EducatorsAbroad in England Past Review

By (Music Education, University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse) - abroad from 04/23/2012 to 07/06/2012 with

EducatorsAbroad: Traveling - Student Teaching (10-18 Weeks)

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
The culture difference was great to see and experience. I also thought thier school staff team was so cohesive and worked together so well that there were few problems between staff and made it easy for me to fit into the team.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 2 weeks - 1 month

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

My time with the school and doing the teaching in a completely different setting was amazing! I really enjoyed that I had the opportunity to do this and do some more travelling on top of it. The lack of the fifth star would be the living situation was expensive, and I was given little help and few options. Also, it took quite a long time for me to get my placement. I had to wait until about a month before I left to find out my school and country.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

I enjoyed working with my immediate supervisor and he was very helpful, except in the area of housing. He was quite biased about his help in that reguards. The supervisor I had worked with that would be his immediate supervisor was quite inaccesible. She was the one that was dropping the ball with sending updates and information about my status before I got the assignment. I also tried to meet her while I was there and she did not answer my emails, so I never did get to discuss with her or meet her.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I stayed with a nice family, but they took me for all money. I got there expecting to pay much less which was my fault for not confirming what the price would be. Then I was new and didn't know that I was being charged way too much. When I found out from my co teachers that I was paying quite a bit more than necessary I was already through half of my placement. The conditions were pretty good, but the money thing threw me off so much I didn't enjoy living with them when I knew I was enough of a hassel to them that I needed to pay an arm and a leg.

* Food:

The family I stayed with served a really good meal every night. The mom was stay at home so we had a really nice large family meal every night. During the day the school provided lunch for all of the staff, so I had some of the greatest school food ever. The cook was amazing!

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I really would have liked to be more involved to see more of the community, but I had to be very careful spending money. But I got to see a lot of the country side and the more "posh" areas of the UK. I also got to feel a great deal like a Londoner every once in a while. I spent quite of bit of my weekends there to see everything and see the sights as well as the historical landmarks.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

never had a problem

* Safety:

Very safe. The community was quite wealthy and had few incidents that I felt uncomfortable walking in town. I even came home on the train late in the evenings a few times and felt comfortable walking all the way back to my host families house.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? No

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

This was quite rough. I spent $450 a week on my room and board living with the family.

* Was housing included in your program cost? No
* Was food included in your program cost? No
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? Not including travel $500
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Talk with locals about accomodation to get the best advice right away when you get there. See if there are any opportunities to live with someone that is in the same program or part of the organization you are working with.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Host Family
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Other
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • The people at the school and my immediate
  • supervisor really were very kind and helpful and really
  • welcomed me to the country and the school.
* What could be improved?
  • More notice before my departure. I was told only about
  • a month before I left and had little to no time to set up
  • accomodations or make plans to travel.
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? I got a position student teaching with a teacher that was only part time music teacher and the rest of the time administration. I would have tried to volunteer or get a short term job to fill up the rest of my days while she was doing that type of work.