Reading to children is perhaps one of the most important services our volunteers perform. Read to a child and see how their face lights up.

" ... children look forward to human contact, the more inspiring the better. They want to hear your voice, listen to you read a story, they want to converse with you about your world, they want to answer your questions about their world, they will observe how you move, talk to you about it and they will imitate you. In short, they want to be around you, and they want you to be around them. They will show a kind of affection and warmth that you will seldom experience from 'strangers' . . ."

- an excerpt from a Volunteer's log

Read other experiences:
Sarah Rutton

Transforming Education Through Partnerships

There are various ways in which you could volunteer your time and efforts at our partner schools or at the resource centre. Here are some examples:

  • Read or converse with kids in order to increase English and Tamil language literacy
  • Introduce computers as a learning tool for teachers and students
  • Conduct skill building sessions/workshops for teachers and students

Please click on the 'Contribute' button on the bottom of the page to volunteer with us.

Following are some specific requirements for each of our projects. For those with specific skill sets related to education, see the Teacher Development section below.

Schools

Our Partner Schools are always in need of volunteers who can

  1. Read or converse with kids in order to increase English and Tamil language literacy
  2. Support development of numeracy (mathematics)
  3. Introduce computers as a learning tool for teachers and students
  4. Accompany children and teachers on field trips
  5. Offer career counseling and guidance to students
  6. Conduct skill building sessions/workshops for teachers and students
They are in need of resources, such as:

  • Teacher resource books on:
    • Education
    • Psychology
    • Classroom practices
    • Educational films/documentaries
    • Visual displays for classrooms
  • Story books for ages 3 and above
  • Educational puzzles and toys for children
  • Picture charts

If you have any of the above that you would like to donate, please get in touch.

Students and MSW candidates can help conduct surveys in Thiruneermalai, Chennai and in Anaikoil, Nagapattinam where some of our Partner Schools are located.

Click here to view our Partner Schools

Small School Initiative

Volunteers with Telegu and Tamil language skills will be especially helpful. They will engage the children (3-8 year olds) in the following areas:

  1. Reading
  2. Story telling
  3. Songs
Doctors who can conduct medical camps in villages - ReddyVaripalle, A.P. (45km from Madanapalle) and Vichur,T.N. (40km from Chennai).

Students and MSW candidates can help conduct a variety of surveys in villages where some of our Small Schools are located

Teacher Development

Current/Ex-teachers can conduct sessions in:

  1. Increasing computer literacy
  2. Improving spoken English
  3. Improving creative classroom strategies
  4. Creative uses of stories and songs in lessons
  5. Ways to conduct field trips

Current/Ex-Montessori teachers can:

  1. Observe practice in existing classrooms
  2. Provide feedback

Special educators can conduct sessions on:

  1. Importance of and creating a remedial curriculum
  2. Learning disabilities: detection and intervention
  3. Assesments

Psychologists can conduct sessions in:

  1. Child psychology
  2. Early childhood development
  3. Adolescent behaviors and issues
  4. Creative interventions for establishing discipline

If you have any questions or would like to get more information, please get in touch.

We would love to hear from you and look forward to having you join us.

© Relief Foundation - 2011