Communication
Charlyn Johnson, Chile Year volunteer
Charlyn saw the kiosk in her middle school’s courtyard as an ideal place for her students to practice their English. She taught her classes how to order snacks in English, providing vocabulary for the payment process as well. Brightly illustrated signs served as decorative reminders throughout the year. Charlyn also taught the store manager to respond to students’ requests in English.
Seth Hoy, China Year volunteer
Seth (who served as a WorldTeach volunteer in the Marshall Islands and in China) led his pupils in Ningyuan in creating a student newspaper in English, called the Flying Monkey. Each student contributed articles throughout the school year, including interviews, Q & A columns, and editorials -- all in English!
Shannon Saenz and Rob Verger, Micronesia Year volunteers
Shannon and Rob created an extracurricular debate team to encourage confidence and communication skills at their high school. What started as a local project grew quickly as the team was successful in competition. In an exciting final round of national debate, they won over Chuuk, a fellow state in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Kristen Sween, Bobby Gondola, Sasha Graham, Yiming He, South Africa Summer volunteers
WorldTeach volunteers in Cape Town realized that most children in the informal township settlement of Masiphumelele receive no careers guidance and have an extremely limited knowledge of further education opportunities and scholarships. So the following summer four volunteers put together a one hundred page directory offering careers and educational guidance, and the local library service agreed to distribute it to libraries throughout the city and to schools, churches and other organizations in the area. The volunteers also developed a web-based version that is hosted by the university.
Matt Bakko, Claudette Accime, Kate Rishar, Jesse Rizzo, South Africa Summer volunteers
Growing up brings many challenges, not least for those children living in poor communities in South Africa where AIDS, deep poverty, substance abuse and violence are all too common. To help, Matt Bakko and other WorldTeach volunteers
used a narrative therapy process called "Hero Books" to help youngsters in Masiphumelele write about their community, their lives and their heroes. This gave the volunteers a deep connection with the children and an opportunity to affirm them and help them talk about their fears and aspirations. As Matt says, "The most enriching experience for me was participating in the Hero Books project. It allowed me to get to know the children in Masiphumelele on a very intimate level. I was permitted to become an active participant in the children’s lives and we all grew through mutual sharing, story telling, and problem solving. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world."
Karina and Christopher Phipps, Ecuador Year volunteers
After moving to Ecuador to teach at the University of Cuenca, Karina started volunteering at a local women's shelter: La Casa Acogida Maria Amor. Maria Amor is run on volunteers and donations, and therefore is in a lot of need. Karina set up a partnership with the shelter and the Gateway Christian School in the United States, where Christopher's mother is a teacher. Many people donated money and bought gifts for the shelter. Karina and Christopher used the donations to make, buy and wrap Christmas gifts, using a list of needs that La Casa had given them. They decorated the shelter, and threw a Christmas party.
Back to top
...
