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Volunteer with Maasai children helping them learn English
The schools are based in Northern Tanzania in Maasai villages around Ngaramtoni and Longido. This is a fascinating area to spend your gap year working in primary schools teaching Masai children English and initiating fun activities.
Our gap year volunteers work with primary schools teaching English to Maasai children.
The schools are all in rural locations providing a good opportunity to experience the
Maasai culture and life in the local communities. The villages are all around 30 minutes to
1.5 hours from the bustling town of Arusha. While the population is growing rapidly in this
areas and there are visible signs of growing prosperity and economic activity as people look for
land to build houses and farm, life still remains fairly simple with very different issues to what we experience in the developed world..
Teaching English in Africa is challenging as class sizes are large and it is common to find between 60 and 80 children in a class.
Your role:
Gap year volunteers work primarily as English teachers in the schools. While most lessons in Primary Schools are in Kiswahili, at the Secondary level, the medium of education changes to English. By helping to raise their level of English at primary schools gap year volunteers give the children a better chance of performing well at Secondary School.
Primary Schools in Tanzania work on a subject timetable. So as an English teacher abroad you will rotate
between several classes as needed. The pupils you will teach range from 9 to 14 years although there can
be some variation even within one class. As a gap year teacher you will plan and deliver lessons according
to the curriculum. You will have a local Tanzanian teacher to guide you, but you should be prepared to teach a class
independently from very early in your stay. In addition to this you will mark books and may need to help write and
mark exams. The schools have little in the way of resources, textbooks are few and far between and a blackboard and
piece of chalk are the main means of communication. There is a great opportunity to bring fun activities into the classroom,
like songs, games and drama – although the children may initially be shy.
Gap year volunteers interested in sports can run after-school clubs and training sessions. Football and netball are
very popular and matches can be arranged with other schools. The popularity of these clubs does mean you may have
a large number of attendees and will need to be creative in your approach. There is also an opportunity to teach
English to adults in the town with some very keen students.
What you Gain:
Teaching children in Tanzania will help you gain greater confidence. A gap year teaching programme is an opportunity for you to use your skills and imagination to design innovative ways of teaching and communicating with the children. You would play a key role in improving English language skills to a region which is striving to improve levels of education. And while you are in Tanzania, use your weekend to visit the Serengeti!
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