USEF Nepal

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships (FET) Program

PHOTO: Fulbright English Teachers having with their students.

The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Grant provides participants the opportunity to assist in the teaching of English in rural Nepali government schools and immerse in the local culture through village and the home stays. The Nepal Fulbright FET program seeks applicants who are able to be flexible while functioning in an under-resourced school environment and who are eager to immerse in local culture.

English Teaching Assistants arrive in February/March to participate in an orientation that will include Nepali language training and technical training for one month prior to their placements with English teachers in Nepali government schools. FETs will be working in their respective schools from April through January.

FETs are articulate and flexible graduating seniors, recent graduates or Master’s students who demonstrate a high level of maturity, an excitement about cultural immersion in Nepal, and the initiative to assist English teachers at the elementary, or lower or higher secondary level.

All living arrangements for FETs are in village home stays with Nepali families, and school placements are in rural Nepali government schools with Nepali counterpart teachers, candidates must possess an excitement about cultural interactions in Nepal. Candidates must be native English-speakers and without dependents.

Candidates with degrees in English, Education, or TEFL/applied linguistics, Anthropology, Asian Studies are preferred, but candidates from all majors are welcome to apply. Previous teaching/tutoring experience is preferred. Facilities in most Nepali public schools are extremely basic, especially so in rural schools where FETs work; therefore, applicants must demonstrate flexibility, resourcefulness, and the ability to adapt well. A sense of humor goes a long way.

PHOTO: Fulbright English Teaching Assistants with Fulbright Researcher Olivia Molden and Executive Director Tom Robertson at the Patan Museum after a tour of Olivia’s research sites in Patan.

Accepted Degree Levels

Bachelor's and Master's

Placement Type

Elementary School

Middle School

Secondary School

School placements are in rural Nepali government schools with Nepali counterpart teachers. Some hiking will be involved.

Nepal FETs assist English teachers, providing a native-speaker’s presence in their placements at rural Nepali government schools, where the need for English language support is the highest. They are placed with co-teachers and have local focal persons who provide local-level support and suggest non-school-based English language activities. Nepal FETs in the past have engaged in a broad range of creative school-based and community-based activities which have included students, school teachers, NGOs and others.

The Nepali academic calendar is quite different from the American academic calendar and there are extended periods of school closure in October/November and December. FETs take any personal vacation time during the Dashain or winter school vacation periods and The Commission assists FETs in planning activities for other periods of extended school closure.

Housing

Housing arrangements will be made with the assistance of the Fulbright Commission, the host schools, and the NELTA focal persons. All FETs are placed in homestays for the length of the grant period and the homestays are an important feature of the Nepal FET program, providing opportunities for cultural immersion and language learning, otherwise difficult to achieve.

Dependents

Dependent support is not available

For grantee profiles, see

2018-2019 English Teaching Assistants Grantees

2017-2018 English Teaching Assistants Grantees

2016-2017 English Teaching Assistants Grantees