Articles for Teachers
The chance to volunteer abroad is an opportunity many choose to take to get a chance to travel to foreign locations while helping others. One way to volunteer is to teach English in other countries, such as Spain. There are many volunteer programs that give applicants the TEFL or TESOL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) training needed to teach in other countries and cover travel. You can volunteer either individually or in groups.
Decide when you wish to volunteer to teach. The duration of your trip and what time of the year you want to travel will help narrow down the options for the volunteer programs that are available. There are typically two basic time periods offered for the teaching English programs, and they are summer sessions and yearlong sessions. The yearlong sessions do not vary that much, but the summer sessions can be as quick as eight days or as long as three months, all depending upon your availability and the program you choose to volunteer with.
Choose where in Spain you would like to volunteer. There are many different parts of Spain, including the cities that lie within the country and the surrounding islands that belong to it, and you can find volunteer programs to teach English in many of the cities within the country. Though the official language of the country is Spanish, different dialects of the language are spoken in certain parts, and there are other distinctions that set each city apart. Also, what you want to see when you travel might determine where you choose to volunteer. For example, you may be interested in seeing architecture, in which case locations such as Seville and Barcelona would be best.
Research volunteer programs to teach English that are offered. Volunteer programs vary in many ways, like duration, location and travel opportunities, so finding the right one for you is going to take some research. You can start with a search engine and narrow down the results that you find until you can come up with a list of no more than five programs to look into in depth. Some programs may not say outright that they pay for travel, so you may need to contact the companies directly to find out.
Complete the application process. Once you have found a volunteer program that best suits you, complete their application and provide all documentation needed. There will most likely be TEFL or TESOL courses that you will also need to complete before you can start volunteering to teach English.