Travel Adventures: Teaching Abroad

In 2010, I had the opportunity to travel to China with the Real English Teachers program at Cal Poly Pomona. I'm not sure if it's still available, but it was a program sponsored by the Department of English and Foreign Languages. Dr. Liliane Fucaloro, along with Dr. Karen Russikoff, was in charge of the program and came into my English Acquisition course to inform us about the program. I immediately told my friend, a geography major, who told her other geography friends. We had a unique group of "teachers" that consisted of the following majors: 1 english major, 1 liberal studies major, 1 hospitality management and 3 geography majors.

The goal of the program was to teach English to students within kinder to high school. The program provided us with vital information on culture and language acquisition. We were given all lesson plans to help us get situated. We were also partnered up to co-teach every lesson. My friend and I co-taught Arts and Crafts. Other subjects included: songs, idioms, conversation, american culture. Most of us did not have prior teaching experience, except for some tutoring, however, the program was very well organized and the schools we taught at were very welcoming. The main goal was to have students conversing with native speakers because their schools already teach them english but students needed to practice speaking with others.

The program consisted of 4 weeks and cost about $1,000 which included airline tickets, a visa, t-shirts, and housing. We were responsible for food and miscellaneous travel expenses, however, our school hosts were amazing and bought the majority of our food expenses as they took us out to breakfast, lunch and dinner almost on a daily basis. Overall, I probably spent no more than $2,500.

More Amazing Food Pics

Cicada Plate

We were a bit surprised to see these little guys (cicadas) as a plate for dinner one night. I was not brave enough to try these, but according to National Geographic these bugs are low-carb, high in protein, gluten free, and low in fat, click on the link to find other recipes being used in the states :)