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Teaching/Time Overseas
Arethusa
Universal Cathode
in Zocalo v2.0
I've been thinking about spending next year overseas before coming back to school, possibly teaching English. Problem is that that sort of job tends to require a BA, or at least some degree, which I don't have yet. Does anyone here know of any opportunities to teach or work overseas that don't require a degree? I speak some French and a bit less Japanese, but I'm not limiting myself to either country. Any input on this from anyone with any related experience would be much appreciated.
Comments
How old are you? The working holiday system is aimed at younger people, so if you're around 20ish it could be a good choice.
Also, I assume by "full time" you mean long term? Otherwise, the commute would probably be hell. I like the idea of the working holiday, but I must admit I don't really know anything about it beyond what you've mentioned here.
Saving up over the summer and then going is a good plan. If you don't have enough cash, I think they'll just plain reject your visa application. If you want to know more, the best place is probably the Japanese MOFA site for them, [url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/w_holiday/index.html]here[/url].
OK, scratch that. I just had a quick read through that website, and for some reason they don't have an agreement with the USA. I thought they did, and frankly I'm pretty shocked they don't, and suspect there must be an alternative. I can't believe they don't have anything at all from the USA.
In my search for the MOFA page, I did find these:
[url]http://www.anyworkanywhere.com/[/url]
[url]http://www.workingholidayguru.com/[/url]
Maybe they'll have something available, plus you should be able to find out about places in Europe you could go to. I imagine there are english schools there, too.
Do you know of any alternatives to working holiday type programs, or, for that matter, what I would have to do to be able to travel to a country (specifically, Japan) and work full time for a year, or where I could find out? Also, in case you're curious, aside from my interest in and affinity for Japanese culture, I do know a couple people there, so I would have something of a safety net if things suddenly went very badly, though I must admit I'm just starting to like the idea of spending a year in Japan more and more.
Also, are there potential opportunities for foreign work (without a degree) overseas that I've overlooked as alternatives to teaching English, or is that pretty much it?
Japan is very, very restrictive about who they let into their country for more than the standard 3 or 4 week holiday. Apart from the working holiday and JET programs, the only other way that I know of is pretty much to be offered a job in Japan by a Japanese company (eg those large english schools I mentioned earlier), but that would most likely require a degree and a good level of Japanese (depending on the company, a proficiency test pass of level 2 or maybe even 1 could be required). For someone your age, I can't really think of anything outside the working holiday scheme, which obviously isn't an option. Have a look around that MOFA website and see if there is anything for the US.
As for other countries: I know Australia, NZ and Britain all have pretty good felxibility about working holiday schemes. I've met a huge number of people who are here doing a working holiday from all over the world, including the US. They do all sorts of jobs, ranging from english teaching to boat maintenance. My brother went to Britain a couple of years ago and did temp work for a while before getting a full time job, but we do get special privaleges for being part of the commonwealth. I would suggest picking a few countries and having a look at their government websites, or possibly the websites of their embassies in the US.
I'm not quite ready to give up on it; I'm going to have to see if the people I know over there can help me find anything, though I'm not holding out tons of hope.
Aside from that, I'll definitely poke around some other countries' websites and see what I can turn up. Are you by any chance familiar with working holiday-type programs in any non-English speaking (possibly European) countries and what they may or may not allow? While I'd really like any chance to get overseas, I'd prefer immersion in a more foreign culture (or at least language) than countries in the commonwealth can provide. Though maybe there's something with NZ; I always did want to visit Middle Earth, Japan, ancient Greece, and Narnia all at once.
I may be doing so myself at some point.
Biggles: the fun continues! Turns out the only countries that have work holiday programs with the US are commonwealth countries. Far as I can tell, this thoroughly defeats any plans for real cultural immersion. Sucks to be an American. I'm really not sure what to do next.
Any Americans: how long does it take to get a passport for the first time? The State Department site only specifies a time for expedited processing, which is an extra $60 I'd hopefully be able to avoid spending.
As for my [i]real[/i] advice: Save up over summer, then go for a long holiday somewhere, as long as you can get a visa for. I recommend touring around Europe, perhaps basing yourself somewhere like London in order to provide somewhere to come back to for brief periods and because it's cheap to get to pretty much all of Europe from (my brother did this and had a great time). You may even be able to get short bursts of temp work in London that would help you cover costs a bit, depending on what the British government's views on americans working for short times are. Next, get your degree in whatever. Then go on the JET program.
I'm hoping I'll be able to figure something out with Japan this year (unlikely, but who knows). Assuming that doesn't work, how feasible do you think it would be to make hopping around the EU financially self sustaining? Coming out of it with at least a similar amount of money is a fairly big issue for me as I am, well, rather poor.
:rolleyes:
While it was a very sad and evil event on it's own, what's worse is the excuse it created to become a police state.
I wonder if Tennessee will be enough of a move...