Primary & Secondary School Teaching Volunteers, Tanzania

Overview

Being able to effectively teach children is a skill that many people are unaware that they possess. This voluntary teaching programme in Tanzania provides an amazing opportunity for volunteers to use the skills they have to improve the education of children in under-funded government schools located in Northern Tanzania.

One of the main problems in these schools is that there are too many children, and not enough teachers to provide the necessary one-to-one interaction needed for each child. As well as teaching the children, volunteers are also needed to help the Tanzanian school staff improve on their own English skills.

With limited staff, limited resources, and excess numbers of children, this teaching programme has been designed for volunteers who want a unique and challenging experience Teaching in Africa.

Volunteers are given the choice of working in primary schools or secondary schools:

• Volunteers in primary schools will focus primarily on improving the English of young children so that they can progress on to secondary school.
• In secondary schools, in addition to improving the standard of spoken and written English, volunteers are also given more scope to teach a broad range of subjects, including maths, computer skills, and science.

This teaching programme allows volunteers to experience another culture whilst making a real difference to children’s lives in rural community schools.

Whether you choose to teach in primary or secondary schools in Tanzania, the overall aspiration of both is to improve the quality of education given to young Tanzanian children.

What's included?

• Pre-departure briefing in London
• Pre-departure information and advice
• In-country assistance and support
• 24-hour emergency contacts
• In-country induction or training
• Transportation: airport pick-up
• Accommodation: Host family accommodation
• Food: Some meals included and provided by staff or host family

What's NOT included?

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visas
• Sightseeing activities
• Monthly stipend
• Transportation: airport drop-off, transportation from the accommodation to the project and back

Location

• The primary and secondary schools will be based in locations around Arusha and Moshi. These locations are predominately rural or semi-rural areas surrounded by towns/villages set in bush land. Each school will be no more than 30 minutes away from the closest town.
• There are also some primary schools located in the Pare Mountains, these schools are set within a lush green mountain scenery, and unlike Arusha and Moshi the nearest town is approximately 1 hour away.

Public transport such as local buses are available in many locations throughout Tanzania. There are very few amenities/facilities in outlying villages/towns, however, for local facilities, including restaurants, cash points and internet cafes, etc, Arusha is the place to go.

There are many extra activities and excursions that volunteers can take part in when exploring Tanzania – visiting Mount Kilimanjaro, taking part in the Ngorongoro crater trek, going on a safari and relaxing on the stunning island of Zanzibar. Some of these excursions can be organised for you by our partner organisation in Tanzania.

Arusha is considered to be one of the best African cities when it comes to combining great weather and tourism.

Project life and Photos

Volunteers will be teaching in primary schools or secondary schools. They will begin their volunteering placement with an orientation (the weekend before their project is due to start) – this orientation will introduce volunteers to the areas in Tanzania where they will be living and working.

You will work for approximately 6 hours per day, Mon – Fri (your day starts between 8am and 10am, ending between 3pm and 4pm). Volunteers can work either as teaching assistants (helping to break up large classes), or they can teach their own classes (dependent on experience and/or confidence). A large part of this teaching project is to help improve English and the quality of teaching - not just for the children, but for the teachers who are not always proficient at teaching English themselves.

• Primary School - Between 200 and 1,500 children per school. The daily schedule is changeable however, a typical week can involve up to 30 lessons.
• Secondary School - Approximately 500 children per school and roughly 15 teachers. Daily schedule is changeable but volunteers can expect to teach between 4 and 5 lessons per day (40 minutes each). 

 

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Flights, transportation and visas

• Volunteers need to fly to Kilimanjaro International Airport where they will be met by a representative from our Tanzanian partner organisation.
• There is also the option of flying to Nairobi, where a shuttle bus transfer will be booked for you and paid for. You will then be taken to Arusha where you will be met by a representative from our partner organisation in Tanzania.
• Many nationalities can obtain a Tourist visa on arrival in Tanzania's airports. You must however, also apply for an additional permit (C-Class permit) on arrival. This permit will allow you to volunteer legally. 

 

CIBT Visa advice... For expert visa advice we advise our volunteer, work placement, and internship participants to get in touch with CIBT - a company that we work in partnership with. Our UK, Canadian, and US travellers can use CIBT for visa advice and to get their visa applications processed - with visas returned within a week. UK travellers can contact CIBT for visa advice. Canadian participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 888-665-9956 US participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 800-577-2428 Canadian citizens should state account number: 57497 US citizens should state account number: 57496

Dates and duration

• Volunteers should aim to arrive by the Saturday morning before their teaching project starts (on the Monday) – this will ensure that they have enough time for their orientation, and to acclimatise to the area.
• The volunteering project starts on the second Monday of every month (however, there is some flexibility if you choose to arrive later).
• The minimum duration is 4 weeks.
• The maximum duration is 6 months.

Safety and insurance

• All of Twin Work & Volunteer's placements are in partnership with recognised and established local organisations, run by or employing local people. These organisations, depending on the nature of what they do, might be small-scale NGOs, family projects, schools or orphanages, or local initiatives with environmental or social goals.
• We often use local businesses to provide logistical and support services to volunteers such as transfers, pick-ups, accommodation and so on. In this way, we support the local economy through helping independent local businesses to thrive. We take our partnerships very seriously and work extremely closely with all our partners.
• We provide 24-hour emergency support from the UK and our partners provides support locally.
• We have an agreement with the crisis management service Tranquillico, should the very worst situations arise.
• If any wider safety concerns arise in the destination, such as civil disturbances or natural disasters, we seek advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and implement their recommendations where appropriate.

 

Insurance options... Comprehensive insurance is available for all programmes. You have no obligation to take up insurance with any of these companies, but insurance of a suitable sort is mandatory on all our programmes. For UK participants: Here are the full details of our partnership with Endsleigh. For American and Canadian participants: We offer insurance options with International Volunteer Card (IVC).

Eligibility

• There is no requirement to have a teaching degree or any specialised teacher training, or any previous experience in teaching. All that is required is that volunteers be enthusiastic and have a strong desire to help children
• The volunteering programme is open to any nationality
• Vounteers must speak English fluently
• More experienced individuals can teach their own classes
• Younger or less experienced volunteers will be teaching assistants
• A reference letter will be requested before volunteers are placed in schools

Accommodation and Food

• Volunteers will stay in a homestay with a local Tanzanian family. Depending on where your host family lives, your journey to the schools can take anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes by foot or local transport.
• You will be provided with breakfast and dinner which will give you an authentic taste of local Tanzanian cuisine.

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