Teach English to Refugee Youth

Habibi Center considers 3 main aspects when accepting volunteers:

Professionalism: The Habibi Center has a minimum age requirement of 22. Our students are between 13 and 19 years old so, for this reason, we feel the need for our volunteers to be mature enough and to present themselves in a professional way. Even with adult students, romantic relationships between volunteers and students are absolutely prohibited. 

The project takes volunteering very seriously since it deals with minors – many of them being unaccompanied, which might increase their vulnerability even more. Therefore, we expect open-minded volunteers able to respect and accept any cultural differences with the youth. Moreover, volunteers should be flexible and handle different sorts of attitudes – distraction in class, detached behavior towards both teacher and classmates, unpunctuality –, which might be linked to students' traumatic development. Finally, due to the age and situation of vulnerability and instability of the youth, Habibi Center does not allow volunteers to freely take and/or publish photographs with the students.

The Habibi Center is a Smoking, Drug, and Alcohol-Free zone. It is also unacceptable for our volunteers to present themselves to classes with a hang-over nor to cancel classes due to a late night out. Furthermore, we ask volunteers to refrain from discussing their private life with the students (specifically: romantic and sexual life or subjects related to the consumption of alcohol, drugs or smoking). As mentioned above, many of our students are unaccompanied minors, therefore we play a big role in their personal development. Therefore, we have the responsibility to be good role models.

Minimum of 8-week commitment: Through our years of experience, we have realized that short stays do not favor any of the parts involved in the center. The first and most important aspect we need to consider is the care of the emotional health of the students. Many students do not usually process adequately the idea of meeting someone new, building a close relationship within a few days, and then losing that daily contact abruptly. The second aspect is that it's not easy for the permanent teachers to have to deal with the emotional sadness of the students after any, both short and long-term, volunteers' departure. We ask for volunteers to commit to a minimum of 8 weeks.

English teaching skills: The hunger of students for learning has increasingly become more and more demanding since the start of the center. This is excellent news but it also implies that the teachers must be ready to face the high expectation the students have. For that reason, we give priority to volunteers with teaching experience in the English language.

What will you be doing?

At the Habibi Center, we teach a variety of levels, ranging from Literacy (Phonics) up to Upper-Intermediate.

Level 0: Phonics / Literacy

Your mornings are free!
You can sleep in or walk around the city and enjoy a coffee at a nice cafe.

Meals are not provided, but ...
There are many restaurants within a 5-minute walk from where you will be staying, including one of the best Souvlaki/Gyro joints where you can enjoy a delicious chicken/pork wrap for only 2.70 Euros. 

Cooking at home is the most economic option. The central market is just around the corner from the school where you can find fresh veggies, meat, fish, and other products at the cheapest prices.

Apart from the obvious historical sites and museums all around Athens, for which we will give you recommendations upon your arrival, there are also many sports and other activities that you could enjoy.

Some of the long-term volunteers play football once or twice a week at international pick-up games. 
Hiking & Trekking: Mountains of Parnitha and Imittos are within an hour distance from the city center. 
There are a few indoor rock climbing walls for bouldering about 45 minutes away from the center by bus.

You could take courses during the weekend: windsurfing, stand-up paddling, scuba diving, and sailing.
Gyms: with indoor swimming pool, yoga, Zumba, and other activities.
Dance lessons: Latin dances such as salsa, or greek traditional dances.