Travel Scholarships You Can Avail For Teach And Travel

Are you excited about working abroad or have a passion to travel but have been worrying about sponsoring it?

Stay calm as you are not the only one! We all know that working abroad can get quite expensive but fortunately, there are various ways to accumulate funds or make travelling more affordable but also, one cannot deny the fact that travelling is costly.

So, if you want to realize your dreams of teaching, you are going to need funds.

As a college or university teacher, you might look to travel more but have been struggling to afford the travel expenses. What if somebody sponsored your travel expenses and also offered you an opportunity to develop professionally that would enhance your classroom environment? There are various kinds of travel abroad scholarships available through which you can fund your travel expenses.

Many such opportunities come with a commitment of contributing to your learning through various mediums like (via lesson plans, curriculum development, blog posts, research findings, etc) in exchange for your grant, but isn’t sharing your knowledge what teaching and traveling are all about?

What are teacher travel grants?

Travel grants are kind of scholarships that aid U.S. teachers traveling overseas on short-term visits to experience new cultures and explore new places.

Educators usually utilize various instructional methods and broaden their horizons through cultural and academic immersion programs. These travel grants for teachers are sponsored by government organizations, private companies, and non-profit international organizations. Some programs provide money to the teachers while others pay their expenses directly. Few programs offer teacher exchanges where a teacher from abroad visits your school while they are teaching at their school. Travel grants provide a great opportunity for teachers to fund their travel expenses in their teaching tenure abroad.

Grant requirements

• Grants are designed mainly for teachers in high schools, middle schools, or elementary school teachers.
• Some teacher travel grants cover only half of the amounts, while others cover round-trip airfare along with boarding, food, and incidental expenses.
• The duration of these grants last six to eight weeks, though a handful of highly selective programs offer travel grants of up to six months.
• Grant travel usually takes place in summer when schools are closed.

Most of these programs are mainly for teachers based in the U.S but not all of them. If you belong to any other country, you can also browse through this list and look for programs in your area as well!

Few programs are purely travel-related and few include options for further education or grad school credits. You can also find opportunities to provide your students with a learning adventure. The duration of these programs ranges from a few days to weeks, months, or even years. Travel could be within the U.S. or too many destinations around the world.

Let’s go through a few of them!

• Grosvenor Teacher Fellowships From National Geographic: Each year, National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions take geography teachers on expeditions around the world. On an average, about 25 educators from the U.S. and Canada are chosen for these fellowship trips each year, where they sponsor their travel to exotic locations and also look after their professional development and curriculum-building activities.
• Fund for Teachers Fellowships: This fellowship program for teachers allows U.S. educators to design their professional development programs. International and domestic travels are usually part of these grant proposals, and FFT has been favoring these grants for U.S. educators since 2001.
• Teachers for Global Classrooms Program from IREX: This Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program, operated by IREX, is a yearly cultural exchange for U.S. elementary, middle school, and high school teachers. The program focuses on rigorous training, an international field experience, and a global education symposium in Washington, DC. Applications open in December 2017.
• Teach Earth Conservation Research Grants: The Earthwatch Institute’s Teach Earth program offers U.S. K–12 teachers the opportunity to help conservation projects in natural locations around the world. Apart from research, educators also take part in science learning and professional development. The educator’s just need to fill out an interest form and qualified teachers will be invited to complete the application.
• Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellows Program in STEM: The Einstein program allows U.S. teachers to back science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) on Capitol Hill and/or in congressional offices till a year.

Apart from these travel grants and scholarship programs, a 120-hour Certificate online TEFL program from any reputed teacher training institute will provide you the scope to teach and travel abroad.

Each travel grant program has its time limit and requirements. Teachers with a few years of teaching experience are usually preferred. Programs are offered to expand virtually any teacher’s base of knowledge.

Never believe that one who is living on a teacher’s salary and supporting a family cannot dream about overseas travel and that it is beyond their means. Always remember that teachers who travel well make better teachers and are known to teach more effectively! Moreover, several organizations will aid you to avail such an experience for you. E.g. you can pursue TEFL courses and grab the opportunity to teach and travel abroad!