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• You are here: Home | AV Ventures | South Africa Venture | Itinerary

Itinerary - Africa and Asia Venture

Itinerary

ARRIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The group flight departs from London Heathrow and will be seen off by one of the AV team. You will need to fly into O.R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. One of our representatives will meet you and help with the transfer to your flight to Bloemfontein. Kate Groch, our AV representative, will meet you there and take you on the two hour drive to Philippolis, your home for the next three months.

BRIEFING AND ORIENTATION

A chance to settle in, unwind after the hectic few days leading up to your departure and get to know your AV group. The orientation course is important to make sure you are fully prepared when you start work in the schools. The course will be led by Kate, the AV in country representative, giving you a chance to get to know her too, and will cover the following:

• History, culture and customs of the Republic of South Africa (RSA)
• Safety, health and security
• Teaching techniques, lesson planning and practice
• Education system in RSA
• Basic Afrikaans (the main language of the area, apart from English)

You will have the time to settle into your house and visit all five schools in the surrounding area, at least two of which you will be working in.

THE PROJECT

What you do each day is partly down to you and what you have chosen to do; rarely are two days on AV the same!

Philippolis has five different schools, covering each age group and the AV group will be split to cover each of them at different times of the day.  For those wanting to working with children and teach the South Africa venture is therefore a great opportunity to work with children across a range of different ages. The term is also split into two shorter terms with a two week break in the middle – which you can spend in Philippolis or use to travel further afield.

A typical daily programme is likely to see you working with primary school children in the morning as well as teaching in the High School in the afternoons. You may get involved with the extramural activities, such as sport, music, art and drama. In the classroom all lessons are taught in English and the schools appreciate help with English, maths, science, and computers (if they have any). You may also spend time with students in smaller groups, teaching them to read, write and speak English. Late afternoons will be spent working with the "Matrics", the senior year students. You can teach in pairs or on your own – it is up to you and how confident you feel. You will spend time planning for lessons and may have homework to mark!

For those doing sports coaching you will run all the PE lessons and arrange sports clubs. PE lessons may involve big classes and little equipment; they are a good test of you initiative and resourcefulness. Games such as tag or duck, duck goose are great for their simplicity and mass participation. Sports clubs involving football, rugby, rounders, volleyball and netball are all actively encouraged. There is also the option of teaching new games which you might know. Many AVs arrange fixtures or tournaments between the different AV schools or an inter school sports day.

In addition to working in the classroom or on the sports’ field AVs make a big impact by running school clubs – these have included debating, reading, French, modern dance, art, music or drama. AVs have also been involved with community projects and painting classrooms.

Each day you will spend time socialising in the staff-room, getting to know you fellow teachers and learning more about them. They will be keen to talk about where you are from, your family and life at home! The teachers will be on hand to show you round and advise where to shop, the nearest internet café etc. They will also be a good link into the community, with the potential for helping at local orphanages, medical clinics or community centres depending on what you want to do.

At weekends and public holidays you can stay at home or travel further afield with the other AVs. Some weekends you may want to do a bit of painting/building work at your schools or organise a sports' event; and on others, South Africa awaits! The Orange/Xhariep River is on your doorstep and towns such as Ladysmith and Bloemfontein only a couple of hours' drive away. 

To find out what a typical day on project might be like, take a look at our ‘Day in the life of an AV’ feature, written by AVs who have been there and done it themselves!