Teaching - INDIA Project Information for Teaching in India

Volunteering in India

Our teaching project in India gives volunteers a unique opportunity to make a practical contribution to an area of great need. The main focus of our work in India is with the numerous schools and educational bodies in the southern states of Tamil Nadu. A good command of the English language is indispensable to a young Indian who wants to get a good job and have a successful career. Unfortunately, for many Indians this is extremely difficult to achieve.

As a volunteer teacher in India you will not only provide relief to the often overworked and underpaid teachers, but you will also bring fresh new ideas into the classroom, and of course a good, if not fluent level of English. The volunteer's role in India is not to follow a syllabus - the English department can do that - but rather to inject a bit of life into English lessons, to improve the children's listening and speaking skills and to give them the confidence to use the English that they've been copying down onto paper for all these years!

Depending on the placement the volunteer could be teaching children as young as 3 or adults up to age 23, and the average class size is 30. Each volunteer is expected to work for about 4 hours per day.

Teaching in India

The usual method of teaching in India is delightfully old-fashioned, being based almost entirely on copying sentences from the board that have no real meaning and contain words the kids can't even pronounce. Learning is by rote, and this is another area the volunteer can help with. Indian teachers will be fascinated by your teaching methods, and hopefully take some of the more active learning hints on board to use in the future.

When repeating words off the board as a class, it is easy for shy pupils to fade into the background, meaning that no matter how hard they study, they will never have the confidence to use their knowledge. By involving the kids more in speaking English and making your lessons fun and interactive, your students learn much faster, pay more attention, forget their shyness and actually speak!

Spend a little time here and you'll soon realize how desperate every Indian is to practice their spoken English. Not only does this afford you the opportunity to chat to people from all walks of life and to learn plenty about Indian culture in the meantime, but it also makes you comprehend just how valuable the gift is that you are giving them.