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The rewards of volunteer teaching in Honduras
Aine Carvill, from Dublin, volunteered to teach in a music school in Honduras with i-to-i.com. This is her experience of a fulfilling holiday with a difference ...
The school I volunteered in, Escuela Experimental de la Musica para los Ninos, was one of only two state run primary schools in Honduras that specialise in teaching music to children who are gifted. Totally self-funded, the school regularly runs our version of cake sales where the mothers make cheese tortillas (deep fried corn pancakes) and sell them during break to raise money, or arrange days when the kids can wear their own clothes instead of the school uniform - at a price. These ideas and others contribute to the school fund, which pays for the buying of desks, chairs, chalk and litter collection.
Being the first ever volunteer native English speaker that the kids had ever encountered, I was a huge hit. In fact, on day one, when I was introduced to each class, the welcome was so riotous - whooping, cheering and clapping - and I was quite overwhelmed. The closest that I will ever come to understanding what it's like to be a pop star!
I have to say that it was a privilege to be part of the children's lives even for that very short length of time.
Not only did I leave in the knowledge that they are now adept in doing the Hokey Cokey and making the farmyard noises of Old MacDonald, but I had also introduced them to language skills that will hopefully prove vital in their search for a job. Perhaps the piece de resistance was my favourite class performing 'The Wild Rover' with their face painted with the tricolor flag of Honduras at their 25th anniversary concert.
Overall, my three month experience in Honduras was one of the most amazing times in my life. I needed to run away and reinvent myself, which I did, with a confidence that I could not have found had I stayed in the UK.
For me, it was a mental, physical and spiritual journey, which was accomplished and with the help of the people I met along the way and the multitude of experiences that I encountered. They have all blended into the most wonderful collage of memories, which I will carry with me forever.
For more information on TEFL and other volunteer holidays, visit www.i-to-i.com.
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