WorldTeach-International Teaching Opportunities

It’s that time of year where many of you seniors may still be looking for opportunities after graduation, so I wanted to be sure you knew about WorldTeach. WorldTeach provides opportunities for college graduates to live and teach abroad in 11 month programs in 13 developing and middle-income countries. Notably we have just receive requests for 50 new positions in the Pacific Island programs, all of which are fully funded, including airfare from a U.S. gateway city; these programs have a July departure date. Could you pass this information along to your seniors especially?

This is a very solid program.  The precursor was founded at Harvard in 1961, and then opened to all students as WorldTeach in 1986.  Professor Michael Kremer of Harvard is the founder, and today is the chair of the Board.  Several years ago New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof gave us a shout-out as he promoted the importance of young Americans living and working abroad for a year.  (see http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11kristof.html)

WorldTeach seeks volunteers who:

  •     Are college graduates (any major)
  •     Are serious about teaching well for the year with WorldTeach (note: volunteers do not need to have any teacher training or any career objective for teaching)
  •     Have exhibited interest in underserved populations and regions
  •     Are interested in gaining cross cultural skills (e.g., language, culture, etc.)

Program components include:

  •     Volunteers teach full-time as classroom teachers
  •     Partners are primarily Ministries of Education (so teaching in public schools)
  •     Stipends paid monthly
  •     Housing provided
  •     Visas and work permits. provided
  •     Health & emergency evacuation insurance provided
  •     Orientation training given (3-4 weeks in-country, including language, teacher training, history/culture, health & safety, cultural adjustment, etc.)
  •     TEFL certification optional in many countries
  •     Student loans can generally be deferred
  •     Full time in-country field staff for training, oversight, and support
  •     Education coordinator in US office for each program as a resource for teaching quality
  •     Program originated at Harvard College (25 yrs), then associated with Harvard (26 years), now an independent NGO
  •     Cost to volunteer:  varies from nothing (fully funded programs) to $4,590.

See website for more detailed information and online application:  www.worldteach.org.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *