Volunteer in South Africa: Primary School/ Teaching English

Volunteers may choose to help students at primary school if they want to make a difference in the lives of younger children. This is one of the schools IFRE is involved to help uplift the community and to prepare them for a better life. This is a multi racial school and is a predominantly Afrikaans community. Therefore, English is one of the subjects that you will teach at the school. You will work with local English teachers at the school from grade 3-9. You can determine after working with the teacher for one period what grades you want to work with.

Teaching English in South Africa is designed to offer classroom-based learning to young South Africans, an opportunity that will give them a brighter future. In the teaching English project, volunteers will either lead or assist in a classroom where middle or high school children are being taught English. Schools may be private, public, or informal, but in all cases the teaching focuses on conversational English rather than formal grammar. The student age ranges between 11 and 16 years. Schools in South Africa support both experienced instructors and the novice teachers by providing many resources to help volunteers plan and carry out their school day. Textbooks, teaching guides, and help preparing lesson plans are all available to support volunteers while they teach in South Africa.

Skill/Qualification

There is no specific qualification for teaching project in South Africa except fluency in English and love for the children.

Role of a Volunteer

Volunteers can teach any subjects like English, Math, or Science in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools and engage themselves in the following activities:

• Teach conversational English, Math, or Science to students with ages between
  5 -10 in primary schools and 11-16 in junior secondary schools
• Read literature and improve the low comprehension level and poor pronunciation of students
• Provide theoretical and practical assistance and aide the teachers
• Interact with the students

South Africa has 4 academic terms a year: January-March, April-June, July-September, and October-December. A minimum commitment of 2 months is required to volunteer for the Teaching English in South Africa project.

Room/ Food/ Supervision

Volunteers mainly stay with homestay in the communities. Our host families are active community members, mature, trained and experienced with international volunteers. You will get a single room (or sharing with another volunteer) in a homestay. The accommodation will be clean and simply furnished. Local host will manage 3 local meals a day. During the volunteering period, local organization staff will guide, help, and supervise you.