Why Teaching in Teaching in Ghana?

Home to Africa's friendliest and most welcoming people, Ghana is an intensely colorful land of dense forests, wild savannah and great beaches. Formerly called the "Gold Coast," Ghana is famous for its gold mines, rich fabrics and ancient social traditions. Mixed with a British colonial legacy and other more recent Western influences, Ghana has Africa's most open and exciting modern culture.

Volunteering in Ghana

English is an official language of Ghana, but most children first learn an Africa language like Twi, Ewe and Ga so their English is weaker. Volunteers are placed mainly in schools in the Akuapem Hills, around 1 hour north of Accra the capital, where they teach conversational English to children between the ages of 5 and 14. Since subjects in Ghana tend to be learned by rote, you will find that injecting a bit of fun into the teaching will not only yield the best results but will also make you the most popular teacher in town. If you have an interest in IT, you are able to teach groups of children basic computer skills - even a little knowledge will improve their prospects later on in life.

Why do voluntary Teaching?

Voluntary teaching is beneficial to everyone involved. Firstly, it provides our volunteers with the opportunity to work in an environment culturally different from their own. This provides volunteers with an experience that is unique to Ghana and they will return home with a far greater understanding of the way in which millions of the world's population think and act. They will more importantly have an understanding and appreciation for Ghanaian youth culture and during their teaching classes will gain an insight into the way in which their students think, live and interact. Teaching will ultimately equip them with fuller and better cross-cultural understanding.

Secondly our volunteers are providing an important skill for the students they teach, that of conversational English. Having a native English speaker is a massive advantage and very helpful to the schools in which they teach. Both students and staff members alike wholly appreciate the language skills and enthusiasm our teaching volunteers bring to their classes. The students also use the opportunity of having a foreign teacher to learn about the customs and practices of the West.

We hope our teaching programme will provide an opportunity for two different cultures to learn from each other. In the 21st Century the importance of greater cultural and linguistic exchange cannot be underestimated. We hope to provide new language skills for the students in the schools in which we place volunteers and also for the volunteers themselves to learn and gain knowledge from the classes in which they teach.