Volunteer Teaching & Community Project In Zanzibar Detail
Volunteer Teaching & Community Project In Zanzibar
Volunteer involvement in local Pre-schools
There are 4 pre-schools in Jambiani. Volunteers support the local teachers in educating the local children. TEFL Graduate Volunteers are most welcome!
They get involved in:
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Teaching English to children, teachers and local adults (This is where a TEFL qualification comes in handy, although it isn't an absolute must).
- Singing and dancing with children in English and local languages.
- Developing the children’s creative skills through crafts such as painting, drawing and colouring.
- Playing developmental games with the children .
- General upkeep of the school to keep it a pleasant environment in which to learn.
Volunteer Involvement in Primary and Secondary schools
Working in the primary and secondary schools, with too many children to accommodate at one time, and shortages of staff and facilities, often two school sessions are run per day. You will find that most of the schools have meagre and ill-equipped facilities, but a wealth of children with a desire to learn. As a volunteer, you will help to provide children with a better education, especially by aiding them in the English Language (Again, where a TEFL qualification would be really useful for your volunteer project).
These are the ways in which you will assist in the schools:
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Teaching in the classes (qualified teachers only and pre arranged before trip)
- Organise and coordinate sport afternoons with the scholars
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Help maintain and even repair the facilities, most of which are quite run down
School holidays are set for the following dates in 2010:
Term 1: 3 January 2010 – 26 March 2010
Holidays: 27 March 2010 – 5 April 2010
Term 2: 6 April 2010 – 30 May 2010
Holidays: 31 May 2010 – 7 June 2010
Term 3: 8 June 2010 – 10 August 2010
Holidays / Ramadan: 11 August 2010 – 20 September 2010
Term 4: 21 September 2010 – 2 December 2010
Holidays: 3 December 2010 – 3 January 2010
Volunteer involvement in the local Tourism Training Centre (Please note that this project is seasonal and does not run all-year-round)
In
general tourism is considered to be the sector of activity with the
most potential in Zanzibar. There is a drive through the tourism sector
to deal with the issues of poverty reduction, education, youth, gender
and the environment amongst others. Volunteers get involved in multiple
areas to help with the training of these aspirants:
- Teaching English
- Life-skills teaching
- Training students in basic administrative tasks
- Training students in basic computer skills e.g. CV writing
- Assist and supervise students in cooking classes and food & beverage management
- Assist and supervise students in practical classes ("role-play", handling money, etc)
As we believe that community work is so closely linked to
conservation work, we also focus some of our time on local conservation
initiatives, such as tree-planting, beach clean-ups and other exciting
interactive activities.
Ramadan: 11 August 2010 - 9 September 2010
"Ramadan is an Islamic religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar; the month in which the Qur'an (occasionally written as Koran in non-Islamic cultures) was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims do not eat or drink anything from true dawn until sunset. Fasting is meant to teach the person patience, sacrifice and humility. Ramadaan is a time to fast for the sake of Allah, and to offer more prayer than usual. During Ramadaan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds." (From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan)
During this month all school children will be on holiday and the schools will be closed so there will be NO volunteer work associated with the schools in this month. However, there is still plenty of work to do; volunteers could be involved in some of the following activities:
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Work on the project will be focused on manual labour, such as painting, repair work, and possibly some building, depending on what we needs to be done at that time
- Environmental maintenance work such as litter pick-ups and planting trees
- Making school resources such as posters and lesson plans, etc.
- We hope that our adult literacy lessons can continue, although this depends on how energetic the students are feeling during their month of fasting.
During Ramadan our volunteers cannot eat, drink, smoke or chew in public. You will however be able to have normal meals back at the project base. Please also bear in mind that everything will be slower than usual in Zanzibar BY FAR as all the locals will be fasting which makes them tired!!!
