We currently support 2 nursery schools and a secondary school. The nursery schools are run by local organizations that try to prepare the children for primary school entrance by teaching them basics such as reading, writing, Math’s, Swahili and English. The secondary school provides the opportunity of schooling to orphaned and disadvantaged children who otherwise would not be able to attend secondary school.
For the schools we have chosen to support, we try not to impose on their structure, but add to them. We do not agree with placing unskilled people into teaching position, replacing local teachers or with disrupting the work of the local teachers. Local teachers are teaching at all of these schools and rather than replace them, we try to add to their work by taking extra classes and activities, either after school hours, or by splitting a large class (and thus helping to give more individual attention to the children) and switching over.
The children here face a big challenge, as once they reach secondary school all subjects are taught through English. Many of those lucky enough to attend secondary school fall behind and fail due to their lack of understanding of English. Also, teaching in general in Tanzania is carried out through repetition alone and the children rarely get to be creative or to engage in hands on activities, games etc. We, therefore, encourage our volunteers who are interested in helping at such projects to be involved with extra curricular classes in English and activities. The activities and level of English varies depending on the ages of the children in the class. We try our best to place long term volunteers in these projects to help with the continuity of the projects, but short term volunteers are welcome to help those that are here for longer with their ongoing activities.
Along with formal teaching and running activities, there are also opportunities to pass on other skills to children, such as drama, singing, music, gardening, knowledge on climate change, hygiene, human rights etc, as we run skills training and health/life skills talks at a couple of projects.
For more info on how to adapt your skills or what programs we are carrying out at a given time please contact us directly.
