TEACH CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS IN AUCKLAND

Teach at a school in the largest city in New Zealand, Auckland. You will be teaching at a school where the children are from underprivileged countries and communities. Many of the children come from different backgrounds and countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia and the South Pacific islands.

You will work as an assistant teacher, helping small groups of children in a variety of subjects. You may also be asked to work one-to-one with some of the children who particularly need help. This close interaction and undivided attention from you plays a very beneficial part in helping to raise their standards of education. This is a very worthwhile project that will give you lots of personal satisfaction.

Veronica van der Straaten, Deputy Principal, says: "2007 saw the start of our association with Travellers Worldwide. We had three volunteers work in our school, mainly listening to children read and assisting with our physical education and sports programmes. This year we have six volunteers for two months. At the start of the year with our busy swimming programme they have been welcomed with open arms. I cannot speak more highly of their commitment and dedication to our school and the children. They are making such a difference.'

"Annette was amazing, she made us feel so at home and was always there if we needed her. She went above and beyond, we all loved her" Amy Elizabeth Smiles – teaching in New Zealand

.

The school that you'll work with in Auckland has a real variety of children from different countries and backgrounds

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION



 

You will be working at a school in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Auckland is known as the city of sails and is surrounded by beautiful islands and extinct volcanoes. There is a shortage of teachers in New Zealand so you'll really be able to help make a difference here. 

You will work as an assistant to the main teacher and will get involved in a variety of subjects. The school has a large number of ethnic children who are classed as the under-privileged community in Auckland. There are children from many different communities and countries at the school such as children from the Maori communities and from countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Tonga and Samoa. These children generally come from lower socio-economic areas of Auckland. 

You will have the opportunity to work one-to-one and in small groups with the children to really give them the attention they need. Class sizes vary between 20 and 30 children in each class and you will be teaching children between the ages of 4 and 12. As an assistant teacher at the school you will be involved in a number of different subjects, such as:

• Sports

• Music

• Drama

• Math

• Art

• Geography

• History

• English

• ... and possibly other academic subjects.

If you'd like to teach a specific subject that is not listed here, please let us know and we'll arrange it for you.

Thanks from a School Principal to Travellers' NZ Organiser:
"Hi Annette, Just a quick note so say how much the staff enjoyed having Jennie and Delyth and are still enjoying having Adria. They all fitted in really quickly and have been a tremendous help to us.  As well as helping children read, assist in class and so on, we had a new child arrive who was very needy and Jennie and Delyth were able to work with him separately at different times while we were trying to organize support. This meant the teacher was assisted greatly and could concentrate more on the rest of the children. Just wanting to pass on all the school's thanks for the volunteers and hope there are many more to come. Kind regards, Diana Tregoweth"

The school dates for 2010 are:

• Term 1: 5th Feb - 1st April

• Term 2: 19th April – 2nd July

• Term 3: 19th July - 24th Sept

• Term 4: 11th Oct - 17th Dec

The school dates for 2011 are:

• Term 1: 3rd Feb - 15th April

• Term 2: 2nd May – 15th July

• Term 3: 1st Aug - 7th Oct

• Term 4: 25th Oct - 20th Dec

The lessons you'll teach generally last for 40 minutes and the school day runs from around 8:55 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The length of your working day will be around 4 to 5 hours of teaching and preparing for your lessons.  

REQUIREMENTS:
Within New Zealand Law it is compulsory for all volunteers who work with children to undergo a police check. These checks are done to ensure the safety of children in New Zealand.

The checks are a simple process and we will provide you with all the details of what identity you need to take with you. On your arrival in Auckland, our New Zealand manager will complete the checks with you and take you through the process. As soon as you have registered, you'll be allowed to start working with children.

The fee for the checks is included in your project price and we will ensure that you have all the relevant information before you come to New Zealand.

'As the day begins there are screams and laughter coming from the school pool as children at 9.15 a.m. plunge into the cold depths and race around trying to get warm. Meantime in the music room nearby the music teacher is setting up instruments in front of each eager face as the music lesson for a junior class is about to commence. As you walk around the school you notice one or two groups of children reading to an adult while busily in class children are learning, with the help of the adults in the room. In the office area children who are running late are having their names recorded in the absence register, while the telephone rings and a parent with a new five year old waits patiently to have his/her child enrolled. In the resource room volunteers, teacher aides and a parent stamp and bind new books ready to be categorised and to be put onto the shelves ready for teachers to use. In classrooms children are reading, writing, and/or working on their maths.

This is the start of a typical day at Owairaka Primary School situated in the central city district of Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand.  A busy multicultural school with 320 children, some of whom were born in New Zealand, many of whom have English as a second language or have parents from non- English speaking backgrounds, some are refugees.  As  you look around the classes and playgrounds there is a vision of the United Nations with Ethiopian, Somalian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island, English, Maori,  European children, and many more cultures, intermingling, playing and learning together.

At the swimming pool, while the class teacher is instructing a group on how to use arm strokes to swim, a volunteer is working with a group of children teaching them how to float. In the music room another volunteer assists the music teacher with her programme, encouraging and assisting the youngest children. The adult listening to the small group of children read is a volunteer from England. He realises the importance of his role because for some of these children reading to a parent to whom English is a second language is difficult. In the office another volunteer is typing up a policy document that is needed for the next Board of Trustees meeting while her friend is working in the resource room, stamping and taping new readers for classes to use. In a year 3 and 4 class, the last volunteer is working alongside a child who needs help to write his news for the day while the class teacher helps the other children.

We are very fortunate at our school. This term we have had the benefit of having six extra adults in our school. They are making a difference! Two of the volunteers from Travellers Worldwide are assisting our music specialist; all of the volunteers are involved with classes so there are at least two adults at the pool at any one time teaching the children to swim. All of our volunteers have children who read to them daily and from last year’s testing we know this has and does make a difference to their learning progress. At lunchtime we have volunteers supervising the free swim time as well as taking the school cricket and softball teams. One of our volunteers works in the library for part of the day binding books and assisting children in the selection of books. All of our volunteers work alongside children in classes at some time during the day. There is variety in their programme and their strengths and interests are utilized.

2007 saw the start of our association with Travellers Worldwide. We had three volunteers work in our school, mainly listening to children read and assisting with our physical education and sports programmes. This year we have six volunteers for two months. At the start of the year with our busy swimming programme they have been welcomed with open arms. I cannot speak more highly of their commitment and dedication to our school and the children. They are making such a difference.'  Veronica van der Straaten Deputy Principal

Front view of the Hostel


Dining area of the Hostel