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GYC2903 - Help children to read Country: South Africa Cost: £1295.00 Please note: £100.00 per week Cost Includes: The price includes accommodation, kit and pickup from airport but does not include flight, insurance, food or visas     Duration: 4 weeks (4 - 12 weeks) Company Rep Nearby: All the time 0845 344 7592 or

 

	This placement would suit... volunteers with a love of children as well as a genuine desire to make a difference. You will also need to be able to speak English so that you can read competently to the children and make the stories come to life! Working with children can be fun and exciting but you never know what they are going to do next so be prepared for every eventuality! Share your love of books with young children living in Ocean View, a underprivileged community in the Western Cape. Illiteracy is a major problem in South Africa with one in four adults unable to read, as a result many children are lacking the basic skills which would enable them to receive a full and rewarding education. Your role will involve reading to the children and helping them to read stories and your influence as a literate and caring adult will help them to develop a love of books and see education as both accessible and achievable. Project details: The Help to Read child literacy initiative is a pilot programme currently operating in Ocean View, and aims to expand into further schools that want help within the next two years. The child literacy project helps children love books! By recruiting and training volunteers to help children aged 5-12 who find reading difficult. Those of us that love to read have enjoyed privileges most of us have taken for granted: Parents who read bedtime stories, Books in English lying around the house, At the very least, an adult in the family able to read and write English. Many South African children have parents who can't read or write English and who, therefore, can't read to them. Yet, without this, kids tend to fall behind their peers, losing confidence and self esteem. With the loss of confidence comes the loss of pleasure: kids who don't feel confident about their reading simply don't like reading, or books. And why should they? For many of those children, reading has only ever been torture and humiliation. Those that don't read outside of school have only ever had the school's books imposed on them, and those books may not interest them. They've never had the opportunity to choose what interests them, and to explore that. Why the project needs volunteers: Literacy is a serious issue in South Africa. One in four adults is illiterate, and many children in schools are unable to read and write in English. Imagine how hard life must be for those people in our country who can't read English: they're frustrated every day by street signs, restaurant menus, and posters, they'll miss out on the entire world of computers, and they're not as employable as people who can read and write English. Volunteers don't replace good teaching, they add to it, playing the role of literate adult in the child's life with time and attention just for them. Volunteers do not teach reading, they help children read, reading to them, with them, or being read to. Your role as a volunteer: You will be placed with children pre-selected by the school's head teacher. You will be helping the children to read through stories. You will read to all children at the school twice per week for half an hour on an individual basis. This will mean that your mornings are occupied with the children and you will have afternoons to prepare the books for the next day or take some time off.You will be provided with a box full of books and games that the child will not have been exposed to in class, and trained to encourage and support that child's reading and interests in a child-led session, thereby boosting the child's confidence and, eventually, ability.We include the i-to-i 40 hour online TEFL course to help with your preparation but your main role will be reading from story books rather than formal teaching. Where the project is based: The pilot project is based in Kommetjie, 45 minutes from central Cape Town and near Long Beach which is famous for great surfing. Accommodation is at a volunteer house in Fish Hoek and you will transfer daily to Kommetjie by taxi. Please book your flight to arrive into Cape Town (airport code CPT) before 11am on the advertised arrival date to ensure your airport pickup. Our users say: "I am so glad I did this trip to South Africa because it in all honesty 'changed my life'. My experience with the Children in Masiphumelele (a local township near Cape Town) taught me there's more to teaching than page and politics. Children are eager to learn, willing to give 110% and they respect those people trying to help give them an education." Liz: Help children to read near Cape Town, South Africa 0845 344 7592 i-to-i: We pride ourselves in a high level of service to ensure that all our gap year travellers get the most our of their meaningful travel. With Teaching, Community Development, Conservation, Sports, Media and Health placements in 24 countries, we can offer you the meaningful gap year that you want.