I went on a 6 week programme to South India on a teaching project organised through teaching Abroad. It cost me £995, not including visa or flights. I got a flight for £600. So from the outset it wasn't a cheap trip!
The team in England were helpful, always answering my emails and calling me back the next day, so i felt pretty confident that I would be looked after. however my placement details were changed twice before I got there, which unnerved me a little.
I was going on my own, which is why I wanted to go with a large organisation (I knew someone who had gone with them to Ghana), and I was willing to pay the larger fee so that I knew I would be looked after.
I was collected from the airport,
which was such a relief after the long 12 hour flight, and taken to a cab. It was all pretty overwhelming, and part of me wished my rep would just stop talking! I was taken to a hotel for a few hours to have a shower (the room was so basic I couldn't face the shower!) and then we got on the train (8 hours!!!). After the train I was taken to another hotel, and left to sleep until the morning. I was then collected and driven to my placement (about 4 hours). It helps you realise how massive India really is.
My placement family were lovely and very welcoming, although I was a little disappointed when my placement family didn't know I was vegetarian (I had filled out numerous forms in the UK stating I was). This seemed to be representitive of how the Indian Teaching Abroad office worked - I met other volunteers who also had a very unorganised stay. Everything always got done, but it was always very last minute.
You have to remember that Teaching Abroad is a company, and therefore run to make a profit. My host family recieved about £30 a month to keep me, and none of your fee goes to charity. I met many volunteers who had not realised this, and were very unhappy when they found this out in India.
I was there during the Tsunami, and Teaching Abroad obviously had to check all the volunteers were ok. I spoke to one volunteer who had been uncontactable as he was on a trip and T & A had to call his parents. Apparently they did not use as much tact as you would have hoped, but it just emphasises that the staff there are not always well trained.
My placement was wonderful, but somewhat unusual, the majority of volunteers worked long, hard days and didn't always have very good food or water.
T & A offer you a chance to experience rural life (at least in India) and does give you a back up if anything goes wrong. You get to meet other volunteers, and live with a family. It is an expensive was of going abroad, but I would recommend it especially if like me, you want to go alone.
I wouldn't go with T & A again, but for my first trip to Asia I am glad I went with them; it was a great introduction to far-away travel.
I have since uploaded a photo of the class I taught. I was asked in a comment about the actual teaching I did. i was then advised to include the answer in the review, so here it is:
I went out there to teach conversational English, but in the end didn't do as much as I should have. I was promised 4 hours a day, but when I got there, the head teacher (who was the father of my host family) didn't want to work me too hard (?!) so I tended to do about 1 hour a day. In some ways I didn't mind, as I am a student teacher here, so do enough teaching! I also did an evening 'school' with some of the children who lived in the village, where we focussed more on playing and having fun. The school was basic, all the children sit on the floor and just repeat what the children are told. The school used Tamil to teach (apart from when the Government inspectors were there - they are meant to teach in english), which did make it hard to communicate with the children. The children all lived 'on-site' as it was a sort- of compound, where the children lived in the orphanage attached to the school. The children, although on the whole not technically orphans, are from families that are too poor to feed them, so in that way it felt rewarding. In others ways it was just frustrating, as they have nothing, and I saw what a huge difference the small things can make. I drew flashcards, and the kids were so motivated by just having something new to look at. It just served to remind me that children, no matter where they live in the world, no matter how poor they are, are all the same - they want to laugh, be naughty and learn.
Pictures of Teaching Abroad
My Class!
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sounds interesting but its ridiculous you have to pay so much money to do some good, isn't it? paula x
j3ssica 27.07.2005 19:14
It sounds like such an experience - I'd like to do something similar maybe when I'm a bit older! x
jesi 14.06.2005 22:03
Your picture looks almost like a painting - what an amazing experience you had - it might be good to just mention in your review the various options you had as to where to go with the company, how you heard about it and how long the selection process (if any) took before you were accepted to go! ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{:::::|||||<
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Advantages: CHEAP!! - really good value for money - brilliant public transport Disadvantages: a fair bit of red tape in repect of sorting ones own trip there!!
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