VIGS Ghana: Volunteer as an English teacher in Ghana - you'll love it!

  Ghana

• Accra: 
Accra

Durations of Program: 1-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks and 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks

Description: Schools in need of volunteers to teach English, Math, Science, Physical Education or Basic Computing in southern Ghana.

Ghana is well-known to be one of the friendliest countries in the world

The primary school structure in Ghana is as follows:

Primary 1 (P1) - 6 year olds
Primary 2 (P2) - 7 year olds
Primary 3 (P3) - 8 year olds
Primary 4 (P4) - 9 year olds
Primary 5 (P5) - 10 year olds
Primary 6 (P6) - 11 year olds
(Average class size for Primary is 15)

You can volunteer as a subject teacher for two or more of P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6. You can teach one of these subjects: English, Math or Science.

Duties: As a subject teacher, you'll teach only one of the listed subjects. However you'll be required to teach whichever subject you choose at two or more levels. For example, you could teach English at P3 and P4.

Teaching hours per school day: 1-4 hours.

Prior preparation: A more detailed curriculum will be emailed to you at least three weeks before your start date

On-site preparation: The first two days will be for introductions and observing how the teaching and other things are done in the classroom and school

Pros: This is a highly fulfilling volunteer position. It brings out the best of your management and communication/ teaching skills. You'll further cultivate your natural capacity to adapt to, live and work in unfamiliar environments and cultures

Cons: None

Highlights:
* The Accommodation
Most of the accommodation is with host-families. The host-family is usually the school owner. There are always other people in the house as well; and they would be willing to provide you some assistance. You will be placed in the same location with another volunteer - except you specifically state that you prefer to be placed alone. Volunteers coming as a pair or couple will not be placed with other volunteers in the same location. The volunteers have their separate room - with a lock and key. There are two beds in the volunteers' room; each with a mattress and in most cases a table and chair. It is advisable to bring along a mosquito net and a spare bed sheet. Many homes have a shower and flush toilet. In others you would have to manage with a bucket of water and a pit toilet - more likely in smaller towns and villages. Laundry is usually done with a couple of buckets. Our photo gallery would give you a good idea of how the different types of accommodation look.

* The Food
You will be served three meals daily. Breakfast is usually tea/coffee/oats or corn porridge and bread with jam/butter/egg omelet. Lunch could be plantain or rice or yam with vegetable stew or similar. Dinner could be rice, yam, pasta or plantain with vegetable sauce or stew or soup. Ghanaians like their sauces, soups and stews a bit more spicy than you may be used to so you may want to practice eating some spicy stuff before you come down. For dessert you'd be served an orange or pineapple. The local pineapples have a reputation of being some of the sweetest past volunteers have ever tasted - so they claim.

* Your Weekdays
You could wake up at say 7.00am, have your bath and breakfast. Then to school between 8 and 9am. Teach as your teaching schedule stipulates. Lunch time would be at about 12noon. You may return to the kids after lunch or take a rest. (Number of hours of teaching varies (Range: 5-6 hours of teaching per day). After school hours, you may want to go to an Internet café with your co-volunteer to catch up on your email or play football or some other sport or game with kids in the neighborhood or read a book or prepare the next day's lessons, or watch a movie or just take a nap - whatever it is you want to do. Dinner is served around 6pm. After dinner, you can continue reading, preparing your lessons or watch TV or a movie. Schools are in session from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.

* Your Weekends
From Friday afternoon till Sunday evening, you are free to do whatever you want. It's pretty popular to go dancing in a club on Friday and Saturday nights. The night life in Accra and Tema in particular and Ghana in general is very good - at weekends (Friday night through Sunday evening). On Saturday morning, you could go on a city or countryside sightseeing tour with your co-volunteer (most placements have two volunteers at same time) and perhaps other GHA volunteers in different locations. Twice every month, GHA organizes a volunteer get-together in Accra or Tema -to which all volunteers are invited

* Your Safety
Your safety is of paramount importance to GHA. As such we give you all the relevant safety hints, plus we place you only in places where good medical services are within easy reach. In addition, we'll give you a cell phone - so you can call the in-country supervisors whenever the need arises. Our in-country support staff are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Qualifications: You don't have to be a professional teacher to do this: if you have had some high school education, you should be able to do this - with the help of the preparation material we'll make available to you.

- Minimum educational qualification: Must have ability to communicate in English
- Maximum educational qualification: There is no maximum educational qualification set
- Minimum age for applicants: Applicants must be at least 17 years on intended start date
- Maximum age for applicants: Applicants must not be more than 65 years on intended start date
- Language: Ability to carry on a conversation in basic English is required
- Gender restrictions: There are no gender restrictions - both males and females are accepted
- Minimum duration: The minimum duration is three weeks
- Maximum duration: Because of Ghana immigration restrictions, the maximum duration is set at 6 months
- Couples/ Partners/ Groups: Accepted
- Nationality restrictions: There are no nationality, race or color restrictions - It's open to all peoples
- Physical restrictions: Prospective volunteers must be physically fit to work 2-5 hours a day in a tropical country. You must be able to tolerate temperatures of 80-95 degrees Fahrenheit (25-35 Celsius); and humidity of 55-60%

Cost in US$: US$140 per week

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Suitable for High school leavers, gap-year students, undergrads, graduates and any other person who feels called to do this noble work.

Age Range: 17-65 years

This Program is open to World Wide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Ghana Independently Or in Groups

Typically Participants Work in Groups of 2-3

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Post Services Include:

• Alumni Network

Volunteer in Ghana Service (VIGS Ghana)'s Mission Statement: Our mission is to provide volunteer staff to a cross-section of under and/or poorly staffed indigenous Ghanaian schools and small-scale businesses. The goal is to empower them by providing strategic human resource, venture capital and other vital resources for them to grow and operate more efficiently. We seek both On-Site and Virtual volunteers from all over the world. Onsite volunteering implies physically traveling to Ghana to help out at one of the schools or micro enterprises which have applied to us for help. On the other hand, virtual volunteering means helping out as a tutor via the Internet.

Year Founded: 2001