Boomers Abroad

Description

The school we work with also accommodates permanent male orphans. It is very poor and needs as much support from volunteers as possible. You may be asked to teach anything from English to Maths and Sports to children aged between 7 and 19 years.

Care for Orphans in Livingstone, a stone's throw from the Magnificent Victoria Falls! This magnificent country in the heart of Africa is a haven for wildlife and has some spectacular scenery and natural wonders. It is fast developing into a must-see destination and your time there is bound to be a memorable one. Zambians are extremely welcoming and you will instantly be drawn in by the friendly locals.

LOCATION:
Livingstone is a major destination for travellers to Africa, giving great opportunities to travel around this beautiful country and its superb wildlife reserves. Livingstone is the capital of the Southern Province and is situated just north of the Zambezi River, which forms the border with Zimbabwe.

The spectacular Victoria Falls Bridge is only about 10km away from

Livingstone, and the area surrounding the Falls and Livingstone town have given it the name of 'adrenalin capital of the World'. Local attractions include not only the impressive Victoria Falls, but also Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, located adjacent to Victoria Falls, and Livingstone Game Park.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Your help will form an important part of the children's educational and social development. Livingstone is a very friendly place and the school is no exception!

Although the school is fairly poor, the enthusiasm of the staff and children is remarkable and they have made every effort to make the school look bright and cheerful.

The school is quite small and incredibly basic - you will feel part of the family immediately! There are approximately 250 pupils at the school and class sizes normally range from about 30-35. The school is also a home to 20 permanent male orphans and the childrens ages range from 7 to 19 years.

They also run a drop-in educational and feeding programme for the local children in the community where they try to provide a 3 meal feeding programme to all the children at the orphanage too.

Most of the children are very shy to speak English and its in this area that the help of our volunteers is needed to give the children to confidence to speak the language. They ask for your support to help push the childrens education forward, and to help improve teaching techniques for the existing teachers, where possible.

The children and teachers that we work with in Zambia are are fantastic - you will be greeted with huge smiles and a very warm welcome. Usually the children don't want to let you go and may even resort to clinging on to your legs to stop you from leaving. You are sure to enjoy every minute of your teaching experience!

WORK CONTENT:
You will normally assist the teachers with informal teaching to start with, but depending on your ability, you may be given complete control of a particular class or group. You will receive a lot of help and support from the teachers and staff at the schools to help you prepare for your lessons and settle you into your role.

You will generally be asked to help out with any age groups. You are, in fact, very likely to be in popular demand everywhere - in and out of the classroom. The school is quite small and incredibly basic - you will feel part of the family immediately!

The school needs as much support from volunteers as possible. Generally you will be helping with conversational English, although if you have a specific subject that you would like to help with, then you will more than likely be able to do so with guidance from the teachers.

In addition, for those of you who enjoy sports, you will be glad to know that sports are also a very popular subject for the children, and they would love for you to help out with the game periods which the schools have. The facilities are poor, but football and volleyball have quite a following. Some sports coaching takes place throughout the day, but most is after 3pm for an hour or two.

There is also a need for help with administration sometimes, such as helping to mark books etc. As this is part of a Teachers role please be aware that you may also be asked to help with this at some point.

Your help is most needed to free time for these hard working teachers to dedicate to other important work, and help supplement the education of these exceptional children. This school also has a feeding programme in place for needy children and they hope to extend this to all children with the support of donors.

They have also helped with funding to build homes for orphaned children. The children here are fantastic and the hard work and attitude of the teachers is heart warming.

TEACHING ARTS, DRAMA, MUSIC AND OTHER SUBJECTS IN ZAMBIA:
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 childrens imaginations and encourages them to communicate with few constraints. Whats 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 some or all of these subjects with teaching conversational English.