Stay Tuned For…

Many young people have graduated – or are about to graduate – from a New York school and are finding themselves unready to enter the ‘real world’ of careers, jobs, rent – in short, unready for responsibility. Though many are quick to associate this disposition with immaturity or laziness, it is actually a reflection of maturity insofar as many of these students recognize that they simply don’t know about themselves to commit to responsibility, or else feel they are not confident or self-sufficient enough to be having to work full-time and live completely self-sufficiently for the first, too.

For this reason, many students make the decision to do some traveling in an effort to build confidence, satisfy curiosity, and have plain old fun. But without a job to pay the bills, and with the financial umbilical cord to Mommy and Daddy severed by graduation, what’s a poor student to do? One of the best ways to travel is to work and travel at the same time. Jobs that can be picked up during travel are generally lower-responsibility so that those who take them can develop confidence in working while they take the bold step of getting acclimated to life in an entirely different place. These two activities – working and living abroad – instill confidence not only in one’s ability to succeed in the work environment, but also to succeed in a new place or in a new circumstance – e.g., a foreign country. The result is a transition to grown-up working life that is less jarring, better guided, and more fulfilling.

Speaking of fulfilling, one of the most rewarding experiences across all of life – not just work – is teaching, and teaching English abroad not only pays well but is consummately flexible, allowing teachers to hop from place to place to teach for a few weeks before moving on to the next great city or country. In order to get a piece of the English teaching action, would-be teachers ought to strongly consider getting a TEFL certification, which is a credential recognized worldwide as the mark of a teacher who spent time learning the skills and gaining the knowledge necessary to teach English to speakers of other languages. Luckily for those looking to earn the accreditation of TEFL, New York is full of institutes that cater specifically to students looking to learn to teach English and then teach abroad for an extended period or else travel from place to place, teaching English when necessary to make money.

In sum, teaching English while traveling is an ideal use of time by recent or soon-to-be graduates because it fosters maturity in the workplace, personal maturity, is fulfilling, and underscores cross-cultural similarities through the use of a common language – English – so few things are lost in translation.