|
| |
|
TEACHING PROJECTS WITH UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN IN ACCRA
AN AFRICAN EXPERIENCE!
AKWAABA, Welcome to this beautiful
country and to our range of subjects that you can teach to disadvantaged
children who will bowl you over with their charm.
Teach English to children in schools. You
can also teach other subjects, such as Music, Sports and IT, which are
very popular with the children. You can teach for any length of time
from two weeks to three months or longer - the choice is yours.
There is lots of the good stuff in Ghana -
lots of overwhelming hospitality, friendliness, religions and languages.
There's also lots of music, dancing, action and socialising in Accra -
and lots and lots of glorious open African country and sunshine!
|
►SUMMARY
FACTFILE |
| Start Dates |
All year round - you choose your
start and finish dates! |
|
Duration |
2 weeks to 1 year, subject to visa
requirements |
| Requirements |
Minimum age 17, no qualifications necessary
(just a good dose of enthusiasm!). If you're teaching English, you
must be fluent in the language. |
|
Price |
£795 / US$1,195 for 2 weeks, ranging to £1,795
/ US$2,695 for 12 weeks.
Full Price List and other
Currencies |
| What's included |
►Accommodation
►Food
►Meeting you at
the Airport
►Transfer to your accommodation
►Transport to and from your project
►Full
pre-departure support
►Local in-country team support and backup
►24-hr emergency
support
►Two free T-shirts. |
|
What's not included |
Flights, Insurance, Cost of Visas (if a
visa is required, but we'll provide necessary documents and assistance),
Return transfer to
airport. |
|
Who can do this Project? |
All projects are
open to all nationalities.
Unless otherwise stated, you need to be aged between 17 and 70+ |
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The schools
that we work with are a mixture of primary and secondary. You will
generally be asked to help out with any age groups, although where
possible we will try to keep you to your preferred age range. You are
very likely to be in popular demand everywhere - in and out of the
classroom.
Teaching the children in
Ghana is very satisfying, as it is in most African countries, because the
children actually do want to learn! We asked a volunteer in Ghana "What do you
feel you gained from doing this project?" and she answered: "Blimey, where do
I start! Social skills, communications skills, greater initiative, leadership
skills, planning skills (for lessons and travelling at weekends), patience,
confidence, cultural knowledge to name just a few! It is impossible to write how
priceless it is to do this kind of placement and the amount of knowledge and
experience it provides"
Your teaching hours can vary from 20 – 35 hours per week,
to children of a range of ages 5-15. Although English is the official
language, a multitude of African tribal languages are spoken such as Ewe
and Ga.
Your help is very much appreciated and schools will usually embrace the
volunteers whole heartily. Before you leave, you'll be provided with a
mountain of information on just about everything to do with Ghana and
your placement, including a Teaching Guide to help you to structure your
lessons.
Our Ghana Manager and his team will look after you well. You'll get lots
of advice about the do's and don’ts of Ghanaian culture, what to do and
where to go.
"I am beginning to get used to the lifestyle here,
I even got a tro-tro on my own yesterday! I have tried a few of the foods here
and I'm loving the fresh fruit on the streets. I worked at the orphanage today -
I worked in the nursery bit which was an experience. Not having dealt with young
children before, I found it a challenge feeding and washing them, but they were
so sweet and put a smile on my face".
WHAT YOU'LL GAIN FROM DOING THIS PROJECT:
The enormous satisfaction of helping disadvantaged children and
knowing that you made a difference to them.
New skills, more confidence, a greater understanding
of a different culture, invaluable personal and professional
development.
An entry on your CV or résumé that will put you head
and shoulders above most others in the job market
And best of all ... an unforgettable experience!
SCHOOL TERMS AND HOLIDAYS 2010:
Teaching is not
available during school holidays, so if you're
planning to participate in a placement, please take the school
term dates
into account when planning the timing of your project. During the school
holidays Travellers run a Summer Camp for the children to give them
something to do and a place to go that provides them with food and keeps
them off the street.
Find out more details here. On
the other hand, if a holiday falls during your
proposed placement, you could use this time to do any independent
travelling and sightseeing.
-
Term 1: 12th Jan – 15th April
-
Term 2: 11th May – 29th July
-
Term From 30th Sept – Still to be confirmed
Teaching is not available during
school holidays, so if you're planning to participate in a
placement, please take the above school term dates
into account when planning the timing of your project. On the other hand, if
a holiday falls during your proposed placement, you
could use this time to do any independent travelling
and sightseeing.
REQUIREMENTS:
You don't need any qualifications, but you should have a good
knowledge of the subject you want to teach. Self-reliance, independence
and initiative are highly appreciated and a sense of humour when the
electricity fails, or buses don't turn up, will help you to make the
most of this wonderful opportunity!
Like all our destination countries, the culture in Ghana is different to
what you're used to. For example, the people are exceptionally friendly
and helpful, with big smiles and a relaxed attitude. On the other hand,
the living standard falls short of UK or Western standards. And
African time is when someone says, "See you at 10.a.m.," - what he
really means is, "I'll see you sometime tomorrow"! And then he may not
turn up at all!
The pace of life is slower and more relaxed. This must be in mind and
you are naturally expected to live within local cultural rules. But
you'll quickly get involved in the daily life of the local people and
pretty soon you'll feel completely at home - Ghana has that effect on
you!
If you're a little unsure about the idea of
standing in front of a class and teaching, you can, before you leave,
enrol in our weekend TEFL courses.
(www.tefltime.com)
to help you teach if you have no previous experience and would like to
gain a little teaching knowledge.
|
|
|
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 |
TEACHING MUSIC IN GHANA
|
|
Volunteers are sorely needed to teach music! Although music is extremely popular
amongst the children at the schools, it has been dropped from many schools due
to lack of funding.
Therefore, as you can imagine, giving the school (and the children) free access
to music teaching is a very welcome addition to the school and frequently will
be the only access to formal music teaching that the children will get.
We
have one school we work with in Accra. The children are friendly - they have no
hesitation and 'helping' you on the keyboard or dancing to any music that's
being produced.
You
don't have to have qualifications - if you can play any type of instrument,
you’ll be very welcome.
You
will teach music either at a primary or junior school. Although you will be
mainly teaching music, you may also assist with other classes. You will
generally be asked to help out with any age groups, although where possible we
will try to keep you to your preferred age range. You are, in fact, very likely
to be in popular demand everywhere - in and out of the classroom.
The
schools regularly embrace Travellers' volunteers whole heartily. Your efforts
help not only the children, but also the school. You'll also derive a lot of
pleasure from teaching music to these children, because Africans (as a rule)
have music in their soul.
“I was teaching [Music and English] for 3 months but extended my stay by
an extra 3 weeks as I just couldn't say goodbye! It was so rewarding and I am
definitely considering teaching in the future … The kids had so much energy
which was really encouraging but made teaching very energetic! I was only meant
to teach about 20 hours a week but loved it so much I was there 8.30-3.30
everyday although this made me very exhausted! It was an amazing experience and
I cannot wait to go back! hope you are well." Emily |
|
|
|
TEACHING IT AND COMPUTERS IN GHANA:
|
|
Ghana's capital city has plenty of internet
cafes and IT skills are becoming more and more vital to employment in this
developing country. You may not be an IT expert, but in Western countries we
are so used to working with computers that many of us take for granted how
advanced our IT skills are.
If you have regular access to a computer you are among a small percentage of
the world's population who are incredibly fortunate - so use this
opportunity to share your skills! You will be amazed just how much you know
and can pass on to your eager students!
Some of the schools we work with in Ghana feel lucky to have computers to
enable the children to learn IT.
You may find yourself teaching packages such as: Word, Excel, Access,
Office, Power point or Paint. Alternatively, you may help some of your
students improve their typing skills. Our volunteers have made a tremendous
positive impact in the schools.
A Travellers volunteer, Oliver Blackwell,
had knowledge of web design and was able to design an excellent website with his
students ( www.mat-michael.com).
He also featured volunteer Maria Boznakova
from Slovakia. She was not comfortable about teaching English as it was her second
language, so she chose this placement instead and earned the title
"Undisputed Queen of Excel" - thank
you again, Maria, for your time and commitment.
"A big thank you for sorting everything out for
what turned out to be an awesome 5 weeks. I feel I really hit the jackpot
with the family, the computer school, and the other volunteers (and not
forgetting Aloysius!)
I was reading a few of the articles on your
website from other volunteers and one guy commented that everyone should do
at least one "volunteer experience" in a developing country. Nicely put, I
couldn’t agree more, and I will be recommending them/you to anybody who is
thinking about doing this sort of thing".
If you fancy doing something a little different from teaching English but
still want teach in area where you will be making a positive contribution,
why not Teach IT in Ghana! |
Back to Top |
|
ACCOMMODATION |
Your accommodation will
vary, depending on your work location. You will either be staying in a family
run hostel or with a host family. The hostel is a comfortable guest house
accommodation, with 11 rooms, the owners are very friendly and they are Ghanian
so you can still experience the culture. Alternatively you may be staying with a
host family. This means that you get to eat, sleep, work, socialise and
generally live like a Ghanaian. Local family stays enable you to fully
experience the local culture from the inside.
Many of our volunteers remain friends with their host families long after they
leave Ghana and in some cases they return to the country later especially to
visit their family. Sometimes members of their Ghanaian family have even gone to
visit them in their home country.
"My family - Lizzie and Prince are
lovely. The children are very sweet, and I feel extremely lucky to have
been placed with them. The house is of a Western standard in most ways,
and Lizzie's cooking is excellent. I feel a part of their family already." Food will be
local cuisine - again this is to enable you to fully experience living as local
Ghanaians do. Read about what it's like to live in Ghana |
Caroline on the left, Susannah on the right,
standing on the front veranda of their
accommodation
with Caroline’s host, Lizzie |
| TRAVEL: |
|
You have the option to arrange your
own flights or we can assist you with your flight arrangements. If you would
like us to do this for you, we will liaise with you regarding available flights
and dates to suit you. All arrangements for your flight bookings/payments will
be fulfilled by Murray Rogers Travel Limited, ATOL No. 6856.
Where possible, we arrange for two or more people to travel on the
same flight and we will let you have the names and telephone numbers of other
volunteers on your flight, so that you can chat to each other or even meet up
before leaving for your placement.
You'll fly into Accra where you'll be met by our Ghana Manager, or one of his staff. From the
airport you'll be taken to your work and your accommodation and introduced to your
hosts. You'd be well advised to prepare yourself
for an almost overwhelmingly friendly welcome!
VISAS:
Visas are required and must be purchased before departure. We'll liaise with you
about your visa requirements, if any, and make the Visa process very easy.
Where possible, all flights we arrange for you have changeable return tickets because many of our
volunteers choose to extend their stay once they are in their destination
country.
Changeable return tickets enable you to do so, within the limits of your visa
and the level of your air ticket,
of course. If you choose to book your own flights, you should endeavour to get
a changeable ticket.
To read about the excellent Support
& Backup we provide before you leave and during
your programme,
please click here.
We can also arrange your flight
dates
to give you additional time at the end of your project for travelling around and sightseeing - this is a
fascinating and wondrous country!
 |
|
|
.
