5 reasons why...you should be a Language Assistant
Teach English
by Mullenkedheim
This article was written by Elena Cresci, published on 26th August 2010 and has been read 13392 times.
Elena Cresci taught English as a Language Assistant on her year abroad in Germany. Here, she outlines her top 5 reasons why you should do the same!Still undecided on what you’re going to do on your year abroad? Here are five top reasons you should give an assistantship a go:
Money - How does earning 800 Euros a month sound? Pretty sweet? That’s around how much you’ll be paid as a language assistant. This means plenty of money for the travelling fund – go out and experience as much of the country as you can! Hours - You’re contracted to work about 12 hours a week, with at least one day off. Now, you can do more than that if you wish – I was a language assistant in Germany, and officially, we weren’t meant to do more than 12 hours, but I knew people who did because they enjoyed working at their schools so much. If you choose a Friday or a Monday as your day off, this means long weekends, which are perfect for travelling! Skills - Your presentation skills will seriously benefit from having taught abroad. It’s amazing what a year’s worth of lesson planning and drawing up lesson structures can do to your work ethic! Your hours may not be that of an actual teacher’s, but you’ll be doing similar work, which will give you a real taste of this particular working environment. You may even decide that it might be something you’d be interested in! Experience - So if you’re planning to do any sort of teaching in the long run, then this experience will be invaluable. You can’t beat 9 months-worth of hands on experience in a school, so if you ever move on to do a PGCE or decide to teach English as a foreign language, the fact you’ve spent a year abroad as a language assistant is bound to work in your favour. Culture - If, like me, you end up doing mostly conversation classes with your kids, you will learn so much about the country through them! You’ll learn a lot about their views on the hot topics of their countries (I learnt a lot about attitudes to German national identity through my conversation classes) or even just what kind of kids programmes are particularly popular! Not to mention that the older students can often tell you some of the best places to go in the city!
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