Teaching Assistant in Primary School

Integrity school is a small school located in the Daraja Mbili area, only about 10 minutes walk from the White House. It is a very small school with 6 classrooms all facing a little courtyard. The school is very basic and poorly kept, but it is run by very amazing staff who makes up for any material lack with their teaching.

In Tanzania, the school system is divided into three separate parts: preschool, primary school and secondary school. The department of Integrity school located  in Daraja Mbili is the preschool and primary school. The preschool works mostly as a day care/kindergarten where children from the age of 2-3 years up to 6 years are being taught the alphabet, basic math and other playful activities. The primary school hosts children from the age of 6 years to around the age of 14. In this age, the children are learning math, English, Kiswahili, science, biology, geography and many more subjects. The Integrity school has one department for the youngest children inn Daraja Mbili, while the eldest students are attending school in a different department located in a part of town called Njiro. However, all the children report to the Daraja Mbili department every morning, from where they are transported together to the other department in school buses and back again after school. 

We are looking for volunteers enrolled in a teaching facility, who are interested in working at the Integrity school for a period of time. As the school is is an English medium school, all subjects are taught in English, which means that you as a volunteer can assist or be teaching in all of the subjects, depending on your expertise. Besides these bookish subjects, the school also allows space for creativity and sports, in which fields you are also more than welcome to participate.

As classes begin at 8 AM, you are required to leave the White House around 7:30, as it takes approximately 10 minutes to reach the school by foot. On the first day of your work, you will be brought to school and depending on your wishes and experience you will be assigned either a specific subject or a specific class to teach. During the following days, when you arrive at the school at 8 AM, you will be assisting the permanent teachers in their work. This both means aiding the individual students but also means being the one teaching the class while the permanent teacher will be the one aiding the individual students. Around 10 AM the children have their first recess, where you are more than welcome to play with them in the small courtyard or you can relax with a cup of tea and prepare for the next classes. After recess, the teaching continues. The content of the classes depends on subjects and the age of the children, but you are more than welcome to join the teacher in forming the leaning activities and themes. Next comes lunch, which the children are provided at school - during this time, you will also be able to have enjoy your own lunch-box provided from your accommodation. Most of the young children attend classes after lunch again until 3 PM, where school ends for the day.

As the school is open most of the year, this project can be joined throughout the year. However, the children have a few set holidays during the school year. Usually they have a month of vacation in December, a 2 weeks break in April/March for Easter, about a month of vacation in July and again a 2 weeks break around October/November. Therefore, it might not be the best idea to plan a work period beginning in the 1st of December. Recommended would be to begin a work period in January or August - that way it will not interfere with the longer holidays of the children. We will recommend that you arrive to Tanzania by the end of the week so that you have the weekend to settle in and get comfortable in the house and area before beginning your work the following Monday.

In Arusha, there are plenty of free time activities to do, both multiple-day trips, one-day trips and afternoon activities. As Tanzania are one of the best places in the world to go on safari, there is plenty opportunity to do so during your placement. At the White House, we can help you customize the safari of your dreams and to make it fit your timetable. Depending on how many days, which parks (Arusha National Park, Serengeti, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater), camping or lodging and whether you wish to be part of a group or travel on a private safari we can help you arrange it all.

As well as safaris there is also plenty of possibility to hike our beautiful mountains, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. Regarding both these mountain treks we can help you arrange everything and advise you about number of days, the different routes and so on.

If you are more in the mood for day-trips, there are tons to choose from. Hiking to Mt. Meru waterfall, visiting authentic Masai villages, swimming in natural hot springs, making coffee the hills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, visiting man-made underground caves and visiting banana plantations are just few of the suggestions, we can give you. All these can be arranged from the White House upon your arrival.

During the afternoons when you are off work, there's also plenty of things to do and see. In the warm weather here in Tanzania, it can be well needed to cool down in a cold swimming pool. Most of the hotels in town offers guests from outside the hotel to use the pool for a small fee. This way you and your friends can get to relax after a day of work. If you are more adventurous and in the mood for an activity, we recommend you to go to Lake Duluti just outside of Arusha, rent a canoe and paddle around the lake for some hours while watching the birds and monkeys along the shore. This relaxing experience will help you gain energy for the rest of your work-week. In case if rainy weather, Arusha has one museum to offer - the Museum of Nature and Wildlife. It doesn't take many hours to walk through, but it can be a fun and different activity. Or you can pay a visit to the Cultural Heritage Center, which is a gallery that has many small shops to visit too.