--- title: How Your ILP Experience Can Help An Elementary Education Degree description: Want to know how to be an ILP volunteer and get real world experience for your Elementary Education degree as well? Here are the details! image: https://blog.ilp.org/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202018-02-19%20at%206.50.27%20PM-1.png --- **ILP VOLUNTEER TRIPS NOW OPEN TO COUNTRIES ACROSS THE WORLD! **[Start My Application Online ](https://ilp.org/how-to-apply/) [![](https://blog.ilp.org/hs-fs/file-860189993-png/layout/logo1.png)](http://www.ilp.org) [Apply Now](https://ilp.org/how-to-apply/) [ Login ](https://my.ilp.org) # [How Your ILP Experience Can Help An Elementary Education Degree](https://blog.ilp.org/how-to-use-ilp-experience-to-help-with-an-elementary-ed-degree) Posted by [Kayla McGill](https://blog.ilp.org/author/kayla-mcgill) on 3/9/16 10:00 AM ![ILP China](https://blog.ilp.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202018-02-19%20at%206.50.27%20PM-1.png?width=640&name=Screen%20Shot%202018-02-19%20at%206.50.27%20PM-1.png "ILP China") Want to get some Elementary Education experience for your major? Come volunteer with ILP!  Something that lots of people find when they are volunteering abroad with ILP is that they end up loving their kids more than they expected (even more than the travel part!). This is especially true if you are volunteering to get more experience for your Elementary Education major. Now you don't have to be an el ed major to be an ILP volunteer (you actually don't even need to be in school), but it can be particularly helpful for those who are testing the teaching waters as they prepare for their career. ## **Let It Help Your Interviews** Stressed about your interviews for teaching positions? We get it. Lucky for you though, you'll have your time living abroad as an ILP volunteer to talk about. It's pretty unique that you've lived for four months in another country, so interviewers are pretty likely to bring that up. If you can talk about teaching kids English in a foreign country during your interview, you definitely will stand out from the crowd. ![ILP China](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/12/2e/94/122e94625d3bc1c5846bc1e06be987e7.jpg "ILP China") ## **Get School Credit While Volunteering** You can sometimes get school credit which can be directly applied to your degree. You’ll spend about a half day volunteering (up to 4 hours of direct interaction with the kids, plus preparation time, transportation, and clean up). All of that experience lets you get a good taste of what teachers do for their career. Universities have given internship credit to Elementary Education Majors who are going on ILP because of that experience.  ILP is not affiliated with any university directly, so you will need to arrange any credit or internship you might receive through your school. Typically you'll just want to go to your advisor and ask what can be worked out.  If you go to BYU-Idaho, see how you can [get BYU school credit](https://blog.ilp.org/how-byu-idaho-students-can-make-volunteering-abroad-their-internship) for your semester abroad. ![ILP China](https://blog.ilp.org/hs-fs/hubfs/changsha_teaching_-_credit_courtneypeterson_.jpg?width=640&name=changsha_teaching_-_credit_courtneypeterson_.jpg "ILP China") ## **Find out if you actually want to be a teacher** This is a great way to get real experience in the classroom which allows you to see if you like teaching! We have heard many stories from ILP volunteers who came home and changed their major ([like Brianna](https://blog.ilp.org/should-you-change-your-major)) because they found out that they actually love teaching and want to keep doing it or they found out that wow, I actually don't think teaching as a career is right for me! Getting that hands on teaching experience really shows you what your skills are and it's easier to see if that's something you really want to do. ![DR-_group_of_kids_teachers_at_school_cropped-6.jpg](https://blog.ilp.org/hs-fs/hubfs/DR-_group_of_kids_teachers_at_school_cropped-6.jpg?width=632&height=354&name=DR-_group_of_kids_teachers_at_school_cropped-6.jpg "DR-_group_of_kids_teachers_at_school_cropped-6.jpg") **Let's get you teaching next semester!** Can you see why going abroad with ILP can help you improve your resume, but also give you a leg up when it comes to your major? Yep — there are some pretty cool perks you get with a semester abroad in [one of our countries](https://www.ilp.org/countries/) ... plus, you'll also get time to travel around and vacation in some pretty dreamy countries.  Ready for all of that? Come fill out an application! [![Start My Application!](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/171614/8880dc97-96d4-495d-948f-c51b19841100.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/171614/8880dc97-96d4-495d-948f-c51b19841100) Topics: [Tips For Your Twenties](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/tips-for-your-twenties) ## **[Hey friends!](https://blog.ilp.org/)** We are ILP, a Utah-based non-profit org that has service abroad opportunities for college-age volunteers. We love travel so we're sharing all our tips for making the most of your time living abroad + seeing the world, and how to do it all on the tiniest budget. This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Find It Here - [Africa (49)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/africa) - [All About ILP + Volunteering (129)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/all-about-ilp-volunteering) - [All The Travel Tips (104)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/all-the-travel-tips) - [Asia (108)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/asia) - [Caribbean (60)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/caribbean) - [Central America (173)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/central-america) - [Europe (234)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/europe) - [For The Parents (22)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/for-the-parents) - [Get Ready For Your ILP Trip (74)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/get-ready-for-your-ilp-trip) - [LDS (32)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/lds) - [Orphanage + Humanitarian (11)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/orphanage-humanitarian) - [Saving Money + Fundraising (46)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/saving-money-fundraising) - [South America (8)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/south-america) - [South Pacific (18)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/south-pacific) - [Teaching With ILP (24)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/teaching-with-ilp) - [Tips For Your Twenties (68)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/tips-for-your-twenties) - [Vanuatu (1)](https://blog.ilp.org/topic/vanuatu) ### Need More Travel Tips + Volunteering Updates? ### Popular Posts ## International Language Programs - 508 E 800 N #3D - Orem, UT 84097 - Phone: (801) 374-8854 - Fax: (801) 374-8943 ##### quick links - [Fundraising Guide](https://web.ilp.org/affording-a-semester-abroad-guide) - [FAQ](https://ilp.org/faq/?__hstc=45788219.a6962338a3fed525d31f8f875facbdaa.1694466069544.1694466069544.1694466069544.1&__hssc=45788219.1.1694466069544&__hsfp=1538425095) - [The Blog](https://blog.ilp.org/) - [Office Hours](https://ilp.org/office-holidays/) - [Login to My.ilp](http://my.ilp.org) - [Payments](https://www.billandpay.com/web/login.php?m=19502&framed=1) - [Newsletter](https://web.ilp.org/adventure-updates-signup) - [Shop](https://store.ilp.org/) [![start-here-400x518](https://171614.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/171614/hubfs/start-here-400x518.png?width=1200&length=1200&name=start-here-400x518.png) ](https://blog.ilp.org/considering-volunteering-with-ilp-start-here) [![people-at-the-beach](https://171614.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/171614/hubfs/people-at-the-beach.jpg?width=1200&length=1200&name=people-at-the-beach.jpg) ](https://blog.ilp.org/when-should-i-apply-if-i-want-to-go-to-) [![fundraising-400x518](https://171614.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/171614/hubfs/fundraising-400x518.png?width=1200&length=1200&name=fundraising-400x518.png) ](https://blog.ilp.org/all-about-fundraising) [![two-women-in-a-city](https://171614.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/171614/hubfs/two-women-in-a-city.jpg?width=1200&length=1200&name=two-women-in-a-city.jpg) ](https://blog.ilp.org/can-i-volunteer-abroad-with-my-friend) [![group-photo-outdoors](https://171614.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/171614/hubfs/group-photo-outdoors.jpg?width=1200&length=1200&name=group-photo-outdoors.jpg) ](https://blog.ilp.org/7-semesters-abroad-for-the-price-of-1) [![person-at-the-beach](https://171614.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/171614/hubfs/person-at-the-beach.png?width=1200&length=1200&name=person-at-the-beach.png) ](https://blog.ilp.org/see-what-ilp-volunteers-are-actually-up-to-on-this-instagram-account)