Help Javon become a Teacher in Spain

Hello everyone, my name is Javon Johnson and two weeks ago I received an acceptance letter to teach English to Spanish students in Spain! Ever since I found a love for languages in 2012 during my sophomore year at Temple University, I knew that I wanted to travel and teach. With this drive, I attended graduate school at LaSalle University and received my Master’s in Education in 2020 with a concentration in Spanish Prek-12. My long-term goal is to be a head Spanish and English teacher in a Spanish Speaking country for a few years. Afterwards, I will move back to the United States and apply the new teaching methods and cultural knowledge in my Spanish classroom, where I teach Spanish to English-speaking students. I would love to share my experiences with my urban city students in Philadelphia of what it means to live as a Spaniard, speak Spanish with a Castilian dialect, follow their traditions, and to teach Spanish students English, so that they too can find an appreciation for another language, culture and people. Of the five years that I have been teaching Spanish, I only had a few students who have travelled farther than New York. I would like to provide my urban city students with an outside experience that they can learn from and enjoy.

I will be traveling to Murcia, Spain on September 18, 2021 so that I can find housing, get familiar with my neighborhood, transportation system and traveling to the schools that I will be working at, as I get ready for teaching. I will begin teaching on October 1st, but I will not receive my first paycheck until November 1st as it custom in Europe to get paid once a month. Therefore, I will need money the first month to pay bills, buy food and purchase house amenities. This is an experience of a lifetime, and I am so excited to embark on this new journey as a Language and Culture Assistant! However, the costs of plane tickets, housing, food, other house amenities, and transportation hinder me from living in Spain. Being that the spread of Covid is lessening and many companies and businesses are reopening, plane tickets are extremely high. A round trip ticket from Philadelphia to Spain is between $2,000 - $2,400 which is very costly. In addition, to begin living in an apartment, I have to pay first and last month’s rent along with a deposit to start the lease, which could range between $1,200 – $1,600. Also, in the process of looking for an apartment, I will need to stay in a hotel and buy food which could cost up to $850 if I do not find an apartment within a week. Concerning food for September and October in the apartment, house amenities and transportation, the costs could average around $400 - $600. The total cost that I would need for this trip averages between $4,550 – $5,500. Already teachers are not paid much money and trying to raise this money on my own is a struggle. Now that Covid is coming close to an end in some countries such as Murcia, Spain, teachers will have to work twice as hard to catch up the students who fell behind learning online for that last school year and a half, with the same low pay. This is not easy and that’s why I need your help.

Please support me and donate to my GoFundMe page so that I may fulfill my dream in teaching English in Spain and learning the culture! Any amount of donation would help. I appreciate anything! Thank you.