Teaching English and Cleaning Environment in Bo de Pagoda in Hanoi, Vietnam

  Vietnam

• Hanoi: 
Hanoi

Duration of Program: 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 9-12 weeks

Description: Volunteers will make teaching plan and prepare materials for the children. They will teach them in the mornings and support cleaning in the afternoons. Before starting class very day, the volunteers will review old lessons to help the children remember what they learnt, and then they will start new ones. The volunteers are supposed to teach in the mornings and support cleaning in the afternoons. They will explain to the children how important clean environment is. Picking up grass is also a task of the volunteers. They also help to take care of babies, because the women there are so busy and they really need help from volunteers. The volunteers will feed the children, and lull them to sleep.

1. Teach English for children from primary, secondary to high school.
2. Collect rubbish and put it in right place as well as explain to the children about the importance of keeping environment clean.
3. Clean up the pagoda because there is much of dust and garbage.
4. Pick grass up and sweep the pagoda.
5. Play with the children to help them more relax after studying hard at school.
6. Help the women to take care of children.
7. Explain children there the importance of keeping environment tidy.
8. Volunteers should wear long trousers and shirts which cover their shoulders. They should not smoke or drink when they are at the pagoda.

Highlights: Bo De pagoda is a place for worshipping Buddhism. There have female monks who often do kind jobs for other people. According to Buddhist belief, pagodas always welcome all kinds of people with different situations and help them to find out solutions for their problems if they have. So that is the reasons why there are many children who are orphans are left there. The children there do not know about their parents, they often were left there from infancy. Their parents, because of different reasons, cannot bring them up, and they also cannot ask other persons for help, so the best way is leaving their sons or daughters at the gate of the pagoda because they know that their children will be picked up and brought up, which is what they could not give them. Now there are about 50 children living there: around 20 infancies, 16 high school students, and 14 secondary pupils. The number is not constant because the pagoda often has new members. There also have some women who take care of children. Monk Thich Dam Lan, director of the pagoda, noted that all children are brought up and being given education. They go to public schools with children who have their own families. Bo De pagoda receives donation from organizations and people but it is difficult to support for a lot of persons. The monks there also often call for second-hand clothes (for summer as well as for winter), toys or old textbooks, newspaper for children. Children there need a lot of help from others.      

Qualifications:
* Fluent in English (Vietnamese is an asset)
* Previous English coaching/teaching experience is an asset
* Be able to do manual work.
* Willing to work and stay in Hanoi
* Strong inter-personal skills, and experience in working with a wide variety of people, cultural sensitivity.
* Commitment to volunteerism, considerable experience as a volunteer
* Ready to live as local people (basic accommodations, transport by bus or bicycle, local food).

Cost in US$: 300/month

Experience Required: no

Age Range: above 18

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

Participants Travel to Vietnam Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently or in Groups of 5-10

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Post-Program Services Include:

• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Re-Entry Debriefing at Home
• Job and Internship Network

Solidarites Jeunesses Vietnam's Mission Statement: By developing International Volunteering, we aim to: 1. Work towards a society of justice, peace and solidarity. 2. Break cultural misunderstanding between people and nations. 3. Improve local and global environment, provide informal education, help to reduce poverty and strengthen human rights 4. Encourage young people to participate actively in the society in which they live.

Year Founded: 2004