Want a break and to work abroad

briona

OP, your posts are VERY vague. All you've said is that you're 50ish, and your highest qualifications are O Levels. You haven't said what you'd like to do, and neither have you indicated whether you simply want to spend a couple of months abroad, or actually move abroad.

If all you want to do is spend a month or so abroad, you should consider volunteering. Have you considered WWOOFing? For the uninitiated, that's working on organic farms in exchange for food and board. For more info see: http://www.wwoof.org/europe/

If you would prefer to go a bit further afield, have a look at Ecoteer (http://www.ecoteer.com/). Having researched a fair few voluntourism-type organisations, this one definitely seemed the most ethical. For a small membership fee, you get to see all the project details and set up the placement yourself, thereby cutting out the greedy middle man.

To actually live and work abroad for any length of time, I'm afraid you would need some kind of skills or qualifications. Probably the easiest route to living and working abroad is TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), which is what I do.

To teach EFL, you would need a recognised qualification. There are hundreds of online providers, but in the absence of a degree and taking into consideration your age, I'd recommend doing the Cambridge CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) or the Trinity CertTESOL (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). They are not cheap, but they are recognised and accepted worldwide and will set you up nicely for a career in TEFL.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Briona

Cassie**

I think I want to dip my toe in living and working abroad, to see if I can make the leap,but don't know where to start,so you have all been very helpful so far.xxI can't do any work that's too heavy ,or manual,but languages is one of my interests and that route interests me.I envisage doing this for anything form a few weeks to a few months to start with.Helpx also seems a possibility.I am going to check out CELTA.