AOK Basic Skills Project
Portland, Maine
E: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
W: www.aokbasicskills.gratis
2021-11-20
Re: Foreign Study/Career Possibilities from S. America in N. America, Europe & Australia
Dear Director ………………,
I’m a semi-retired ESOL teacher over 65 and lived in Ecuador for over 10 years before recently relocating to Portland, Maine in the U.S. I am the director of AOK, a charitable educational effort and my retirement project that was connected to my English school in Quito. It isn’t an organization. AOK specializes in teaching basic skills in ESOL, native speaker education, and nutrition. During the past three years, I have written 15 AOK Life Skill Workshops and before the Pandemic presented many of them throughout the Ecuadorian Sierra.
The workshops are part of my effort to encourage the UN to offer a greater variety of websites in support of their 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for “Quality Education” and “Zero Hunger”. Recently, I have completed a 50-minute workshop for students who would like to study abroad that I would like to share at no cost. The workshop can focus on the high school, college or graduate school levels in the U.S.
Workshop summary
Preparing for an overseas study/work experience is a complicated effort in a changing world. What are the best options and how much do they cost? University scholarships at the undergraduate and graduate levels in foreign countries are difficult to obtain for the residents of those countries, let alone for students from countries with a different native language. Also, many of these scholarships cover only a fraction of the total study costs.
Many students from abroad believe that doing well on a foreign language exam is the most important factor in their application. Actually, speaking the language of a country is only the most basic skill that students need – the residents of that country speak their own language very well. Academic awards and community service in the home country are more important requisites for a scholarship.
In the AOK workshop, I will provide an overview of the above topics. I will also distribute a number of annotated websites about studying at the high school to graduate school level in N. America, Europe and Australia.
For someone to study and/or work in a foreign country, a long-term personal effort with good organization is required. I am confident that the information that I provide will help students to grow their understanding of their possibilities in a number of cases.
The long-term purpose of the workshop
The long-term objective of the workshop is to encourage the United Nations to provide a website with information on studying and working in different foreign countries. It would be written in support of its 2030 Sustainable Development Goal No. 4: Quality Education.
With permission, I do this by asking the students to complete voluntary and anonymous evaluations of the workshop that include the question: “Do they consider a U.N. website on Scholarships, Internships & Traineeships in foreign countries a good idea?” To date I have over 1,000 informal evaluations for the different workshops I offer in support of “U.N. Quality Education for all in 2030”.
Registration
Because the language study materials I use are written for non-commercial purposes, I do not charge for the presentation. In Quito I was registered with the the Human Talent Government Office. Please contact me if you are interested in a presentation…
Looking forward to hearing from you.
John B. Kirk, Director
E: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com