Internships & Assistantships

It’s the economy.
It’s the glass ceiling.
It’s the system.
We know.

We care about improving your skills, no matter what your background, experience, or financial situation. So we’ve come up with lots of ways for you to pay your way with your life experience or sweat equity.

Praxis
(Undergraduate Waiver)

You’ve got a full course load, and feel like you’d rather kinda check it out, volunteer-like, as opposed to jumping into teaching? Plus you’re a little intimidated.  If you’re an undergraduate in a degree program of any kind, you can work as a Classroom Assistant for our Primary Instructors for 20 classes and enter the Certificate program at no cost when you finish. Perfect if you’re not quite sure what you want to do, but you have the time to do it.

Bridge Builders
(Undergraduate/Graduate Waivers & Cooperative Education)

If you have a specific set of criteria to meet for your academic program, P-P-T will work with your advisor to design a custom internship that meets your needs. Obviously, this is great if you want to get practical experience teaching English for a TESOL program. But as the US becomes increasingly aware of the nature of its diverse culture, almost every field of study can include the Cultural Competence experience that we offer:

Business Management Marketing & Communications
Social Services Government Services
Nonprofit Management Health Services
Adult Education Law

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries website has guidelines on unpaid internships for businesses.

Voces
(Community Assistantship)

Most English teachers are white. Not all, but most. In some communities with a large number of Spanish speakers, we are starting to see bilingual Latinos teaching English in their community. But African-Americans are still relatively rare in this field. We would like to see more English teachers looking like the communities they’re teaching.  If you identify as a person of color or have someone in your family who is not a native speaker of English (including yourself), you get a 75% tuition reduction.

Bridge Boomers
(Community Assistantship)

Looking for a later life career change? Wanting to volunteer and maybe find a new part-time career? Hoping to travel at some point and want to make some friends here in the community before you leave? Or just want to do good in the world? If you’re over 55, take a 50% tuition reduction.  If you’re thinking about volunteering to teach English anyway but have no background, enter our program! Volunteer with one of the nonprofits we work with and promote P-P-T’s work. You’ll gain skills, help, and a network of new friends who care about building cross-cultural connections in our community!

Your Work Is Our Work
(Nonprofit Waiver)

Document a solid track record with a community organization, and you can enter the English for the Certificate program at no cost. We figure if you’re working that hard to make the world a better place, we want you on our team. We already know it seems like you don’t get enough appreciation. We will need to sign an agreement with your nonprofit or community-based organization to have someone track your volunteer hours.

In Through the Americorps Door
(Nonprofit Waiver)

We love Americorps members (and similar programs like the Jesuits Volunteer Corps) so much that we created a special tuition waiver program just for you. It’s really just a version of the Your Work Is Our Work Program – we know that you all work so hard for very little money, and we frequently encounter members who want to take our training, develop their cross cultural skills, and maybe go teach overseas afterwards. Most Americorps programs prohibit working with us while in service, but whether you’re in service or out, you receive an automatic tuition waiver. We want you!

*Please understand: Internships and Assistantships are work for us – and they are a benefit for you and the community. We strive to create an environment of flexibility and support. High demand or abuse of these programs may force us to modify or discontinue them, or limit our flexibility in other areas. Please pay us cash if you can, and if you can’t, support us as we support you by being reliable and keeping your commitments.*