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!
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.
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
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.
.
+44 01903 502595
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