There are a lot of volunteer or “voluntourism” opportunities out there that will actually cost you a buttload of money for the privelege of giving your time and effort. In other cases, you just have to get yourself there and then your expenses are covered. At the end you come out enriched and no poorer, yet you’ve helped people in some way.
Here’s one of those good opportunities that I am passing on because it sounds interesting— teaching English as a second language in Spain . And like I said in this recent post about teaching English , if you’re hanging out at home jobless anyway, how about going somewhere more interesting and doing something else?
Here’s the scoop:
What you will be doing: You will be helping as teaching assistants. You will be there to make sure that the English language is alive and well in the classrooms. You will do your best to be a fun, valuable asset for the school and for the young students in their efforts to start at an early age to gain a minimum ability with the English language.
How it works: you will need to finance your flight to Madrid, from where we at Vaughan Systems will start to cover costs, receiving and housing you, first in Madrid and, within a day or two, at your final destination (between one and three hours north of Madrid depending on the final destination of each volunteer) in a single, shared apartment or host family plus insurance and stipend allowance. We will introduce you to the local school personnel, who will then assign you to the classes where you will be helping out. We will have people in Madrid and in the region itself to coordinate and trouble-shoot as well as to offer opportunities for occasional weekend excursions and activities.
Program Duration: Maximum stay for the volunteer will be three months, as a longer stay would warrant a residence visa requiring a long, time-consuming process.
In other words, since this is a short program, you can teach English in Europe without being a European. This is a great opportunity to experience a different culture, eat some great food, and probably pick up a decent amount of Spanish as well. To get details on applying and see the locations, go to the VaughanTown site for contact info.
