📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Found in 1997, the school was named after the poet, the revolutionary Hoang Van Thu. Hoang Van Thu Primary school is located in the central precinct of Lao Cai city. In the school year 2014-2015, the school has 45 teachers and 960 students aging from 6 to 10.
Main Aims and Activities
Currently, the school is one of the leading schools in the province. The students are highly positive, self-confident and self-organized. In 2015, the school takes part in a national language project with three typical English classes. Many activities such as English Club, improving listening and speaking skills, writing poems in English, English shows have been organized.
💼 What the programme involves
The main task of volunteers at Hoang Van Thu school is English assistance; however, volunteers should expect to play a role as a teacher when needed. Vietnamese teachers need help of volunteers in terms of speaking and listening skills. They can speak reasonably good English but lack the pronunciation skills of a native speaker, which is where volunteers are of great assistance. Volunteers have to follow the syllabus stipulated by the governmental program, but can also give helpful feedback and ideas regarding the syllabus.
Volunteers can often introduce fun new learning games which are thoroughly enjoyed by the kids. One English class has up to 30 students who are divided into small groups to facilitate their interaction and discussion. The local teachers are always both very friendly and very helpful and will always offer support if necessary.
Volunteers can also travel to other schools in the whole province for cultural exchanges and provide help primary, secondary and high school teachers and students in English pronunciation and speaking skills or help judge some English contests.
The children highly enjoy having international volunteers around. Due to their warm reception, volunteers generally become equally fond of the children and enjoy the program very much.
Working time
The class duration is 45 minutes and there is a break between classes varying from five to 15 minutes. The volunteer participates in different classes per day, working from Monday to Friday, from 8:00 to 17:00. Saturdays and Sundays are off. Luch time lasts two hours (from 11.30a.m to 13.30).
🏠 Accommodation on site
The school has rooms for volunteers in the campus. The rooms are equipped with cooking stuff so that volunteers can cook for themselves. Volunteers who prefer to have daily interaction with local people can stay with a local family, usually a teacher or a student’s family. In this case, volunteers will eat with the family or they will cook themseves. They travel to work by bicycle or on foot. Volunteers can choose to stay with the family to experience Vietnamese life as long as they expect then they can move in the campus to stay in their own rooms. There are no students or any families on campus, just the guards so it’s quiet but it’s busy outside the gate.
⚠️ Requirements
Volunteers should pay a program fee of 400USD for the first 2 weeks and 100USD for each week after. This is to cover airport pick-up, orientation, food and accommodation, transportation to work as well as regular support from VPV team.