Next year, I'll be going abroad to Chile and then to Brazil. I contemplated blogging but thought, "Meh...I don't think people would read it!" However, a couple people told me that they would like to know what I'm doing in South America, so here you go!
First, what's with the name?
Well, I spent the first 18 years of my life surrounded by cornfields in good ol' rural Ohio. On the outskirts of a town of 160 people (Yes, 160! And most of them, country folk.), I didn't exactly have a multicultural upbringing. My Spanish class in high school helped me see that the world is much bigger than Ohio, and after I studied abroad in Argentina, I was hooked on everything latino!
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| My back yard. Well, there used to be corn there.... |
What are you doing in South America?
From the end of July to the beginning of December, I will be volunteering as an English teaching assistant in Chile through the Inglés Abre Puertas (English Open Doors) program. Then, from March 2014 to October, I'll be an English assistant in a Brazilian college as part of the Fulbright ETA Scholarship.
I'm very excited to embark on this journey! In addition to teaching English, I also hope to volunteer in the education sector, working with students with disabilities.
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| Hopefully I can put the Portuguese that I learned to good use in Brazil. One of my classmates got the same scholarship too! Crazy! |
Can I do that too?
Yes! Many countries have funded positions to be an English language assistant, but most require a Bachelor's degree. If you are interested in checking out the English Open Doors program, look here. For the ETA Fulbright, offered in various countries, click here. However, the Fulbright is very competitive (I'm surprised I got it, honestly!), so you'll want to make your essays shine. (More on that in another post).
There are also other programs to teach English abroad, such as JET in Japan (highly competitive as well!), BEDA with private Catholic schools in Spain, the Conversation Auxiliars Program in Spain, the Peace Corp (a two year commitment), and this program to teach in France.
You won't make big bucks, but you can live comfortably.
So....why?
I volunteered in an English classroom in Argentina and loved it! The kids were so receptive and there really is a need to learn English in order to get a good job, so you're teaching students a skill that they value (for the most part). It will also be interesting to compare teaching methodologies and educational policies in the states and in South America.
Plus, I caught the travel bug when I studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I'm not done with South America yet!
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| Argentina, te extraño... |
But what's your long term goal?
Is being a nomad hippy wandering through South America a viable option? (I can feel my dad squirming as I right that!). Anyway...
Teaching English abroad is great for experience, but not many people are in it for the long haul. In Latin America, you're lucky to live comfortably-saving is difficult if not impossible. While I would love to rough it out in South America, it's not the best long-term plan.
I'll have my degree in Spanish Education K-12, but I've been debating forever on getting my MA in speech pathology (to become a bilingual speech therapist). I'm fascinated by both fields, and I think it would be a good career plan to get both degrees so that way, if I get tired of one, I can use the other. Hopefully I can find a way to use both of them at the same time. I think that my experiences abroad, helping people communicate better in a foreign language, will be useful for either field.
So...that's a wrap! I'll keep you all updated, and if you have any questions about studying abroad, the Fulbright scholarship, teaching, etc., shoot me a message!
¡Nos vemos!
