Find out about study abroad destinations, internships, and English language assistant opportunities available to Modern Language students (French, German, Spanish and Portuguese).

Discover the range of institutions you can study abroad at on our Modern Languages destination webpage. 

How does it work?

Modern Languages students can choose to spend one or both semesters completing an internship, or internships (one per semester), in a French, German, Portuguese, or Spanish speaking environment during their compulsory year abroad. This includes students studying Modern Languages and Management and students on other Joint Honours programmes, including students studying more than one language. The language(s) of the internship(s) must correspond to the language(s) students are studying at King's.

Modern Languages students may complete one semester at a university or complete an English Language Assistantship (please check the English Language Assistantship appropriate to you is an option for one semester only) and one semester completing an internship. Students who want to work for the full year can do one full-year internship or two semester-long internships.

Students undertaking full-time studies as part of an integrated year abroad are not advised to undertake full-time internships parallel to their studies.

Internships must:

1. Be in an environment where the language of the workplace is the target language and in a country where the target language is the common/official language. For example, an English-speaking business in Spain would not be accepted (this excludes English language teaching roles). A country where more than two languages are officially spoken (e.g., Canada, Belgium, Switzerland) is acceptable only if the placement is in a region where the target language is the majority language.

2. Be guaranteed a secure working environment, so that the employer has requisite local accreditations. Employers must also provide liability and public liability insurance of up to a limit of at least £5 million - if they do not they will need to provide a justifiable reason that will be considered by King's. It is your responsibility to confirm this with you employer in advance of accepting any offer.

3. Be completed on a full-time basis. Semester-long internships must last a minimum of three months and full-year internships must last a minimum of six months. Your working hours per week should not exceed 37.5 hours.

4. Coincide, as far as possible, with term dates at King's. For example, you would not be able to take up a full-year internship that begins in February or March.

5. Be approved by the relevant Study Abroad tutor by submission of the Work Placement Approval form as soon as the internship is confirmed (please see the Internship Approval Process below).

6. Be supported by a King's Host Agreement prior to the start of the internship (please see information below).

7. Be supported by a training agreement which should be completed at the start of the appropriate semester (you will be prompted to complete this by Global Mobility).

8. Not have such a high workload that you are unable to complete the departmental assessment.

Internship approval process:

If students are considering completing an internship for all or part of their year abroad, they must:

1. Discuss their year abroad plans with their Study Abroad Tutor.

2. Complete their internal year abroad application (King's log in credentials required) by the stated deadline, selecting "work placement" as their first choice institution, then select three partner universities as second to fourth choice institutions. Please note: if you fail to find a work placement or it falls through for any reason, you are not guaranteed to be allocated to any of your selected universities.

Once students have found a relevant work placement, they must:

1. Seek approval from their Study Abroad Tutor for their proposed work placement. To do this students must complete the Work Placement Approval Form (will be available to download as a word document in due course) and submit it to Global Mobility via email by the deadlines below. Global Mobility will pass on the form to the relevant Study Abroad Tutor for approval.

• 1st of May 2025 for students completing a work placement abroad for the first semester or full academic year of 2025/2026 in order to receive approval by the 15th of May 2025.

• 1st October 2025 for students completing a work placement abroad for the second semester of 2025/2026 in order to receive approval by the 15th of October 2025.

  Students should notify the Global Mobility Office a month in advance of the deadlines each semester if they have not found a suitable opportunity.

2. After students have received approval, they will need to complete a King's Host Agreement. The process for which is as follows:

• Initiate a King's Host Agreement for Modern Language students during their year abroad on this online DocuSign form. Students must complete this specific form. If they complete another form it will not reach us and won't be accepted. If students are unsure, please email studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk.
• When initiating the document, students must include the details of the host employer, please check these details are correct as the form will be automatically be sent to that email address.
• Click 'begin signing' and complete all the required sections. These will be highlighted and students won't be able to submit the document until they have fully completed all the required sections. Once this has been done, submit the document and it will automatically be sent to the employer.
• Once the employer has completed their sections and submitted the document, it will be sent back to Global Mobility for us to review and sign. If everything is okay, we will approve it and sign, and the student will receive a copy which can be sent to the employer if necessary. If there are any issues with the Agreement, students will be contacted via email.
• Please note: it is the student's responsibility to confirm that the employer is happy to complete the King's Host Agreement. If they cannot complete it, students will need to find an alternative internship. King's cannot sign any equivalent external document in place of the Host Agreement. Students must also confirm that the employer has liability and public liability insurance.

Amendments to the internship period

• If a student or their employer decides to terminate their internship earlier than the original end date stated on the King's Host Agreement, this needs to be agreed with the student, the employer, the relevant Modern Languages Study Abroad Tutor and the Global Mobility team. In this case, the student must fill out the Early Termination form on DocuSign.
• If a student or their employer decides to amend the internship dates from the original dates stated on the King's Host Agreement, this needs to be agreed with the student,  the employer, the relevant Modern Languages Study Abroad Tutor and the Global Mobility team. In this case, the student must out the Date Amendment form on DocuSign.

For more information about the King's Host Agreement in general, please visit see our internship, placement or work opportunity webpage, but do not use the Host Agreement linked on that page. You must only use the Agreement link above. If you require a Host Agreement in French, you may initiate an additional French Host Agreement through Careers, but you must complete the English Modern Language version first.

After you have started your internship, you will be required to complete a Work Placement Learning Agreement which will need to be signed by your employer. We will prompt you about this.

Please contact studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk if you have any questions or concerns about anything relating to the Internships Abroad process.

On top of your independent research you may find the following useful:

• King's Careers & Employability for application support and their internship opportunities pages
• German speaking resources (external webpages)- UK German Connection, Zeit Online and German work-placement search engines; Meinpraktikum, UNICUM and Stepstone
• French speaking resources (external webpages)- L'Etudiant

Some of the organisations King's languages students have completed work placements at are listed below. It is the student's responsibility to independently research and apply to the work opportunities they are interested in.

• Trendy, Santiago (Chile)
• Montes Wines (Chile)
• Chamber of Commerce, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
• Museo del Juguete Antiguo, Mexico City
• United States Commercial Service (Peru)
• SDO Consulting (Portugal)
• Via Communicación , Madrid (Spain)
• Happy Erasmus, Valencia (Spain)
• Munich Re, Madrid (Spain)
• Amazon Spain, Madrid (Spain)
• Papernest, Barcelona (Spain)
• Yeah Erasmus, Salamanca (Spain)
• Let’s Click Idiomas , Marbella (Spain)

As an alternative to studying abroad, Modern Languages students studying French, German, Spanish and Portuguese may choose to spend their year abroad as a British Council English Language Assistant.

Students will have the opportunity to gain paid work experience in an overseas education institution whilst improving your language skills, being part of the community and discovering a new culture. Students should note that most English Language Assistantships (ELA) are for the duration of a full academic year.

Language Assistants work 12 - 20 hours per week in a school or university in Europe, Canada, or Latin America, supporting the teaching of English and the promotion of British culture. Final year and graduate students can additionally apply for a placement in China. Language Assistants will have an opportunity to give young people a fascinating insight into life in the UK, and learn from them at the same time.

Eligibility

This programme is managed by the British Council and is open to the following students who meet the scheme criteria:

• Most second year Modern Languages students studying French, German, Spanish and Portuguese with a compulsory year abroad
• Undergraduate and postgraduate level students in the final year of any degree
• Recent graduates

How to apply

The deadline to apply to be an ELA for the 2024/25 academic year has now ended. 

Find out more

Visit the British Council website for more information and contact the Global Mobility team via at studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk if you have any other questions.