Teach English in Rural Schools in Nepal

Project At A Glance

Location: Kathmandu, Chitwan Start/End point: Kathmandu Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local meals (3 times a day) Room: Host family or homebase Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

Volunteers who teach English in Nepal work with several teaching project in several Government schools in Kathmandu. In Nepal, English is not part of the standard primary public school curriculum. Many poor families cannot afford private English education and students will enter higher schools with very little knowledge of basic English (a mandatory subject after primary school). Your role as a volunteer can make a difference in these student's lives and prepare them for an easier transition to higher schools. Many Nepali children dream of speaking English.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

There are no specific qualifications needed to join IFRE's volunteer teaching projects in Nepal beyond a fluency in English. No teaching experience or skill is required, yet volunteers joining the teaching program in Nepal should have strong English fluency, both written and verbal. Volunteers should be be flexible and patient and have passion and love for teaching, English and conversation. Volunteers should be reliable, flexible and patient and strive to be good role models for the children.

Volunteer Responsibilities

Nepal English teaching project volunteers focus on teaching conversational English (2-3 hours a day) in public or private schools, six days a week. Most students of the school are between the ages of 6 and 13. Volunteers are not alone and will be assisted by other teachers within the school. Volunteer free time allows for organizing extra-curricular activities like games, drawing, singing, dancing and other creative education activities. Volunteers’ support is also required for educational tours, homework, monitoring academic progress and in administrative support.

In Nepal, there is one primary English teacher in each school who follows fixed English curricula. So, you will mostly follow fixed English curricula (each grade has its own English book). You can work as a main teacher or assistant to main English teacher depending up on your confidence level and teaching experience.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations, meals and supervision for volunteers throughout their stay in Nepal. Most volunteers placed in Kathmandu projects stay at our home base – a permanent home set aside for international volunteers and manned with a local staff. Our safe and secure Kathmandu home base is located in a beautiful area of Kalanki, nearly 5 km away from Thamel, a popular tourist hub of Nepal. Most of our volunteers’ projects are located within 2-5 miles of the home base. Therefore, volunteers can simply walk to their projects or take a local taxi or bus. Most necessary services for travelers are located within 2 km of the home base: internet cafés, restaurants and grocery stores. Our home base is located in the heart of city and provides easy access to volunteer to all parts of Kathmandu. It is a perfect situation for volunteers to live safely and comfortably while making many new friends and sharing experiences every day. In the evening volunteers return to the home base, to relax, eat dinner, explore local areas or share the day’s experiences with fellow volunteers and staff. Our home base provides a same-gender shared room and shared bathroom with running hot water and a “western” style toilet. Volunteers will have the ability to do laundry at the home base.

Volunteers receive three prepared meals per day. Our cooks prepare breakfasts, lunches and dinners of Nepali foods (similar to Indian food, including wheat bread, rice, curry, dahl, chapatti and pickles) for volunteers. If volunteers will be out of the house during lunch hour, they can request a lunch "to go”. If traditional Nepali fare does not appeal to volunteers, they are welcome to buy personal food and prepare it.

Occasionally, depending on volunteer traffic, available projects or distance to a volunteer’s assigned project, we may also place our volunteers with carefully pre-screened host families. Our host families are socially respected and are experienced with hosting international volunteers. They have strong interest in our volunteers’ safety and well-being and demonstrate this with caution and care. In most host family situations, volunteers will share a room with another volunteer of the same gender. Another viable option is an at-orphanage stay. Many orphanages in Kathmandu have special rooms set aside to house international volunteers. Volunteers who have stayed with a host family or at an orphanage describe an enriched experience because of having done so. Once you have applied for program placement, you will find the specific details of your accommodations in your personal placement documents for your project.

IFRE maintains two offices in Kathmandu and Chitwan to supervise and assist volunteers. However, volunteers working in Pokhara will stay in touch with Kathmandu office by telephone or email and will receive staff visits as often as possible, usually every two weeks.