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Original poster

Gap year to learn English

6 replies

Fiftyisthenewsixty · 07/05/2023 20:22

Help please! A friend of mine's 18 year old son wants to take a gap year to improve his English. (We're in Italy). Any ideas on what he could do? Not a huge budget so he would rather work or volunteer in exchange for accommodation but I don't know where to start. I've heard of Workaway - has anyone used them? Thanks!

OP posts:

mindutopia · 07/05/2023 20:47

I have some friends who have done fruit picking in Australia. You are provided with accommodation on the farm or nearby usually. Or look for a similar working homestay. I believe it allowed them to come in on a visa that was so many months of work and then time for travel. This was 10 years ago, so don’t know if things have changed post COVID but worth looking into.

Original poster

Fiftyisthenewsixty · 08/05/2023 06:24

Thanks, I'll have a look.

OP posts:

ChateauMargaux · 08/05/2023 06:35

He could travel to Ireland... no visa / brexit issues there..

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Sgtmajormummy · 08/05/2023 06:59

Hotel kitchen or cleaning work in exchange for accommodation?

It used to be almost a rite of passage that Italian kids would go to the UK straight after the Maturità, sign on at the Job Centre and get a couple of minimum wage jobs for the Summer or even a year.

Now with Brexit they need a sponsor or a guaranteed job.

On holiday in Puglia our young waiter said they’d had UK agency scouts in their Scuola Alberghiera offering to hire workers fresh from the school. Obviously those kids were already trained and skilled.

Sgtmajormummy · 08/05/2023 07:37

I was in the UK two weeks ago and I believe our hotel was housing and employing women from Ukraine since their refugee status allows them to work.
I know there’s a crisis in the hospitality sector but I’m not sure about the ethics there…

Aslockton · 01/10/2023 10:00

My DD has done workaway 3 times. Three very different placements. The first was with a family au pairing, the 2nd working in a school. Currently DD is doing the grape harvest in Germany and loving it. She has met so many different people, learnt lots of new skills and practised her language skills. She ended up doing a MFL at university as part of her degree even though she had not done a MFL at A level. If your son could get a 3 month placement in the UK or Ireland, he would improve quickly.

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