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In slightly less than three weeks, I will hold a BA in philosophy and a BS in economics. I have a year to kill before law school, and I want to do something. I've been looking into LanguageCorps, and their flagship programs seem great. I'm thinking about applying to go to Costa Rica in September.
The biggest problem is that I don't know much about the program besides what the website says.
Have any of you done LanguageCorps? Do you know someone else who has? Have you heard anything about it?
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I don't know that one, but I have heard of similar programs. Ask them if you can speak to someone that was part of it. They should help you get in touch with someone.
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Wow, I wish I'd thought of that. I really need to get on with doing something worthwhile with my life.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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They have Sri Lanka listed. If you took that one, you'd have the lucky privilege of meeting me.
They had factual errors.
quote:Sri Lanka, famed for its palm-fringed beaches, tea plantations, and rickshaws, was known as Ceylon until independence in 1948.
Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, it's true, but Ceylon was used as the country's name until it was changed in 1972. Also, rickshaws are human powered and are not used here, but trishaws, which are motor-powered, are.
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It's sure bloody expensive to come to Sri Lanka through their packages. Holy butt!
quote:The One- or Two-Month Volunteer Program Fee is US$3,895.
The Three-Month Volunteer Program Fee is US$4,265.
Airfare to the country is not included - must be paid by the applicant separately. They'll set you up with a home-stay family and living expenses of $100 per month to cover food costs. Well, yeah, but are people really prepared for the living conditions that a host family will most likely provide? *shudders* It makes me wonder how well this part of the program is run. It could very well be run extremely well for all I know. I don't know - it just seems like a whole lot of money the applicant has to pay for the joy of being in Sri Lanka for a few small months. Heck, you could pay that to me and I could set you up.
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Setting aside the cost - which, to me, seems incredibly huge for 1 to 3 months - it would likely prove to be a very good experience.
I didn't check out Costa Rica or any of the others. If I had the money and I was young again, I'd love to do it, too. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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If I were you with a year to burn (Congrats on graduating, btw - I had a bittersweet moment when I read about moral epistemology being offered at DePauw next year), I would go to Thailand or another Asian country and teach English for the year without using a special program or anything like that, since it's relatively easy to get jobs there. It might be a bit more difficult in South America, though.
There are a lot of other websites with ESL job posting for abroad, if you look around. It might be cheaper - and more of an adventure - to just get some quick ESL training here in the US ( listings) then apply to places abroad.
Between high school and college I worked for nine months as an Au-Pair in Germany. It's a pretty fun & easy job if you like kids, and want to go to Europe. Some jobs are just tutoring teenagers in American English, which might be easier and in more inline with your idea of teaching English.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yeah, the Costa Rica program's a bit different. It's not a volunteer program--you get paid to teach English. You have to pay for training and other benefits, but you will (theoretically) make up the cost with your salary. I was told by a LanguageCorps representative that participants "usually break about even."
I'll keep Sri Lanka in mind, though. I'd love to meet another jatraquero.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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