslcafe.com , the most comprehensive website with ESL/EFL job postings. MAKE SURE to go to their discussion boards (kinda like TWW) and check out the discussions about various places to teach in several countries.

3) Teach your subject at university level. For that you need an M.S. minimum. If you already have an M.S., go to http://www.bulter.nl/universities/index.asp for a listing of thousands of universities all over the world. It is a bit dated, and I am sure you can find latest lists on wiki/google/yahoo.

Good luck!


[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 2:14 PM. Reason : ]

6/13/2007 2:04:30 PM

bttt

6/17/2007 8:17:45 AM

http://www.ceram.edu

Thats a nice private / international school I attended on the French Riviera, about 4 miles north of Cannes

6/17/2007 11:42:14 AM