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• You are here: Home | AV Ventures | Tanzania Venture | Itinerary

Itinerary - Africa and Asia Venture

Itinerary

ARRIVING IN TANZANIA

The group flight departs from London Heathrow and will be seen off by one of the AV team. You will fly into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi from where you will take a connecting flight to Kilimanjaro Airport in Northern Tanzania. Here your AV representative will meet you on arrival and take you to the L’Oasis Hotel on the outskirts of Arusha – the base for your orientation course.

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 arrive at school. The course will be led by the AV in country representative, giving you a chance to get to know them too, and will cover the following:

• History, customs and culture of Tanzania and its people
• Safety, health and security
• Teaching techniques, lesson planning and practice
• Some language training in Swahili
• The education system in Tanzania

The orientation course for the Tanzania Venture takes place at The L’Oasis Hotel, situated in private grounds on the outskirts of the town on Arusha, facing Mount Meru. You will stay in dormitory accommodation with your fellow AVs and have all your meals cooked for you.  In between briefings you will have the chance to relax, explore Arusha and settle into your new surroundings.

At the end of the orientation course you will be taken to your AV houses, ready to start your project for real. Here the AV representative will leave you to settle into your new home, but remember they’re never more than a phone call away if needed!

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!

In the classroom all lessons are taught in English. The schools appreciate help in English, maths, science, art, drama, music and computers (if they have them). You may spend time with students who are struggling, giving them help with reading, writing and speaking English. You can teach with you partner, or on your own, and on average will have at least 12 academic and PE/games lessons every week. Class sizes vary but can be over 100 students. Outside of this 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, athletics, rounders, volleyball, cricket 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 include debating, reading, French, modern dance, art, music or drama; AV volunteers have run talent shows, produced school newsletters and magazines or started a choir. Many AVs choose to brighten up classrooms by painting them or decorating the walls with educational  murals from the alphabet and numbers to world maps and the solar system - let your imagination run wild and leave your mark!

Each day you will spend time socialising in the staff room, usually over a cup of chai (sweet tea) or lunch.  This is a great chance to get to know you fellow teachers and learn more about them. They will be keen to talk about where you are from, your family and life at home whilst you can practice your Swahili! 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 to other work within the community, with the potential for helping at orphanages, medical clinics or community centres depending on where you are and how much you want to do outside your responsibilities in the school.

At weekends and public holidays you can stay at home or travel further afield. You may want to continue work on projects you have started, such as painting a classroom or run an inter school sports competition. Alternatively you can go to the local town to do some shopping, check emails, catch up on news from home, or meet up with other AVs, visit their schools and travel to different parts of the country such as the Ngorogoro Crater. Tanzania has the longest school terms of all the Africa Ventures, often broken up with a ‘half term’ in the middle. Many AVs use this to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or head to Zanzibar.

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!