Trainees pay for both parts of the program - lessons at school and work at a specialized enterprise - as a single language course. According to Latin American educational agencies, more than 60% of clients with above-average English order courses that include some form of professional practice (Internships). In our educational market, demand for them is much more modest: the idea of working for free seems unacceptable to many, and if you also have to pay for the opportunity to work, it seems absurd.
However, simultaneously improving language and acquiring professional skills is worth the cost. These expenses will pay off. In addition, schools meet the needs of clients whose budgets cannot withstand such burdens, and are constantly expanding contacts with employers, looking for places where trainees can earn money. In any case, the sector of educational programs Language Courses plus Internships is growing rapidly: according to experts at Language Travel Magazine, global demand for them has grown by 18% in the last year alone.
To satisfy it, language schools are "spreading their tentacles" across the country in search of partner companies willing to accept foreign students for internships. For example, the Canadian Business English School (Toronto) maintains partnerships with 50 enterprises that accept trainees. The Australian Internships Association offers foreign students 53 options for professional-language internships in the seven largest cities of the Green Continent. The database of the American organization Thomson West has 8,500 employers, of which 900 invite foreign trainees to work in information technology.
Educational agencies and language schools have very limited opportunities to arrange a Paid Placement for a student. For the Unpaid Work Experience option, where the student pays for the internship part of the program, it is easier to find a place and there are fewer problems with obtaining a visa. There is another option for language practice abroad where no one pays anyone anything - Volunteering. For example, last year volunteers were invited to New Zealand to save Tongariro National Park from a rodent invasion. At the same time, you can practice English (the working language of volunteers), and for biologists, ecologists, zoologists this is a real professional internship in their specialty.
However, only those who can present an Upper Intermediate language certificate and pass an interview can go on an internship without taking General English lessons. The rest start with classroom lessons.
Sandwiches and Other Products
The minimum duration of Language Courses plus Internships is eight weeks: the first four weeks students study at school, and then they learn the language at workplaces. But this is the classic version - the structure of programs can be more complex. "Companies get little benefit from trainees who come for six to eight weeks," says Kate Locker, an employee of the British agency Eagle UK Work Experience. "What can you assign them to in a complex modern production? Only the most primitive operations. It's different if students are willing to work 6-12 months - in that case it makes sense to train them and involve them in more complex projects. We observe a clear trend towards increasing the duration of internships, and both employers and students are interested in this."
A variety of complicated options - so-called sandwich programs - appear in response to the requests of clients who need something else besides lessons and internships. For example, the International House school (London) offers this option: two weeks of intensive language training at school, then four weeks of internship, after which students return for another two weeks to school, prepare and take the Cambridge certificate exam.
The EF school's "sandwich" should interest professionals who want to find a more promising job. The program includes two special training blocks: writing a resume and interviewing. They are supplemented by lessons to improve grammar and vocabulary, teacher-led discussions, written exercises, lectures to develop listening skills, group project work and role-playing, interactive computer lessons, thematic lessons, electives, and 50–100 hours of work in a local company in a suitable field.
The "sandwich" of the Spanish school Enforex is for those who directly deal with Spanish partners; it includes business Spanish lessons, an introduction to the country's basic legal norms in international trade, and an internship.
You can always order courses and internships with some additions, deviations from the standard set. For language schools, such an order is an impetus for further development, so they are usually happy to develop individual programs.
We Choose, We Are Chosen...
The language school selects an internship placement using existing contacts with employers or using the services of specialized recruitment agencies. An archaeologist is found a place on excavations, a lawyer in court or the bar, an entrepreneur at an enterprise close to their profile. The easiest places to find are for teachers, journalists, hotel business specialists and tour operators, since hotels, travel agencies, schools, local newspapers, TV and radio stations are everywhere. There are always vacancies in the service sector, but not every trainee will take them, even if they are paid Paid Placements. There is a so-called gap between the actually offered vacancies and the professional interests of trainees, because candidates for Internships programs are by no means novices in their field - not every university graduate is ready to unpack goods in a store's back room or exterminate rodents even for the sake of mastering English. Some wait for a suitable place for years and eventually give up on the idea.
«After graduating from medical school, I decided to make my diploma convertible and began preparing for the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) licensing exam,» says anesthesiologist Vladimir Malykh. «But I quickly realized that without long-term medical practice in English, I couldn't pass this exam. Finding an internship placement turned out to be difficult and dragged on... But I couldn't waste time, and I agreed to a job as an orderly at a Nursing Home in Edinburgh. The administration of the home obtained a work permit for me, I had a means of subsistence and the opportunity to prepare for exams. Soon local doctors began to address me respectfully: 'What do you think about this, colleague?' I worked at the home for two years. I passed the exams, received good recommendations, and now I have signed a contract with Southampton Hospital.»
No illusions needed
Often, solid clients with decent English approach educational agencies who would like to intern at a Western company in a position close to the one they hold in their home country, that is, a leading specialist, top manager, or director. In this case, much depends on the consultant for foreign education: the ambitious gentleman must be explained - as delicately as possible, with humor or seriously - that foreign interns are not offered such positions, even if they are vacant. Even 'their own' students (from national specialized universities) are accepted by almost all Western enterprises for internships in lower positions. And this is even more true for foreigners.
Of course, the consultant of the educational agency compares specific places for industrial and language practice offered by foreign partners with the requests and real capabilities of the intern. The discrepancy between desire and reality should be a subject of careful consideration and discussion, otherwise unjustified expectations and client disappointment can nullify the results of the program. «We try to give candidates maximum information about what exactly they will be doing during the internship,» says Paola Devries, manager of the British company Trident Transnational. «We arrange a preliminary telephone interview, advise them to assess their starting opportunities more realistically, but then, once on site and familiar with the situation, to take initiative, actively set tasks and propose solutions. The intern's professional and business qualities will not go unnoticed. The further course of events depends only on you.»
Activity is the key word
How far initiative and an active stance can advance an intern is told by economist Maria Lobanova: «My first internship took place in Ireland, at the Four Seasons hotel. I ended up in the Banqueting department - setting up the banquet hall, wines, snacks, utensils. At first I thought: who and what will I be able to talk about there, what kind of language practice is this? Then it turned out that among the hotel guests there are always people who just lack an attentive listener, a little bit of attention - and a person willingly talks about everything. And very interesting people came, international conferences were constantly held: now auditors are meeting, now Microsoft employees, now pharmacists... By the way, my friend Joanne during her internship struck up a conversation with one of the conference participants and as a result got a job in a pharmaceutical company. And I was offered an interview at the largest American investment company Goldman Sacks. This is a rather rare chance and great luck.»
Calculating people do not rely on a lucky ticket; they believe in their own strengths and abilities. The host organization expects from a foreign intern high learning ability, contactability, and a zealous attitude to work. An intern who demonstrates all these qualities will improve their foreign language, make contacts with foreign colleagues, get a winning entry in their resume about having work experience in a foreign company, and undergo 'running-in' in another cultural environment with a different mentality. You can also ask for a letter of recommendation - no one will refuse a good person. And those who during the practical training managed to prove that they are capable of occupying a worthy position and being useful to the enterprise are often offered work contracts.