Role of the volunteer
On Koh Tao Island in Thailand, volunteers support the local teacher in classes of all ages to teach English from Monday – Friday. Your time at the school will vary between two to four hours daily in primary grades one to six (children aged 6 to 12) and you will also spend three hours a week in nursery, helping children aged 3 to 5 years old.
The project requires a lot of hard work and preparation outside of school hours, as well as the actual teaching but is an incredibly rewarding project to be a part of. Your role outside of your teaching hours will be to compile lesson plans, research teaching materials and new activities, to constantly improve your lessons and obtain the best results from the students as well as spending time getting hands on with helping the kids to participate in environmental and community activities along side the other volunteers.
In Vietnam, the focus for most volunteers is on the children. In particular volunteers are needed to run English classes, giving an opportunity for the children to improve their spoken language in particular. Volunteers will be assigned a class in which they will attend for the full placement and assist the children with teaching English, playing sports games and creating craft activities. During the day, volunteers can assist the staff with cleaning, food preparation, and teaching for about 40 children who stay at the orphanage and do not going to school but learn various trades such as sewing and carpentry. In the nursery, help is also needed playing an interacting with the small babies each day.
In the Philippines, your role in the school involves teaching English using formal methods from textbooks, plus class conversation, group work, activities and games. You will also have a chance to get involved in other subject areas, such as music, arts or drama classes, or coaching/organising sports. Updating teaching resources, improving the English of the current teachers, and helping children with homework are some extra roles of volunteer English teachers.
Skills Required
In Thailand, at present, the children study grammar, writing, reading and conversational English so prior knowledge in these areas will be very beneficial. To avoid loss of focus and create interest in learning English, the teachers make part of the lessons interactive, so the kids get to do fun activities like playing educational games, singing, rhyming, drawing and painting, as well as environmental lessons to keep the kids aware and interested in conservation and be active in preserving Koh Tao. You will be an integral part of each of these activities as well as brining your own personal slant to the lessons with your own lesson plans so prior teaching and community experience is needed.
This project is for committed volunteers who are willing to spend time and energy giving back to the community while increasing the future prospects for the children of Koh Tao.
Volunteers on this project need to be fluent in English, and while they don’t necessarily need to be native speakers, they should have good conversational abilities as well as a solid background with children and/or teaching.
In Vietnam, volunteers need real vigour and enthusiasm to bring life and fresh experiences to the children. Feeding, bathing and changing diapers will be required, as is simply spending time, having fun and being patient with the kids. No specific skills are required but any experience of working with children in any capacity is always an advantage.
In the Philippines, competency in speaking English is the main requirement. An ability to inspire and energize the children from a native English-speaking perspective is fantastic, as the children get really engaged and they love being taught by a foreign English speaker. It's important for volunteers to have patience, be resourceful (as rural schools are quite under-funded) and motivated to really help the kids and teachers improve their English through new ideas and techniques.
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