Wednesday, March 25, 2020

How to Become a Tutor Assistant in Charlotte NC

How to Become a Tutor Assistant in Charlotte NCOne of the major ways to earn money in Charlotte NC is by working as a tutor assistants. As a tutor, you will be responsible for teaching children in the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Your fees will depend on the number of students you're responsible for and how many classes per week you teach.Tutors assistants in Charlotte NC work very well for freelance, home based, and online tutoring jobs. Online tutoring jobs include teaching all levels of kids at a variety of schools.Teaching at a school is one of the most rewarding tutoring jobs in Charlotte NC. Children's teachers are always looking for good students who have great attention to detail. When you work as a tutor, your primary goal is to help students learn and to be able to apply that information to their lives. This requires you to develop rapport with the students and parents and be able to handle difficult situations.If you do well as a tutor, your child's grades a nd test scores could improve and you could be asked to begin tutoring at an advanced level. This is a rewarding career because you get paid to help kids learn and be successful in their everyday lives.Another great way to earn money as a tutor is as a tutor assistant. You will be working with other people in the same area and they will ask you to be their tutor because they need someone to sit in and learn from.This means that you will work with more than one person and you can give the one person different assignments and different subjects. Since this is a part-time job, you only have to be at work for about thirty minutes a day.There are many good opportunities for freelance tutors in Charlotte NC. If you would like to work as a tutor and you love to help kids learn, you should consider applying for a job in this field.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Teaching the Social Curriculum

Teaching the Social Curriculum Schools usually have a very strict and clear academic curriculum. The social curriculum can be less clear, but it’s just as important for the development of children into healthy adults. The social curriculum relates to teaching students how to interact and empathize with others. Learning these things helps young people to build healthy relationships and feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, a lot of schools don’t know how to teach the social curriculum. As a result, students who have trouble learning how to interact and empathize with others are usually labelled “troubled” or “disruptive,” and then punished. Instead of labelling and punishing people, schools ought to stick to what they are good at: teaching. Impediments to learning the social curriculum Students come to school from a myriad of different home situations. These environments are something the school, teachers, and students have no control over. Home is where we first learn how to react in certain social situations. Unhealthy or unstable home lives teach young people disruptive and antisocial behaviors. Students from coercive families are used to a constant battle at home. As a result, when their teacher requests them to comply with classroom rules and behaviours, they see it as the beginning of a battle and strongly resist any authority from the teacher through disruptive behavior. When a student has an inconsistent or unstable home, they crave structure and stability. Unstructured classes will prompt disruptive behavior designed to get more guidance from the teacher. Students who become aggressive in class often do so because they face the threat of violence at home. They strike others to avoid becoming the victim of violence, themselves. Students who have a history of low performance can be disruptive in the face of academics. For them, sometimes facing punishment is a better consequence than confronting the schoolwork they believe they cannot learn. Methods of teaching the social curriculum need to address the reason why students act out, as opposed to punishing negative behavior without discovering its root cause. Understanding their behavior can help teachers get to the root of what is happening with disruptive students, and help them to understand their feelings and frustrations. Go away! There has been no proof that disciplinary removal is beneficial to students in any way. If sending disruptive students out of class were beneficial to the individual student or the safety of the school, that would be different; however, neither of these is the case. Individual students who are sent out of class, or receive suspensions or expulsions are often repeat-offenders, proving that the punishment does not teach the lesson it intends. For these students, disciplinary removal is often more of an affirmation that they do not fit in, rather than a lesson about appropriate behavior. Similarly, schools do not become safer by having problem students suspended. Instead, students are more likely to want to retaliate against the school that repeatedly shows it does not want them there. Source: http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/2015/08/there-are-no-more-calvins.html Teaching the social curriculum One of the key aspects of teaching the social curriculum is the school environment, especially for those students who do not have good home environments. The school should be a safe, communal place where every individual has value. Students should learn from a young age to cooperate with one another, empathize, and use kindness in their interactions. A key part of teaching these skills is for teachers to lead by example, treating their students with respect and empathy. The second key to teaching the social curriculum is to approach it as one would teach any other element of the curriculum, by providing a clear presentation of the material to be learned, opportunities for meaningful practice, and timely feedback on performance. Framing the social curriculum has to be adjusted to the age of the learner. The Golden Rule, “do to others as you would have them do to you,” teaches young children empathy by referencing their own needs. As they get older, this rule is less helpful. Once a child is out of elementary school, he or she needs to learn to “treat others the way they want to be treated.” This second rule emphasizes that we cannot assume that our own selfish desires are universal. We have to be sensitive to what others want, as well. In short, teaching the social curriculum involves making desirable classroom behaviours explicit to students, showing empathy and respect to students with difficult home lives, and providing timely feedback when expectations have not been met. When that happens, the class can focus more productively on the academic curriculum. Sources: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kaitlin-roigdebellis/the-importance-of-learnin_1_b_4455595.html http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~coesyl-p/principle7-article1.pdf http://www.texasdisciplinelab.org/resources/alternatives-to-school-discipline/ Please follow and like us:

Using the Science of Habits to Improve Performance in School Part I

Using the Science of Habits to Improve Performance in School Part I Improving Academic Performance We write a lot on this blog about how academic success (and other types of success) is much more a function of the choices you make and the effort you put in than a function of your intrinsic or genetic talents. In other words, most recent research suggests, and we firmly believe, that academic skills are built through practice and success comes through developing better strategies and making better choices. So where do habits fit in this story? A habit is essentially a tool that the human brain has developed to become more efficient. Instead of spending brain power to analyze a situation and make a conscious decision, habits kick in, and we act automatically. The mental processes that power our habits can be a force for good or evil. Habits can help us sense danger and flee automatically, exercise regularly, and eat better. But they can also explain why we abuse alcohol and fight with our spouses. In The Power of Habit, Why we Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg argues that habits might be far more important than any other factor in explaining our successes and our failures. And this of course includes academic success. Drawing from Duhigg’s book, in this two-part article we will: Introduce the “habit loop,” a framework for understanding how habits work Discuss how to change habits Discuss why habits are so important, as well as a key concept called the “keystone habit” Apply the theory of habits more directly to success in school The habit loop: a framework for understanding how habits work In Duhigg’s book, he explains that habits have four dimensions. To explain, he uses one very common habit that you probably have: brushing your teeth at night. The habit of brushing your teeth may have play out as follows: The cue: you feel your teeth have a bit of a film on them, or perhaps it’s just morning or night, around the time when you always brush your teeth The craving: when you notice that cue, you feel this intense craving for that particular tingling feeling which tells you your mouth is clean The routine: you brush your teeth The reward: your teeth are clean and shiny Most habits play out like this. You don’t analyze the pros and cons each morning and night of brushing your teeth. You just do it. It’s a habit. Other habits work this way too. Let’s envision a well-trained high school student in the habit of doing his homework. His habit loop might be: The cue: I’m home from school, and I’ve had a snack The craving: I want to be able to tell my mom I’m done with my homework AND feel that sense of accomplishment The routine: do your homework The reward: a sense of accomplishment and freedom to do whatever you choose for the rest of the night But let’s consider a bad habit many students have. Let’s say that whenever you are studying you have a habit of using social media or texting your friends, which is distracting and wastes time. This interrupts your studying, reduces your level of focus, and makes it harder to learn new things, finish your homework, and generally be productive. How do you go about changing a habit? There is more than one way to change a habit. James Clear, a blogger on productivity, offers a range of helpful ideas about how to change habits. But one thing is clear. It is incredibly difficult to remove a habit simply by exercising willpower. You’ll be far more successful by changing a habit. To do that, it’s generally accepted that you need to a) identify the cue and b) change the routine so that you can c) realize the same or a similar reward. Back to that habit of checking your phone when you are supposed to be studying. The solution might not be all that complicated or even interesting. Perhaps your cue is literally just seeing your phone or feeling it in your pocket. The routine is checking your various social media channels, driven by a craving to be socially connected and see what others are up to (and because you view homework as a little boring). The reward is connection with others on social media. There is a potentially very simple habit change that results in much better academic outcomes. As we said earlier, the key to changing habits is identifying the cue and changing the routine such that you still see the reward. In this case, what if you say to yourself, you know, when I feel my phone in my pocket, and begin to crave the social connectivity that Facebook provides, instead of immediately checking my various social media channels, I’m going to commit to doing whatever I am currently doing for 20 more minutes. At that point, I’ll take a break and check Facebook. You have now substituted 20 minutes of additional studying for checking Facebook right now. At the end, you get the same reward: the ability to check Facebook and feel connected. What are habits so important? And what is a keystone habit? If it’s not obvious already, habits are so important because so much of what people do is controlled by them. We may think we are in control as we go about our day. But in fact, our brains our filled with lots and lots of habits, and those habits are driving how we act. Taking a shower, brushing your teeth, exercising, eating healthy foods, not getting too upset when things go poorly at home or at work, being committed to finishing a project on time, etc. â€" these actions are all in large part a function of habits. To change your behavior and reach your goals, you typically have to spend a lot of time identifying and modifying habits. And, it turns out, according to the research the Duhigg cites in his book, that some habits are more powerful than others because they make it easier for other habits to take hold. Duhigg calls these “keystone habits.” In this blog post on keystone habits Sam Davies describes them as “the habits that change, remove, and re-shape your other habits. Duhigg suggests that exercising regularly tends to be a keystone habit. Once you are regularly exercising, you are more likely to stop smoking and start eating better. This seems intuitive. Once you are doing one good thing for your body, you have built up some momentum. It is good to exercise regularly but also eat well. The two habits complement themselves. In part two of this article, we’ll explore keystone habits in a bit more detail, and discuss a number of ways to improve performance in school by leveraging the power of habits.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

The Perfectionists Guide to Improving Your Accent in a Foreign Language

The Perfectionists Guide to Improving Your Accent in a Foreign Language The Perfectionists Guide to Improving Your Accent in a Foreign Language Dont listen to the naysayers, the haters and the skeptics.Forget the Debbie Downers and Negative Nancys.You can sound exactly like a native speaker.Its possible for a language learner to be mistaken for a native.All it takes is practiceâ€"the right kind of practice.Of course, an accent isnt the end-all, be-all of foreign language learning.Grammar, vocabulary and communicative skills are arguably more important. You can be understood and respected while still having an accent.But theres nothing cooler than speaking with the tone, rhythm and pronunciation of a legit native speaker.Its guaranteed to impress natives and fellow learners alike. Why Improve Your Accent in a Foreign Language?Getting rid of your accent and sounding more like a native is the key to fully being understood.Theres a very social aspect to language that should not be ignored. While it may seem cool to know one or more foreign languages, the goal of language is communication. Sounding more like a native enables sm oother conversation, since the listener wont be straining to make sense of your words.Getting your accent to be not just intelligible but also  perfect  will put natives even more at ease, as they wont feel like theyre speaking with a foreigner as much. (Not that theres anything wrong with being foreign, but people might not be sure if you fully understand them or have anything in common with them.)An accent requires a deeper knowledge of not only the grammar and rules of the target language but also of the customs and culture. Theres a famous Czech proverb: “You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once.” Its no coincidence that this proverb exists. To speak like a native, you must step into the shoes of a native speaker.A deeper knowledge of the accent will help you understand natives better. Many language learners find themselves overwhelmed when they step out of the classroom and meet honest-to-goodness native speaker s for the first time. The language can sound so different when natives are speaking a mile a minute, dropping syllables and blurring words together. To get your own accent just right, youll have to study the way natives speak, which in turn will boost your comprehension, big time.At times, speaking a foreign language can feel more like a performance. In fact, thinking of it in this way helps you overcome your fears, shyness and self-imposed boundaries, which set you down the path to sounding more like a native speaker. Integrating artistic disciplines such as music and theater along with some basic language learning concepts can drastically improve the way you speak. Again, youll put yourself in the shoes of a native speaker. Play the role of someone who lives in the language. Then project that voice out into the world when youre speaking.In the end, language is more about communicating effectivelyâ€"practice is more important than the theory for all practical purposes.The Perfectio nists Guide to Improving Your Accent in a Foreign Language1. Listen, listen, listenThe most important skill you have to master in order to improve your accent is listening.Careful listening will help you get the language “in your ear.”It will help you to better distinguish all the phonemes, or distinct sound units, of a language, giving you an overall familiarity with the language.Before you can speak fluently in a foreign language, its important to be able to break it down into its distinct sounds. The first time you come into contact with a new language, a whole conversation may sound like one big run-on word. However, with time and with more exposure, youll start to hear syllables and words.Obviously, the most fruitful way to listen to a language is to be surrounded by it constantly while having little to no contact with your native language. This forces you to listen because your native language cant be used as a backup to get you out of a situation that you dont completely understand. Your brain goes into survival mode and youll be compelled to use that language to buy food, locate the bathroom and get back to your house or hotel.Realistically, not everyone has the luxury of living abroad and being fully immersed in their target language, but thats no longer a deterrent. YouTube, language learning podcasts and internet radio are great resources to utilize. Before you know it, youll be listening to your target language every day.Never let the room be silent. When youre working, exercising, showering, cooking, washing the dishes, you name itâ€"have something playing in your target language.  Its always a great idea to listen to one of these resources while doing menial tasks around the house such as cleaning or cooking. The foreign language becomes the background noise that youll slowly grow accustomed to.2. Teach your mouth and tongue the right movesOnce youre able to distinguish the basic phonemes of your target language, its advisable to immediately start learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Any dictionary for any languageThis is a systematic method of phonetic notation that makes reading foreign words much easier because every sound has its own character. This can be learned through IPA charts and apps. The IPA Phonetics app is very beneficial because it allows you to hear the sound of each letter and it shows you a close-up video of the mouth and lipsâ€"not only can you hear the sound, but you can see how the sound is made. Both of these are very important to getting the correct accent.Aside from listening and watching this app, its helpful to practice these letters on your own in front of a mirror. Are your mouth and lips making the same movements as the app? How are these movements different from those in your native language? Becoming conscious of these can help you distinguish your native accent from the foreign accent, making it easier to pick up the new foreign accent.3. Do a sound checkOnce you get down the basic mouth and lip movements, its time to focus on pronunciation as a whole. This means putting all the individual sounds you learned with the IPA together. Its advisable to practice words and phoneme combinations that differ from the combinations in your native language. However, this is not enoughâ€"you have to focus on articulation and the tone of voice.Getting the  vowel sounds down pat is key to any authentic-sounding accent. Most constants are the same or at least very similar across languages, but vowels are tricky. Practicing getting vowel sounds correct greatly improves your accent. Listening to vowel sounds in your native language and comparing them to your target language is a surefire way to distinguish your native accent to that of your target language.As silly as it may sound,  tongue twisters immensely improve your accent because they focus on a certain phoneme thats said in various words across a sentence. Tongue twisters are tricky to say correctly in your own native language, so practicing them in your target language helps you learn and get used to these difficult sounds.Reading out loud and recording yourself helps you track your progress. This exercise is twofold. You practice both speaking and critical listening. There are many foreign-language and dual-language books which are excellent sources for practicing. Some of these books are also sold as audiobooks so you can listen to the audio version and compare it to your own practice recording.Another interesting fact is that accents are closely connected to the culture. Trying to get into the mindset of the culture does wonders for your accent.For example, have you ever noticed that a Midwestern American accent sounds rather flat, much like the flatlands that surround them?Have you ever noticed that the Russian accent is in the back of the throat, as if its too cold to let the words out so they stay warm back there?Did you ever notice that the romantic French language seems to speak w ith the lips always ready for a kiss?Noticing these little nuances and applying them to your language learning helps bring your language to life and improve your accent when speaking.4. Make a sweet playlistAfter getting down pronunciation, youll notice that every language has its own melody. The words are spoken in a certain rhythm with emphasis and stresses in places much different than those in your own native tongue. Building up a music library gives you access to music that brings this out. Not only will it help you learn new words and sentence structures, it loosens you up, making it easier for you to achieve the accent of your target language.Singing songs in your target language in your favorite genre is a great way to start. The basic rhythm of these songs will be somewhat familiar to you. If its music you already love, then youll identify with it right away. This creates an emotional connection and makes accent practice much more enjoyable and memorable. Youll probably be mumbling the lyrics to yourself next time youre wheeling your shopping cart through the grocery store.Singing along with a song also helps you imitate the sounds being sung. Once youre more advanced, rapping is an incredible way to practice improving your accent. Like tongue twisters, rap tends to be fast and with all the rhyming it can be a challenge to learnâ€"but it provides immense benefits.When singing its important to be emotionally presentâ€"feel the rhythm and become part of the song. Focus not only on the music of the song but on the music of the language. Singing helps you exaggerate this, which improves your accent.5. Act out the role of a lifetimeLastly, every language has its own mentality.This mentality forms the culture which affects the language. So, why not become an actor?Act out the language! Embrace the emotions that are shown or not shown. Language isnt just wordsâ€"gestures, expressions and body language play a huge part in unspoken communication. Embracing the se help you to break free of your own native language and culture, allowing you to enter into the world of your target language. This is the only way to truly speak like a native.Practicing reverse mimicry is an acting technique that helps improve your accent. This is when you speak your native language in the accent of your target language. With this, youre practicing the accent without any of the worrying that may come along with speaking in your target language. The accent is much easier to achieve in this manner. Once you realize that youve got the accent down while speaking in your native language, its an easy transition to use it when actually speaking in your target language.Dont forget, speaking a language is a means of interacting more effectively with native speakers.The less you sound like a foreigner, the more easily youll be understood.On a more personal level, achieving a foreign accent helps you sound more confident and fluent, thus making it easier for people to enga ge in conversation with you.Despite this, you should never be ashamed of where you are in learning a foreign language.Even if youre a complete beginner and are worrying about your rough accent, get out there and try your best!Start practicing a foreign accent at the beginning of your language learning journey.You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! And One More ThingUnlike many traditional language programs, FluentU exposes you to a wide variety of speakers, accents and dialects in your target languageâ€"all of which can only improve your own speaking skills and confidence. FluentU makes it possible to learn languages  from music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that real people speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos, like movie trailers, funny commercials and web series, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse ScreenFluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, de finition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover over or tap on the subtitles to instantly view definitions.FluentU Interactive TranscriptsYou can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs quiz mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.

How to Juggle Multiple Internships

How to Juggle Multiple Internships Image via Pixabay For many college students today, a very important part of the education process is completing an internship. Law, medical, engineering, and social science students are often required to complete an internship before graduation. It is a way to gain work experience, sometimes with pay and sometimes without pay, and to get a practical feel for what one is being educated to do long term. Nowadays, an increasing number of employers are looking for candidates who have a reasonably wide range of experience and a varied set of skills. Technology continues to move at an exceptionally fast pace and employers are looking for employees who can adapt to change quickly, keeping their company on the cutting edge. In short, the more experience, the better. Getting multiple jobs offers is a good thing. You send in a resume to the companies you’ve chosen as a good fit for you and you wait for them to respond. Soon you get one good response, and then another, and then perhaps another. Suddenly, you move from having your fingers crossed so tightly theyre numb to almost not knowing whether to accept them all or politely decline a few. Well, here is where some tips might help in making the decision to take on multiple internships or whether you are better off sticking with just one. The Experience Who doesn’t need more experience to stay relevant and marketable? College career departments and the media do their fair share of pushing the message that more experience is always better. It is not only better but also a necessity. You cannot go wrong with multiple skill sets and backgrounds. When I was a college student and even before then, I was able to gain experience in a host of different things: writing, editing, proofreading, human resources, publishing, marketing, sales, customer service, payroll, management, operations, broadcasting, tutoring, daycare, media development, and social media management. You can imagine what this makes me: more marketable and employable. Every skill you can gain is something to add to your resume. And while you may not use every skill right out of college, you will at least have it for when the time comes. The Networking Here’s the deal, every internship opportunity comes with two things: the space to meet new people and the chance to build relationships. It’s that simple. The old adage “it’s not what you know but who you know” is still true to some degree. During my college years, I lacked the opportunity to build any real relationships. Luckily, my skill set and experience helped to compensate for some of this loss. If you are a good intern, the relationships you build at your internship site can go with you throughout your life. Over time, you get to know other people and you build trust and rapport. Supervisors feel more confident writing up a recommendation for you. Co-workers are more willing to help you advance in your career. The Quality Every organization you agree to work for deserves your best. Let’s be honest: if you have one paid internship and one unpaid internship, you are most likely to give more time and attention to the paid internship because you are receiving something in return for your labor. In the same way, if one internship offers you 20+ hours a week and another internship only offers you 10+ hours, you will receive the opportunity to work on more projects, develop stronger relationships, and feel more like part of the team in the former than in the latter. The same argument is often made about multi-tasking and double majors. As a double major in college, I’m a little biased to this opinion but I agree that no two things can absolutely receive equal time and attention. You will end up devoting more time to one or the other. Choose wisely. The Balancing Act Just think about it a full course load, extracurricular activities, church and/or charity work, family obligations, and more than one internship it’s quite the balancing act. Given that we’re not as superhuman or powerful as we would like to be, it is logical to think that at some point or another, something is likely to suffer or we’ll slack up on one thing simply because we don’t have enough time to do it all. Consider how much you can juggle before committing to more than one internship. If procrastination, a bad work ethic, and a lack of time management describe  you, then it can lead to major trouble down the road. And you do not want this to happen. Internships help to open the door for you to gain permanent employment and make you more marketable when sitting for those interviews. The Passion Passion can take you farther than talent ever will. It is easy to get caught up in what we think we should do, what someone else has told us we should do, what someone else is doing, and what we actually want to do. This is a trap that everyone faces and many people get stuck in. Instead of choosing internships based upon their level of cool or because a friend is doing the same thing or because it “looks like fun, pick something that you will truly enjoy. People who truly enjoy their work find themselves eager to do it. It doesn’t matter what part it is, they are excited to do it. The thing you would do even if you did not get paid is probably your passion in life. On top of that, you will do a better job if you love what you’re doing.

11 Ways to Honor a Veteran

11 Ways to Honor a Veteran Veterans Day is coming, an annual opportunity for communities and families to honor former U.S. service members! If you want to thank our soldiers and veterans for their service you can do it in different ways. Here are just a small list of what you can do to honor people who have served and protected our country: -Say thank you! It’s such a small and,  lets admit, simple gesture that takes just a moment, but soldiers really do appreciate it. -If you are a teacher get children involved in the day. You can ask them to make thank you posters and put them up around town. -Publish a post on Facebook  thanking our veterans. -Wear red, white and blue today to support our soldiers and veterans. -Buy some groceries or bake some sugar free cookies and bring them to a veterans home. -Lay flags and flowers on the graves of veterans to give honor to the dead. -Visit a local retirement home and have a chat with some aged veterans who will love to share their stories with you (I cannot listen to them without tears filling my eyes). -If you have a business, offer a special Veteran’s Day discount. -Take a veteran for lunch or pay for his meal if you saw him at a restaurant. -When you spot a soldier, just give him a wink, smile, or thumbs up. Let him you highly appreciate their sacrifice. -Remember to honor American heroes all year long- not just on Veterans Day! Do you want to know more about Veterans day and history of the US ask our history tutors. They are experts in their field and will help students prepare for their next history class, test or assignment. God Bless you all God Bless America!

Do you really need a visa to teach English abroad

Do you really need a visa to teach English abroad So, you’re a young university graduate eager to see the world. Unfortunately, the wanderlust in your soul is much greater than the funds in your bank account. What to do? Well, teaching English abroad is a great way to experience a foreign country and actually make money doing it. Wondering what you need to teach abroad? If you’re an American wanting to experience the kimchi and K-pop of Korea, or a Canadian feeling drawn to the sandy beaches and hypnotic rhythm of Brazil, the visa requirements for teaching English abroad will heavily depend on where you’re from and where you’re going. Recommended reading: What qualifications do I need to teach English abroad? Visa requirements for teaching English abroad. A visa is a document, often as simple as a stamp in a passport, that allows the holder to enter a country and specifies how long they are able to stay. A visa also indicates the activities the holder is able to participate in while in the country, so it is important to understand the various types of visas and how they relate to teaching English abroad. Teaching English on a tourist visa. A tourist visa is issued to a person entering a country with no intention of working or settling there. Depending on where you are from and the country you are trying to enter, it can be issued at the border or require a lengthy application process beforehand. Costs can also vary, ranging from free to hundreds of dollars. For example, citizens of New Zealand can enter Turkey for free and stay 90 days, while Americans will pay $20, and Canadians and Australians three times that. The country you plan to visit will most likely have an embassy in your home country, and that embassy’s website can be a great source of info regarding visas. However, tourist visas generally do not allow the visitor to work legally. One may be able to teach English under the table on a tourist visa, but doing so is almost certainly illegal and you would still have to leave the country before your tourist visa expires or face the consequences. Teaching English in China on a tourist visa, for example, is a big no-no. Recommended reading: You can teach English in China without a degree (and 3 other myths people think are true) Teaching English on a work visa. Sign up to Teach Away today for access to the latest teaching jobs around the world. Those looking to teach English abroad legally (let’s hope that’s all of you!) will most likely need a work visa, which allows you to enter a foreign country and work while there. Much like a tourist visa, requirements and fees can vary greatly depending on what passport you hold and where you plan on teaching. Getting a work visa in advance of teaching abroad. In many of the most popular places to teach English abroad, such as China, Korea, Japan and the Persian Gulf (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates for example), a work visa should be obtained prior to arrival in the country. In many cases, one would be hired from abroad and the employer would sponsor you and work with the various government agencies to obtain a work permit for you. Teach Away helps you find and apply for jobs from abroad, ensuring that you’re able to have a job and a proper work visa prior to arrival. Keep in mind that documents, such as a TEFL certification, university transcripts or a criminal record check might be needed during the application process. Getting a work visa while abroad in the country you want to teach in. In some places, such as Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, or Turkey, it is possible for an English teacher to be hired while in the country, and then have the work visa granted while they are there. Just like obtaining a visa from out of the country, other documents, such as a TEFL certification or a criminal record check might be required. This can be a great way to check out a country to see if it is for you before committing to an English teaching job there. It can also be a great way to check out a prospective employer and workplace in person rather than accepting a job sight unseen from the other side of the world. Teaching abroad while on a working holiday visa. Some countries have bilateral agreements that allow young people of a certain age to work and travel in a foreign country for up to one year at a time. Australia, Canada and New Zealand, for example, have agreements with non-English-speaking countries like Germany, Italy, France and many others. Though a TEFL would not be a prerequisite for a working holiday visa, it would certainly make you more employable as an English teacher once you get to your destination. Again, the website of a country's embassy in your home country is a great source of info regarding working holiday visas. The lowdown on teaching abroad and spousal visas. You may be interested in teaching English, but do you speak the language of love? Many countries allow the wife or husband of a citizen to live, and often work, in their spouse’s country. This type of visa is obviously dependent on one’s current romantic situation, or, in extreme cases, how motivated they might be to teach English in a particular country. As with most visas, rules vary from country to country, so be sure to do your research before making any rash decisions. So, do I need a visa to teach English abroad? Well, yes you do. However, the type of visa you get depends on your intentions, and the requirements depend on what passport you hold and where you want to go. However, there’s no shortage of opportunities to teach English abroad, and, armed with a TEFL certification, those options become greater. You’ve already done the hard part, working up the courage to go, now it is just about researching your options and making it happen.