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TEACHING IN JA-ELA

TEACH IN SRI LANKA FROM 2 WEEKS TO 6 MONTHS. Sri Lanka is an exotic island, famous for its 1,600 kilometres of unspoilt, golden beaches and diverse climate zones. It is a wondrous island, with flora and fauna to match - the proverbial paradise island! Sri Lankans are very friendly, hospitable and welcoming, if somewhat laidback and in no-rush mode to get things done!

Our largest teaching programme runs in JA-ELA, on the western side of Sri Lanka midway between Colombo and the popular Indian Ocean resort of Negombo. You'll work with children and adults who benefit enormously from your help! Our volunteers have helped to improve significant sections of the local community schools, enabling more children to have access to education. Our schools are for the poorer children and the underprivileged section of the community and you can teach a range of subjects - anything that you have a reasonable knowledge in.

You don't need any qualifications to do this teaching project and you can combine it with any other project in Sri Lanka to give you a more diverse experience of the adventurous country.

On this page:

Our schools are for the poorer children and the underprivileged section of the community.  We have on-going donation projects in the community and we also provide funding for uniforms, books, play areas, meals, sports equipment, etc. Our long-term goal is to try to raise the standards for the poorer schools and children.

The extra teaching you provide will help to give them added opportunities in the future.

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About Sri Lanka and the teaching, work excperience and conservation voluntary projects you can do there with Travellers
Teaching on a voluntary project in Sri Lanka

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

WORKING IN SRI LANKA:
In Sri Lanka, you'll have the opportunity to teach at a variety of local schools. You may also give lessons in a local orphanage. All of them are in desperate need of help.   Download and print additional
information on this project
 
in .pdf format
 in Word format
The schools we help cater for the poorer and underprivileged children.
The schools have about 400 to 500 pupils aged 5 to 16 years old, with approx. 35 per class.  Their English is generally poor and we will be helping all age groups, from 6 to 18 years old.

Volunteers may also have the chance to help out at CECO – a UK run computer training school set up by Fergus Kane, a previous volunteer who subsequently joined Travellers' UK office, to give a helping hand to adults and school leavers in Ja-Ela.   

Sri Lanka Education Background: As a result of an ill considered change in the education system in the previous generation, the standard of English teaching in Sri Lanka has dropped dramatically.  Despite this, a good level of English is of the utmost importance for jobseekers – thus the poor of Sri Lanka are placed at a severe disadvantage when compared to more privileged children. Travellers volunteers can make a real difference to the lives of the children and adults they teach.

School Holidays: Dates vary each year but the months of April, August and December are generally taken up with School Holidays. Our volunteers usually use this time to travel around and explore the island. If a holiday falls during your placement, you can take off and explore and then return after the holiday to complete your programme.

Our organiser will be available to help you with advice on any aspect of your stay and to liaise with the Head Teacher on any points you may raise. 

  • Before you go - you can enroll in a 1-day intensive open teacher training day (optional) to help you teach if you have no previous experience and would like to gain a little teaching knowledge.

  • You can combine a two-month teaching placement with one-month at the Elephant Orphanage. This is very popular so reserve your placement very early to avoid disappointment.

  • Read volunteers' feedback on this project

"Just wanted to drop you a line as my project in Sri Lanka comes to end to tell you that I have had the best time of my life and the project has been amazing, both the teaching and the elephant orphanage. It has been a truly amazing experience."  David Constable

"Like most others I have fallen in love with Sri Lanka! Teaching and staying in the Ja-ela house was really good. I went back there at the weekend and it was so nice to see everyone again; Roshan, the house boys and tuk tuk drivers are soo much fun."  Jennifer Rowe

Volunteers at the local orphanage, Sri Lanka

LIVING IN SRI LANKA
We cannot BEGIN to tell you how beautiful this paradise island is! Nor how cheap to live and get around.  It is almost too good to be true! But it is true. 

There is an abundance of fascinating places to visit. From towering Pagodas, Hindu temples and ancient fortresses to holy rivers and sacred mountains, Sri Lanka is blessed with a sense of deep spirituality and history.  The local people are extremely welcoming and friendly, especially in the rural areas. The tea plantations are a must, the lace making, monuments and architectural splendours,  etc., but the most appealing is the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela. Not to be missed!  It's an emotive sight that will send you away with memories you'll never forget!

Accommodation:

Travellers has a traditional Sri Lankan house in Ja-Ela. It has marble floors and 13 bathrooms! It is spacious and comfortable, with a garden, several balconies, two lounge rooms and many bedrooms. You will most likely share a room with other Travellers volunteers. There is a TV and DVD player for evening entertainment, in the upstairs lounge area and with the latest DVD copies just a pound to buy locally, there is usually something to watch!

A chief will cook all your meals and we have other staff at the house 24 hours a day for cleaning, assistance, security and comfort.

Teaching, Work Experience and the Colombo Zoo placements are all based in Ja-Ela and so the house is often full and offers a lively, sociable atmosphere – there is usually no shortage of friends to spend weekends at the beach with! Ja-Ela volunteers also have the advantage of easy access to Colombo’s facilities, major bus stations and also the Airport Gardens Hotel - a luxury hotel which offers facilities that include a fantastic swimming pool. The hotel is only a short trip away from the volunteer house: perfect for those lazy afternoons!

There is a local live-in cook at the Travellers house who will prepare your breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, throughout the week. The food is usually local cuisine which means lots of curry, rice and salads. Whether a curry fan or not, you will be by the time you return as Sri Lankan food is delicious! You can buy snacks and treats, including a growing variety of Western tastes (chocolate!) from the local store. There is also a KFC in Ja-Ela for those who need a fix of home.

The area of Ja-Ela is an industrialised town and although it is not one of the paradise beauty spots, it's a good point at which to start your exploration of the island's many beaches and beautiful inland resorts.

"I just wanted to let you know, that I had the time of my life in Sri Lanka. It was FANTASTIC, I wish the entire experience had never had to end. I would just like to say thank you to your team of organisers for organising the spectacular trip. And also a big thank you to Roshan, Shivani ... and all the boys at the house for making my stay very welcoming and memorable. I miss them all very much. And I will definitely want to return and pay them a visit." Rajni Kanda

Travellers Volunteers in local dress, Sri Lanka

 

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.
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!

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.

We meet you at the airport regardless of whether you make your own travel arrangements or not. You will fly into Sri Lanka where you'll be met at Colombo Airport by our Sri Lanka Manager, Roshan Perera, or a member of his staff, and taken to your placement.

Roshan will make you feel welcome from the first moment you meet; he is a delightful person, laid back yet extremely efficient, and has become a friend-for-life to many of our volunteers!

VISAS:. You don't need a visa for your first month in Sri Lanka and our local manager will arrange for a visa for the rest of your stay - we make the process very easy for you.

To read about the extensive Support & Backup we provide in our countries, please click here.


Roshan at the Zoo!

Volunteer Carina Rogers with two of her students at St Josephs School, Sri Lanka

SRI LANKA ON THE INTERNET:
An excellent (but rather slow!) web site which contains anything and everything you could possibly want to know about Sri Lanka is: http://www.srilankatourism.org/

Climate: In the lowlands the climate is typically tropical with an average temperature of 27OC in Colombo. In the higher elevations it can be quite cool with temperatures going down to 16OC at an altitude of nearly 2,000 metres. Bright, sunny warm days are the rule and are common even during the height of the monsoon - climatically Sri Lanka has no off-season. 

"I'd just like to say that the Travellers teaching placement in Sri Lanka was brilliant, couldn't fault it at all. Doing the placement was the best decision I ever made, it was absolutely fantastic and I was pretty sad when I finished. Met some really nice people too." Gemma Leonard

Read a funny story about Sri Lankan Cows and classrooms by Richard Anderson.

PRICES

To see the Prices of this project and all our other projects in Sri Lanka, 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 Sri Lanka Home Page and
the list of all our projects in Sri Lanka

TO APPLY FOR THIS PROJECT, PLEASE CLICK HERE

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Last modified: April 24, 2008