Travellers voluntary projects overseas for gap years, career breakers, grownup gappers, mature gappers and retired people.

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TEACHING PROJECTS

You don't need any qualifications to participate in a teaching placement in India. This is a totally FLEXIBLE programme tailored to suit you!

All our schools are set in and around the small town of Madurai and nearly all have basic facilities (including some general teaching aids and equipment). Sports fields for football and cricket are common. Some of the schools that we work with are very poor and lack facilities. You are sure to gain memories of your placement that will last a lifetime.

"I am alive and well and back at home! Had a wonderful time and am missing the food and weather already. The principal, the teachers, and indeed everybody ... went out of their way to make me feel welcome. Thanks again for arranging such an excellent trip, hopefully it won't be the last (I quite fancy Sri Lanka next)." Paul White

ABOUT THE PROJECT:
You'll work in either primary or secondary Schools and you will normally help out with all age groups. We provide you with a Teaching Guide and suggestions on inexpensive resources to take with you (e.g. cassettes, magazines, etc., which are very popular with Indian children).
The school Principal will discuss your teaching programme with you before you start and will try to incorporate your own interests and specialities into your teaching schedule. Both staff and children genuinely appreciate your help.

You'll generally be asked to help out with any age groups, and you are, in fact, very likely to be in popular demand everywhere - in and out of the classroom.  Children and teachers alike will be quite alarmingly polite at first but they will relax after a few days.  Also, you will probably be introduced to classes with great flourishes of flowery language but - don't worry - everyone soon comes down to earth!  It is an important opportunity to receive direct help with conversational English, which is taken very seriously.

You don't need any qualifications to participate in a teaching placement in India. Before you go - you can enroll in a 1-day intensive open teacher training course (optional) to help you teach if you have no previous experience.

Indians are very friendly and hospitable and you'll be overwhelmed with invitations to people's homes and on sightseeing trips (see some ex-volunteers' stories - they're amazing!).  

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS IN THE SOUTH OF INDIA (APPROX):

  • 15th March to 1st April
  • Summer Holiday: 25th April to 4th June
  • Winter Holiday: 21st December to 3rd January

During the school holidays, we hold classes for about 60 to 80 children in Summer Camps. These are informal classes where you can use your imagination to get your English learning across - in drama lessons, music or sports. Because Summer camps take place during the holiday period, you have a greater freedom in how you conduct your classes! 

On this page:

  .   .

Voluntary projects in Madurai in the south of India

Return to the India Home Page and
the list of all our projects in India

TEACHING ARTS, DRAMA, MUSIC AND OTHER SUBJECTS IN SOUTH INDIA:

If you have some know-how, some initiative and lots of enthusiasm, you can also get involved with teaching Drama, Music, Dance or Arts and Crafts lessons. If you enjoy being creative, then you can share your talents and enthusiasm at the various schools we work with. Teaching Arts subjects is an excellent way of engaging children’s imaginations and encourages them to communicate with few constraints. What’s more, it is very satisfying to watch their confidence grow as they learn and develop new skills.

 

At some of our schools in our other destinations, volunteers and pupils together have produced plays and concerts, and performances have been put on in the evenings for parents, students and visitors. Because the schools are poor, the volunteers and children have had to be very creative in putting together costumes and sets – but all productions have been a resounding success! Volunteers have found that producing short plays written by the children that address local social issues has been a successful means in educating the children on issues such as AIDS awareness, cultural relationships, peer pressures, and bullying. It gives the children an informal forum and a means of sharing their concerns and learning to deal with issues.

 

You can either teach one or more of these subjects for the whole of your placement, or you can combine one of or all of these subjects with teaching conversational English. Please email or call us (+44 (0)1903 502595) for more details – we will certainly be able to find a way to utilise your talents, ensuring a fulfilling placement for both yourself and your students.

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ACCOMMODATION

You will most likely share a Travellers house with other volunteers and you may share a room with up to 3 other volunteers.  The house is very nice, with marbled tiled floors, verandas back and front and a rooftop patio/garden. It has mod cons and facilities, including some en-suite bathrooms, showers and Western toilets. There is a communal lounge with TV.

Food: Your food will be prepared for you, but there may be occasional days when you'll need to prepare your own meals (on the cook's day off, for example). Food is a mixture of Western and local meals and includes fruit, fruit juice, etc. You'll also have access to the kitchen if you want to make snacks or drinks.

It is possible that you may be assigned to guest house accommodation, or live with a host family, or possibly live on the school premises, usually in a fairly basic but clean and comfortable room with bathroom attached. It depends on how many volunteers are there at the same time as you, where you're placed and with which school. Wherever, you live, you will be well looked after. 

Often our Volunteers arrive to be greeted by the children with drawings and banners shouting welcome. More than one Volunteer has been so overwhelmed that they've burst into tears!  Schools and families have in the past taken our Volunteers on trips to show them the sights. They love to meet you and socialise with you. One volunteer in Dehra Dun was invited to 60 (yes, 60!) homes. You'll be popular!

"It's so nice that I've had the opportunity to really live in a place and feel that I know it and have a base. I've grown quite attached! You know, like the little routines, the corner shop where I buy my Sprite, the Internet, the auto driver I get back from the pool everyday and I don't even need to tell him where to go or ask the price .... I think that is something very special and something I'm so pleased I did during my gap-year. I can be a poor tourist backpacker whenever I want to, but to live somewhere is quite different." Caroline Lever

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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 Ltd., ATOL No. 6856. (Read more about Murray Rogers Travel Ltd.)
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.
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. We meet you at the airport regardless of whether you make your own travel arrangements or not.

You will fly into Madurai where you will be met by a representative from our India office. You'll be taken to your accommodation, and your school and introduced to everyone.

VISAS:. We'll send you all the necessary forms and information and make the process very easy for you.

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!

PRICES:

To see the Prices of this project and all our other projects in India, please click here

Prices include
  • Food & accommodation while on your project,
  • 2 T-shirts, if required for your project
  • All support and backup during your programme
  • Meeting you at the nearest airport, where appropriate, but exclude international travel.

Return to the India Home Page and
the list of all our projects in India

TO APPLY FOR THIS PROJECT, PLEASE CLICK HERE

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Last modified: January 18, 2008