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Traveling Shoes
Teaching English is a great way to spend a year in another country, as at least a dozen members of the Class of 2007 have discovered. Many countries sponsor programs to bring native speakers to teach language and culture to schoolchildren.
You don’t even have to major in the country’s language (though some language facility is advised).
A chemistry and math major, Joe Yeager ’07 is spending the year in Dijon, France, teaching English at a lycée (high school) of about 2,000 students through a program sponsored by the French government. He wanted a break before beginning a Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
History major David Brokaw ’07 is one of two graduates accepted to a program sponsored by the Spanish government. He was drawn to the country for artistic reasons—“I play Spanish music on the classical guitar,” he says—and wanted to improve upon his college-level Spanish. He also believes the chance to work with 6- to 12-year-olds in Camarma de Esteruelas, just outside Madrid, will be valuable experience for what he hopes will be a career in teaching.
The same Spanish government program sent Rachel Hayden ’07 to a primary school in Bollullos Par del Condado, a small town in southern Spain with narrow cobblestone streets. A Spanish (and English) major, she previously spent a summer in Spain working as a nanny/tutor, as well as a semester in Central America.
“Traveling abroad has provided me with some of my most rewarding moments and most valuable life lessons,” she says of her interest in teaching in another country. “I have come to realize the crucial role of cross-cultural education in the future of our world.”
A similar government program in Austria has German major Stephen Ludlum ’07 teaching students aged 12-20 in two schools, 30 miles apart. In spite of the commute, he loves the experience.
“I have all the freedom of a college student, and very few of the responsibilities that come with a serious job,” he says. “I don’t even have to concentrate on the difficult aspects of teaching English (grammar, working with parents, forming curriculum). I merely go into a classroom and talk with kids about American culture for 12 hours a week.”
Adam Allen ’07, a Spanish and international relations major, found an independent opportunity (not sponsored by a government) to teach English at Universidad de Oriente, a technical college in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.
In addition, four 2007 grads (plus a 2006 grad) are in Japan through JET (click here), and two (see the summer 2007 Centrepiece) are on Fulbright teaching assistantships in South Korea (Hillary Eason ’07) and France (Rachel Tapley ’07).
Centrepiece
Centre College
600 West Walnut St.
Danville, KY 40422
Phone: (859) 238-5717
Fax: (859) 238-5723
E-mail: alumnews@centre.edu
or johnsond@centre.edu