After graduating in December 2018 as a Spanish and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major, I had a soild yet broad understanding of what kind of work I was interested in. I had always wanted to be an educator, but I wasn’t ready to commit to being a teacher. I loved working with kids, valued education, and saw the importance of social justice. I applied to a handful of different jobs in the non-profit and education worlds, but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about any of the opportunities I had applied for, and I was not getting many calls back.
Although I had begun looking for work quite early prior to graduating, it was not until December that I found the AmeriCorps New American Integration Program (NAIP). I had heard of AmeriCorps but I did not know anybody who had served. Volunteering and service have always been important to me, and I was definitely interested in supporting new immigrants through education. There were many different opportunities to serve listed on the NAIP website, including some where I could use my Spanish skills. I was offered a six-month full-time volunteer job in Boston at a nonprofit called JVS where I taught career skills and English to new Americans. (Note: the six-month service program is no longer offered. Now, there is only a year-long program). While there, I learned about the nonprofit world and what I might like in a future permanent position. I also enjoyed using my college education to lift other people in my community up and help them towards their goals. I would highly recommend AmeriCorps. It was a strong professional and personal development experience. I was privileged to live at home with my parents during my service term, so I did not have many financial obligations which allowed me to spend six months working for so little pay. You are paid a living stipend biweekly and there are other financial benefits offered. I picked up additional babysitting and tutoring during nights and weekends during my service term. Although difficult financially, the experience helped me learn about the importance of budgeting, which was a positive pro of the financial challenge.
When those six months ended in August 2019, I was preparing to move to Spain. In Spring 2019, I applied to Meddeas, a company that sends native English speakers to private schools in Spain to work as Auxiliares de Conversación, or Language Assistants. (Note: according to their website, this program is still happening next year despite the pandemic.) I applied online, completed a phone interview, and then an in-person interview. I was able to share what I was looking for in a placement (town versus city, private schools versus religious school, host family or independent living) but could not request an exact city or region. I was offered a position in April and had three days to accept it or deny it. I was initially offered a position in a location that did not sound like a great fit, so I took a chance and denied it, but asked if there were any other positions available. Luckily, there were! My second assignment was a much better fit: I was assigned to a small city on the southern coast called Huelva. I would be living with a host family and working at an all-girls K-12 Catholic school. I was thrilled with the location and excited to continue to use Spanish every day while living with a host family. Meddeas pays you a stipend to work in Spain via a grant, and it was definitely enough to afford living in Huelva. Their process is free but you must pay a deposit to hold your spot. That money is returned to you upon successful completion of the school year. It is to discourage people from accepting a job and then changing their mind or quitting halfway through. Beware of companies that make you pay to work! You should be compensated for your work, not paying for the opportunity to work. With Meddeas, you also must complete an online Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification program through a Spanish university during the year. The class took effort but there was not an overwhelming amount of work. I was able to use some of what we learned in my classroom.
Words cannot describe what a positive experience Meddeas was for me. My host family and I were lucky to click instantly and I spent most of my time outside of school with them. I met many friends my age who were working as Language Assistants in other local schools. My Spanish continued to improve. I had opportunities to travel within Spain and around Europe. I learned about being an educator and how to teach language. I enjoyed being in a school environment every day (well, four days out of the week. I had Mondays off!). While it was a long process applying, getting my visa, and booking travel, it was worth all of the time and effort. Like anything, there were days that were more challenging than others, and sometimes it felt difficult to be away from family and friends, but I went home during my winter break and some of my family visited me in the spring. It helped knowing that the program had an end date and it was not a ‘forever’ move. Unfortunately, my school cancelled my program in mid-March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. I safely flew home and stayed with my parents for about four months.
While at home, I began applying for new jobs. I even picked up some hours teaching English to students in China online through VIP Kid (I’d be happy to mentor any fellow UMass alumni on VIP Kid). My boyfriend was living in LA and I wanted to move there once it was safe to travel, so I focused on jobs in LA. I applied to nearly fifty jobs. I heard back from a minority of them, and I only did three interviews. Of those three interviews, I was offered a job as a high school Spanish teacher! From my AmeriCorps and Meddeas experiences, I was well prepared to move away from home, be in the classroom, and find an opportunity that I knew would be a good fit for my needs right now. My new job starts next month and I am excited to bring things full circle by making language learning fun for another generation of students, just like my caring Spanish teachers and UMass professors did for me.
If you’re reading this in 2020, you might be feeling discouraged about what to do next. My unsolicited advice would be:
-Apply to jobs like it is your job (not a unique idea to me but it’s advice I followed and it worked!)
-Don’t take it personally when nobody answers. Odds are the right person will answer eventually!
-Say yes to opportunities off the beaten path
-Learn about what you want in a job, what you’re good at, and what you’re not so good at.
-Go abroad! Whether or not you’ve done it before. You got this!
-Message me on LinkedIn if you have any specific questions that I could answer :-)