Vietnam
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Would you like to teach English in the first non-profit school in Kinh Mon District and experience life in a rural village of Vietnam? The English Centre is a project in an international nonprofit based in Oxford (UK) and with a branch in Pavia (Italy). MB opened in December 2017 and had so far more than 1400 students and around 30 international volunteers from all over the world! Volunteers will be treated like family. Our past volunteers have organized outdoor movie nights, pizza nights, parties, and many more activities with the staff and the Kinh Mon community. Some volunteers have returned to volunteer with us or also when members of our staff got married!
Who we are
Our founders of our school, Elena and Lu, were born in the District of Kinh Mon and adopted at a young age by two Italian families. Elena has an MPhil Degree in International Development from Oxford University and has accumulated expertise in project management of nonprofits work in developing countries; Lu has a Master Degree in Architecture from Turin Polytechnic School and has led the school’s construction work, building on his previous experience with architectural firms. Lu and Elena grew up with the drive of going back to their motherland and giving back to their community. Giving back means using their knowledge and means to inspire and mentor children towards the achievement of their full academic and leadership potential, which will have a positive spillover effect on their communities
Charity Work
Language practice
Teaching
This cultural exchange will be a highly rewarding experience for volunteers. Volunteers will leave our project with a feeling that their contribution has a strong social impact in Kinh Mon and inspire their students to be change makers. As a matter of fact, out teaching method involves teaching students 2 pillars:
1) Dare. Students should not be afraid of making mistakes in class, rather it is the best opportunity for learning and growth. In fact, students will be encouraged to express their critical thinking with a strong attention to individual creativity, which ultimately will stimulate leadership and entrepreneurship.
2) Care. Students are educated to care for the local community, but also to see the interconnections of local challenges with global issues, such as climate change, food insecurity, human dignity, requests of change from civil societies around the world. Students will greatly benefit from the variety of viewpoints that international volunteers will bring them and will be encouraged to proactively think what they can do to address those issues.
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
You would teach small sized classes (10-15 students each). We usually get students coming around from 4:30 – 9:00 PM on the weekdays. Each class is 1 hour and 45 minutes and you will need to take maximum of 4 classes a day. On top of that, you should dedicate approximately one hour of preparation a day for your class. Further information will be provided in the information booklet.
Volunteer teacher responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Planning, preparing and delivering lessons – volunteers should be prepared to spend time looking through materials online and offline (youtube, FB English teaching groups, ESL internet groups, books, etc) to find activities, games and lessons that fit the need of the particular student population. The Library on Trello is an ever-growing selection of media, print, games, etc. Every lesson should be derived from a learning objective that helps the students gain some sort of English language ability/skill noted within the CEFR document.
Organizing and running special events – There will be many special events . We often hold events to share more information with the community about who we are and what we do here in Kinh Mon. We also hold testing/entrance exams and outreach events, so you will need to host and/or MC these events and plan/lead English speaking activities/games for the students and parents.
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
The volunteers will stay at our International Volunteer House that has wi-fi, a kitchen and a living room. There are six bedrooms. The house has two bathrooms with a shower and toilet (both are luxuries in the village!). Please keep the space tidy and clean the communal spaces as there will be no cleaning services provided by us. The accommodation site is 10 minutes far from the school.
If the final agreement includes food, the meals will be provided either by a cook or a prorated food allowance will be given. In the house there is a kitchen with an electric stove, a rice cooker and a fridge. We aim to make your experience a genuine one with local families: you can also throw as many dinners as you want with students, neighbours and the other volunteers at the volunteers’ house! In the past, our volunteers have organized homemade pizza nights or traditional Vietnamese cooking nights and it has been a blast.
Please note that due to the volume of application we give priority to those who can commit and stay with us for at least three months, as this ensures that our students receive high quality education and you will gain in-depth professional experience. As a matter of fact, you can be part of developing our open source curriculum and teaching methodology.
If you stay with us for at least six months, we require you to take at least a foundation TEFL course before you arrive. We suggest taking the one from Coursera, where you can also request to have a certificate of completion for a small fee (30$).
Important: please do not apply for a visa by yourself as our local law requires volunteers to have a special visa. We will apply for your visa if selected.
Kinh Mon is 2 hours far from main touristic sites: Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and Ha Long Bay, UNESCO World Heritage site. Kinh Mon is also surrounded by beautiful mountains, caves, paddy fields, and temples! During the weekend we have organized numerous trips with our local Vietnamese staff, our students and the volunteers, which helps bonding and teamwork.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
More than two
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week (max 25 hours/week)
