The Overseas Teaching Experience

Many new grad teachers choose to do some amount of time abroad teaching. Usually 6-12 months and generally in the UK or possibly Asian countries teaching English. I think this is a great idea and such a fantastic way to travel as well as gently easy yourself into the world of teaching without supervision!

I taught in Spain for 6 months as part of a program through the Spanish Goverment. Anyone who is interested I will post a link below but they require basic Spanish skills although you can have any undergraduate degree. Anywhoo....

Things to consider if you are moving overseas to teach:

• Do you want to travel whilst you are there? Check that the city or town you are going to be in is easy and cheap to travel from. I was in Madrid and although this is a capital city it isn't the hot tourist destination that places like Barcelona or Malaga so the flights to other parts of Europe were actually quite expensive.
• Do you want to learn the language? My best advice for anyone wanting to learn the language would be not to go to a big city. More people speak English here and will be very excited to practise with you, especially if you look like a foreigner. For me, being blonde haired and blue eyed in Spain I stook out like a sore thumb. Also, don't hang out with all the other expats. You will just end up speaking English. Take language classes in combination with practising with native speakers too. Save up for these classes and go intensive if you can. You are only there for a short time so really want to make to most of it.
• Be very careful when finding accommodation. Save enough money to stay in a hotel for the first few weeks if you have to or try and find an English speaking real estate agent who can help you if you don't have any friends or colleagues to help you out. Depending on what you want find out what the demographics of different areas are. For example if you are wanting to meet other young people move into a student area, also good for cheap rent. If you want to practise the language then avoid these areas.
• Save, save and save some more before you go so you can make the most of all the great opportunities that arise once you are there.

A few other programs I know about for anyone wanting to do this are:

Spain 

 http://www.mecd.gob.es/australia/convocatorias/programas/auxiliares-de-conversacion-australianos.html

There is also the Endeavour Program through the DET. Asian language students can attend these once they finish uni and all others after 1 years of teaching the language. The DET pays for EVERYTHING so it's really a must-do. Plus you can do one every 5 years.

http://deewr.gov.au/endeavour-language-teacher-fellowship-practising-language-teacher-questions

Practicum Advice: To work or not to work?

Work and practicum is like work and more work with more work because you're also doing Uni work and that's just all too much work for even this sentence. My number one, ultimate, best, I wish I had been told this piece of advice for anyone about to undertake prac whilst studying full time is DON'T WORK or work as little as possible. You might end up looking like the cat above. And as much as I love cats, the sight of a povo uni student looking this stressed is never good!

I know, I know you are thinking but I won't have any money? Well my friend, let me ask you, what is more valuable: money for, well really not a whole lot because during prac you will have very little spare time to spend any money or your sanity? I made the mistake of thinking the money was more important and worked over 30 hours a week and did prac on top of full time uni (half of which was external) and I would not recommend it for the following reasons:

• You can't give any activity your best effort when focusing on so much
• There isn't enough time in each day for most of these activities to be done well
• It's stressful so you need some time to relax
• When you start working again you will appreciate whatever crappy job you have and then appreciate a teaching job even more when you get one!

Also, I should mention that Youth Allowance or NewStart Allowance may be an option for some people and although it's not a lot it might at least pay the bills whilst you are on prac. Definitely worth considering!!! I know the majority of the people in my class were receiving Youth Allowance during prac. Contact Centrelink for more info.

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/youth-allowance