Interview With A Former Peace Corps Volunteer In Kazakhstan

Imagine this: you arrive in a town on the Central Asian Steppe which is home to a few thousand people. You are the first American resident ever and you’re there to teach English…because NO ONE in town speaks it. Luckily you’ve had some instruction in Russian so you can communicate. When you get to the classroom, there are no textbooks or copy machines and the blackboard is broken. Hot showers are often a luxury at the place you live.

If this sounds like a challenge you are up for, the Peace Corps might be just the ticket for you. If you think you’re too big of a fan of the hot shower to do it, read on anyway to see what makes this experience worthwhile.

You may be surprised to find that the subject of this TEFL Logue interview is none other than…Bob of Bootsnall’s The Offside fame.

Bob decided to apply for the Peace Corps during his senior year of college – while it’s possible to specify the region you’re interested in (but not country) Bob left this open. He ended up in Kazakhstan.

The highlight of the training process for him was the language training. There was some TEFL training but he advises seeking out your own TEFL training in advance if possible – this will not only help you in the application/selection process, but also obviously once you start the job. The challenges served up inside (not to mention outside) the classroom in a developing classroom sound like enough to make even an experienced teacher squirm.

To be continued…