TEFL Training
 

Not sure where this belongs so I'll post this here:

I will graduate with an undergraduate degree in Comp. Sci. in May. I'm considering going to Prague to take a 4 week Teach English as a Foreign Language course. After the course I would stay in Prague for a few months and try to find a teaching job in Prague or anywhere else in the world that seems interesting. Anyone have any experience with this type of thing and want to offer advice/tips/warnings?

The other option that's a little bit more sane is to go to Germany for a 3 month intensive language course.

I have a surprising number of friends who have gone to both Japan and Korea to teach English. (Seven of them, now that I bother to count.)

I know nothing about the Russian programs, but a shit ton about the Japanese ones and slightly less about the Korean ones. All of them stayed for anywhere from a year to "indefinitely" (two are still over there) and they all said it was an absolutely incredible experience.

Re-reading your post though, it doesn't sound like you will actually be in a program that secures you a job though, only a course that will in theory give you the qualifications to teach ESL. That's a little more uncertain--friend number eight, for example, decided to just show up in China with the intention of getting a teaching job, but had to come back because no one wanted to hire him. I get the impression you have to be coming through a licensed program for any school to consider you, but maybe it's different in Russia.

The two programs I'm looking at have job placement assistance. They, of course, can't guarantee you a job.

http://www.nextlevellanguage.com/
http://www.teflworldwideprague.com/

I've called and spoken with both programs and gotten/checked references.

Just an interesting tidbit I ran across
(btw, Prague is in the Czech Republic and they speak Czech. These programs include a crash course on the Czech language.)

Right. Czechoslovakia. Not Russia.

I'm not a retard, I swear. I just play one on the Internet.

One of our British members was teaching English to Foreigners ... haven't seen her in a bit, though.

The community college here in Champaign offers courses on Teaching English as a Foreign Language and I think they hook you up with an internship when you are finished. I'm thinking about doing it... screw being an attorney.

There's a suprising number of american movies filming in prague, how about hooking up with a production company?

Great idea. Especially after I became comfortable with Czech. I'm sure they need people to translate for English only speakers who are trying to get things done with Czech crews and deal with Czech red tape.

I'm 23 and need some real life experiences. I figure I'll do something crazy and stick with it for a year or two, possibly more depending on how much I enjoy it. The least that will come of it is that I will have some great enriching experiences to add to the story of my life.

Give it a go. I'm 62 and still doing the underlined shit. :lol:

These are kind of late in coming but I figure it's about time to post some pictures since I'm about to arrange my next trip.

http://albany.facebook.com/album.php...23&id=16103981
http://albany.facebook.com/album.php...e3&id=16103981

this photo brought to you by the letter 'W'http://photos-191.ak.facebook.com/ip...59191_1005.jpg

prague is where all the group sex happens in the clubs, right?

Yeah, group sex on every corner, lj.

And really, my year didn't turn out as I planned.

I went to Prague for two-weeks and had a good time. Then came back to finish school off and dropped out in early March.

I went back to school in the summer and finished in December. I'm now back living with my parents (in North Virginia, aka Hell On Earth) until I find a job or figure out a travel plan.

The only complication is there's this girl back in Albany and I can't get her out of my head. I'm smitten and she's somewhere between tolerant and interested but too timid to let it be known with a hint big enough for me to catch. And I'm too much of a pussy to press the issue.

Right now I'm thinking about planning an epic bike ride. I'll free/bush camp 99% of the time so bike upgrades and flights will be the majority of the expense.

My favorite route at the moment:
Fly to Perth, Australia and bike to the head of Stuart Highway and then go north to Darwin. Then catch a flight to Kolkata, India and ride through Agra on my way to Delhi. For the last leg of the trip bike Schengen Europe, especially Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, with an optional Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki leg if I'm not too tired of waiting for visas. Also, weather allowing, I'll bike from south England to Edinburgh and/or Glasgow.

Teaching English is really good fun. I worked in ESOL for a little while (English for Speakers of Other Languages: it's like TEFL but involves teaching in an English speaking country with people who've moved here, rather than going to them and teaching abroad). I loved it.

My ex's brother taught in central Europe for a couple of years and then used that as an in to teaching english in schools over here. Their sister taught TEFL in Vietnam for about 3 years and loved it.