Teaching English in Nepal

Many college students consider teaching English abroad after graduation. Jeremy, who took a couple years teaching English in South Korea before entering the workforce in his own field, lists six reasons why he thinks such an opportunity is beneficial: travel, personal growth, kids, your future, life perspective and the obvious, making a difference. My favorite points are personal growth and life perspective. First, lets talk about personal growth. Say you decide to volunteer to teach English in Nepal this summer, after you graduate. At first, you will be scared, terrified even. You’re leaving behind your friends, your family, and everything, that on the surface represents who you are. As Jeremy points out, however, in his article, stripping these outer pieces of you gives you a chance to grow and become someone new, someone better. He says, “The stresses and successes of teaching children and living in a new country will surely help refine who you are.” Life perspective is something I learned on my last trip to Nepal, where I helped teach and care or children in an orphanage. There are so many things, from people to simple foods (like french fries…or a salad) that we eat every day, that we take for granted. In Nepal I was separated from all these simple luxuries. Instead, I experienced different foods, met different people and learned so much. This both allowed me to develop a respect and appreciation for things that are different, but more importantly, it gave me a newfound appreciation for the things I have in my everyday life that I am CERTAIN I could have never gotten without having made the trip to Nepal. Check out more about what I learned here.
 
Why teach abroad in Nepal? A few personal reasons I would pick Nepal to teach English in include shopping, site-seeing, culture and the need. About 90 Nepali Rupees make up $1 US. The exchange rate coupled with the amazing deals you can strike with shopkeepers in cute cities like Thamel and Kathmandu make the shopping scene incredibly fun and affordable (for ladies as well as gentlemen). Because of how affordable everything is in Nepal, trips can be taken around the country for very little money. We toured a resort and almost hit the border of Tibet simply by renting a car and driving around the country. With more organized plans to start off the day, surely we could have done much more. The culture of Nepal is also quaint, exotic and probably as different as it can possibly get from the western world. This is the only country in the world where over 80% of the population follows the religion Hinduism. It is mind-blowing to step into Nepal’s temples, where one can see the unique intersection of Buddhism and Hinduism under a single holy roof.
 
Finally, there is a real need of volunteers to teach English in the schools of Nepal, specifically. The total adult literacy rate is barely above 57%. Though there are many schools that call themselves English medium schools, the teaching of English is very weak because many times, the teachers who are supposed to be teaching English to the students were educated in Nepali. According to the Kathmandu post4, school Principal Jitman Lama says ““When the students reached Grade 6, we realized that neither their English nor their Nepali was up to the standard”. This is the case with schools all over Nepal and there is a DIRE NEED for foreign English speaking students to help deliver education to these young Nepali students.
 
Volunteers Initiative Nepal has 47 partner schools which they are helping improve the quality of through Early Childcare Development, infrastructure development and training the pre-existing teachers. Volunteers are needed to improve english because nothing can replace a native English speaking volunteer. Get started on an experience of a lifetime by learning more here!