WORK DESCRIPTION:
The schools you'll work in are a mixture of primary and secondary. You will generally be asked to help out with any age groups, although where possible we will try to keep you to your preferred age range.
Your teaching hours can vary from 20 – 35 hours per week, to children of a range of ages 5-15. Although English is the official language, a multitude of African tribal languages are spoken, such as Ewe and Ga.
Your help is very much appreciated. Before you leave, you'll be provided with a mountain of information on just about everything to do with Ghana and your placement, including aTeaching Guide to help you to structure your lessons.
Our Ghana Manager and his team will look after you well. You'll get lots of advice about the do's and don’ts of Ghanaian culture, what to do and where to go.
Teaching the children in Ghana is very satisfying, as it is in most African countries, because the children actually do want to learn! We asked a volunteer in Ghana "What do you feel you gained from doing this project?" and she answered:
"Blimey, where do I start! Social skills, communications skills, greater initiative, leadership skills, planning skills (for lessons and travelling at weekends), patience, confidence, cultural knowledge to name just a few! It is impossible to write how priceless it is to do this kind of placement and the amount of knowledge and experience it provides"
REQUIREMENTS:
You don't need any qualifications, but you should have a good knowledge of the subject you want to teach.
Teaching is not available during school holidays, so if you're planning to participate in a placement, please take the school term dates into account when planning the timing of your project.
However, during the summer school holidays we run a Summer Camp for the children to give them something to do and a place to go that provides them with food and keeps them off the street. You'll be able to participate in the Summer Camp if the summer holidays fall during your placement period.
On the other hand, if a holiday falls during your proposed placement, you could use this time to do any independent travelling and sightseeing.
ACCOMMODATION
Your accommodation will vary, depending on your work location. You will either be staying in a family run hostel or with a host family.
The hostel is a comfortable guest house accommodation, with 11 rooms, the owners are very friendly and they are Ghanian so you can still experience the culture.
Alternatively you may be staying with ahost family. This means that you get to eat, sleep, work, socialise and generally live like a Ghanaian. Local family stays enable you to fully experience the local culture from the inside.
Many of our volunteers remain friends with their host families long after they leave Ghana and in some cases they return to the country later especially to visit their family. Sometimes members of their Ghanaian family have even gone to visit them in their home country.
FOOD:
Food is included in your placement and will be local cuisine - again this is to enable you to fully experience living as local Ghanaians do.
