EVS project “Hopeshine”
Duration:9 month
Local community
“The school N 14 for children with eyesight problems was established in 1939 in Yerevan.This school is the only one in Armenia where the education is organized with braille system. Most of the children stay in the school and return home only for the week-end. The school gives children secondary and specialized education.
Objectives and motivation
The main aim of the project is to work with children who have different kinds of problems concerning eyesight, blindness. There are different creativity workgroups in the school during which the volunteer will be asked to assist children - painting, handicrafts, singing, playing piano, dancing etc., and during which the children get used to different kinds of arts which they can use in future. The staff of the school needs help to organize more activities for the children, help in teaching foreign languages and bring new ideas and interests to their work. Apart from working with the children, the volunteer will have a possibility to spend his/her free time with them and to learn a lot about Armenia. The volunteer will be involved in discussions and seminars about the future programs of the children and will be able to share his/her opinion on the situation. With the help of the volunteer they will be able to organize more workshops, in which the children according to their health can draw, sculpture, sing and dance. The volunteer needs to have educational experience and work experience with children (playing, school activities, workcamps with children). Also he/she needs to be interested in different art aspects like: paiting, singing, dancing and etc.
The volunteer will participate in most activities with the children and have a variety of different tasks:
- The volunteer will help children to participate in all arts workshops and to support the staff in organizing these activities (painting, sculpturing, handicrafts, etc.)
- Assist teachers in elementary foreign language teaching
- He/she will establish social contact with individual children and their parents by chats and games.
- He/she will present his/her country and culture to the children, organize dancing and singing evenings, teach songs and etc.
- Create workshops on different interesting topics
- Excursions and outdoor activities
- The volunteer will have the task to help organizing exhibitions of the art works of the children on different topics
- Organizing sport competition activities in the territory
- Organization of thematic evenings and meetings
- Searching for international partners and donors in different countries, making posters and booklets about the school in English
Support and training will be provided by the staff of the organization and by the community. The volunteer will be invited to social events and will be supported in learning and practicing basic Armenian language, according to his/her wish. The volunteer will work 5 days per week (approx. 30 hours) and will have weekends off.
Recruitment
There are no gender, age and other requirements for the selection/recruitment of volunteers. The volunteer should be interested or have some experience in working with children; he/she should be kind, communicative and reliable. It’s preferable that he/she speaks Russian or English and of course good French.
Practical arrangements for the volunteer
Accommodation and food:
During his/her voluntary service the volunteer will live in a big house with other EVS volunteers. All facilities will be provided, he/she will be provided with beds, sheets and linen.
Language training:
The language training will be provided by a language teacher 2 times per week during 4 months.
Training and support:
The volunteer will work and will be trained by the teacher who is in charge of the pedagogical tuition. Every Friday the volunteer will participate on the teacher’s meetings and trainings about pedagogical aspects.