Community Preschool Volunteer Project

VA32's Community Preschool Project has been partnering with local preschools for over 5 years. The schools that we work with change from time to time depending on where the biggest need is currently identified.

In 2016 we will be partnering with two local schools - the African Angels School foundation phase and Acacia Tree Nursery School.

About the Schools

Computer Geek Club 2015: Texas State University Volunteers

17 participants. 13 Texas Student University (TSU) teaching volunteers. Five days. A whole host of multi-media technology to get to grips with.

Now, five days may not seem a lot, but do not underestimate the powers of  TSU volunteers and their professor Lori Assaf. Following the success of Geek Club 2014 and prior to the arrival of the group, Lori and I discussed how to not only match but also extend and ignite passion in the abilities of our talented young geek clubbers. We wanted to engage not only the young people of Chintsa, but also get them thinking about their own community and how they interact with it. Last year, saw the same participants research their dream careers, along the way they met and interviewed guest local speakers about different careers - from Dr Madeleine Muller to our very own Thobs the tour guide. We ended up with some fantastic presentations.

Teaching English & Computer Skills in South Africa

 The final blog in our series of experiences shared by Texas State University teaching students who volunteered in the Wild Coast Schools for three weeks during July this year. This blog was written by Bri who volunteered at Bulugha School teaching computer literacy and English. Bulugha School has been receiving weekly computer lessons from VA32 volunteers since 2005. It is interesting to read about the difference in experiences from Bri and Emily (whose blog entitled "The Challenges of Volunteering in Rural South African Schools" can be read here), who completed the same projects but in different schools. The level of English speaking, creative thought and competency on the computer equipment is higher at Bulugha School where volunteer presence has been sustained and consistent, and makes teaching in Chefani School a bigger challenge where support is intermittent and the learners have not had as much exposure to technology or experience in the English language.

Volunteering with Preschool Children in South Africa

Meagan - a teaching student from Texas State University who joined VA32 for 3 weeks during July this year, shares her experiences working in a rural Wild Coast preschool. Foundation phase education in the Eastern Cape of South Africa is one of the most challenging areas to work in. Generally the preschools and day care centres are under-staffed and under-resourced with few facilities and a lot of children!

"Our first day at the school I, myself and the rest of my peers at that school, met the principal and all the teachers in the computer lab. After we all met, the teachers left the computer lab and shortly after, I went to the crèche where I would be teaching to meet the kids. To my surprise though, it was just the kids, Pumi (the teacher) was nowhere to be found.

"The Best of Me" by African Angels Students

As a part of the Texas State University student blog series, Brittany put together a movie of the project "The Best of Me" which she worked on at the African Angels Independent School. Grade 1 learners were tasked with picking their favourite body part, describing what it was and why it was so important to them. Here's a hand selected few of their projects in a stunning movie by Brittany:

By Brittany

Volunteer on the Wild Coast Schools Project, South Africa

Teaching Student at Texas State University

The Challenges of Volunteering in Rural South African Schools

VA32 are lucky enough to partner with Texas State University who bring a group of teaching volunteers to Chintsa annually to support the Wild Coast Schools Project. The students volunteer in various rural schools including Bulugha School which is on the outskirts of Chintsa and gets consistent support from volunteers in their permanent computer lab, and Chefani School which receives intermittent support when volunteer numbers allow.

Learners at Chefani School

Volunteer teacher Emily took the time to share her experiences and the challenges that she faced while teaching at Chefani School. This is the first in a series of blogs and movies shared by the Texas State volunteer teachers:

Working in Chefani (a rural school on the Wild Coast of South Africa) was such a meaningful experience! In the beginning, it was quite apparent that the learners here were not too familiar with working with volunteers. This made the first few days quite difficult. I felt that a majority of the children were apprehensive of us being there and teaching them something new, which made it difficult to establish a connection with them. This improved, however, over the next few days as they became more comfortable with us even just being in their surroundings. What sealed the deal in establishing our relationship with these kids was playing games with them before we began our work. This allowed them to loosen up and become much more comfortable with us as a group and as individuals.

Volunteer Teaching Video Editing in South African Wild Coast Schools

Young learners get the opportunity to work
with cameras and video cameras on the
Wild Coast Schools Project

With the end of the school year in sight, the kids at Bulugha Farm School have been pressing to wrap up their final projects. In this last term, the kids have had their technological horizons broadened with the introduction of a totally new kind of program. While the majority of the year has been focused on the essential Microsoft Office programs, the introduction of Wondershare Video Editor was a welcome change of pace.

The idea was to produce a “mini documentary” to tie in the year’s animal theme. Each student had written a few sentences about their chosen animal. After recording themselves reading their sentences, they were shown how to string together clips of themselves with clips of their animal. Next came the basic assembly, the intro/outro pages were placed, special effects were thrown in, and background music to top it off.

Volunteering with VA32 in Chintsa, South Africa

One week after I arrived in this beautiful village named Chinsta, on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, I already wanted to change my flight to stay longer.  The Volunteer Africa 32 degrees South (VA32) staff is awesome, they are always happy and fun to hang out with.  They make you feel comfortable and at home right away from your first day. Chinsta is just an amazing place with plenty of different fun activities, crazy views, an unbelievable beach and the Inkwenkwezi game reserve just 10 minutes away.

ertasten den Lehrerberuf in Suedafrika

Von Marina und Miriam

Seit nun gut vier Monaten sind wir im unglaublichen Chintsa. Wir koennen uns zu den gluecklichen Studentinnen der Universitaet Nuernberg zaehlen, die die Chance ergattert haben, in Suedafrika unterrichten zu duerfen. Das wurde uns durch die Partnerschaft der drei Saeulen Buccaneers, Volunteer Africa 32 und der Friedrich Alexander Universitaet Nuernberg ermoeglicht. Einen herzlichen Gruss hierfuer an Dr. Poschardt, der in dieser Hinsicht Grossartiges geleistet hat. Cheers Poschardt!

 In Nuernberg studieren wir Lehramt auf Grundschule. Schon nach dem Abitur wollten wir beide uns keine Chance fuer einen Auslandsaufenthalt entgehen lassen. Und hier sind wir. Jeden Tag gibt uns das Unterrichten einen besonderen Moment, den wir wohl nie vergessen werden und uns vor allem im spaeteren Berufsleben nicht nur in einer Hinsicht weiterhelfen wird.

Student Teaching Abroad in South Africa

A group of Texas State University teaching
students at one of our partner Wild Coast Schools

For the past few years Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees South (VA32) has been working to form partnerships with several US and UK universities to offer student teachers, psychologists, social scientists and other professions, the opportunity to extend and develop their skills through hands-on experience teaching on the VA32 Wild Coast Schools Education Projects. Using our experience working with universities including Texas State (US), Nuremburg (Germany), Marburg (Holland), York (UK) and Pacific Lutheran (US), this program has been fine-tuned to suit the specific needs of students and professors and to become an instrumental aspect of students professional development in their chosen field.

2014 sees the official launch of the new Students Teaching Abroad Project which places groups of students in the rural classrooms of the Wild Coast to deliver computer literacy and English language support to young South African learners. These objectives support the aims of VA32's long standing Wild Coast education initiatives while also developing the skills of students in teaching and classroom management, resource development and more.