Job Discussion Forums

[urge2serg]

i'm seriously considering visiting romania and the ukraine from feb to may of this year. however, i dont want to be a mere tourist ("not that there's anything wrong with it", as jerry seinfeld would say); i would actually like to volunteer as an english teacher for a month or two so that i could get to know the people.

are there any opportunites to do this? i've already posted this message in the ukraine thread, but like i said, i'd like to volunteer in both countries.

thanks in advance : )

[Bebsi]

You want to offer free labour in Romania?

Plenty of opportunities...lots of people in Romania will only too happily exploit your offer!!

[urge2serg]

in a perfect world, i would volunteer in the ukraine for 4-6 weeks and then volunteer in romania for 4-6 weeks, and then go back home (los angeles). it doesnt matter to me which country i volunteer in first.

ideally, i would like to establish contact with a school so they know when to expect me, and so that i would know what they would like me to do.

would it be reasonable for me to simply show up at a school in romania and ask them if they could use a volunteer for 4-6 weeks?

for what it's worth, i spent the summer in south korea doing an english camp, and so i'm not entirely new to this esl stuff.

[asgerd]

This may not be what you're after, but you could consider Scottish International Relief which has projects in both Romania (Targu Mures) and Ukraine (Odessa and Kharkiv) for orphan, Roma or street children. I have no idea if they want casual volunteers but if it appeals, I guess you could ask them. I expect it would be very hard going
http://www.sircharity.org/Romania.html

My limited contact with SIR suggests to me that although a church organisation, they are not preaching and they are doing genuinely useful, efficient work.

Another option might be to contact a university and offer conversation classes.
http://www.findaschool.org/index.php?Country=Romania
http://www.findaschool.org/index.php?Country=Ukraine

[naturegirl321]

try volunteerabroad.com

for longer stints, try sol.org.uk