Program Reviews

LOCAL CONDITIONS

Most of the students of the program attended a full day of public school before-hand each day, except the few disabled children who are not eligible for public school.

The public school system includes 1 English class per week so the program provides an incredible opportunity to learn and practice English.

The students appeared well-rested and nourished and generally ready to learn - mentally and emotionally.

Student attendance is not required. Those who come most often are either there for personal or familial interest which makes teaching easier. Some students with genuine interest to learn also have family/religious obligations competing for their attention. The inconsistent attendance day to day makes planning lessons a challenge.

CULTURE SHOCK

Anyone from the developing world is susceptible to mild culture shock of small town Asia.

There are smiles and friendly faces, but English is not common outside of the program and tourist locations.

Independent, analytical thinkers are best served to treat 'suggestions' from locals as genuine demands and to monitor themselves rather than waiting for anyone to correct potentially offensive behavior (disobedience to rules / mores, relatively provocative clothing styles, personal space, personal property etc...) . Asian locals likely won't make their desires or demands as obvious as a Westerner.

My location was 6km from a medium sized town with good shopping, good internet cafes, and myriad eating options; basically everything except a mall and movie-theater.

IMPACT

The program beneficiaries (students, families of students, and community) are genuinely thankful and appreciative for the effort of the volunteers.

The students of my class paid attention during lessons and participated in activities. However my experience was with older students and may not represent the norm.

Without provided curriculum each volunteer is unfortunately prone to 'fly blind', repeat redundant lessons and skip important other lessons. The top improvement to my experience would have been to teach within a well designed curriculum. However, in place of a 'well designed' program, I'm happy to have the flexibility to design my own system. Many students will not fair so well with the improvisation required in the lesson-planning.

SUPPORT

The support from program facilitators was adequate. They are all social, energetic, and helpful.

There was little/no teaching plan available for teaching volunteers. This allows for great flexibility for the volunteers, but likely provides an often-reduntant curriculum

ADVICE

The largest variables to the enjoyment of the program are job-fit and volunteer-volunteer dynamics. Aligning the teaching job position (including age of students and subjects to cover) are a match for the personality of the volunteer, and volunteering with a group of like minded (language, mood, & interest) people are both strongly recommended and can be considered before accepting the position.

Due to spotty student attendance, one-day, standalone lessons are recommended.

I really liked this program, the children are very sweet, it is very safe and the people in the village are nice. If you have any problems you can talk about it with the people from the program, they are very helpful and nice. The children of the morning class really appreciate everything you do. I am very happy I could work with them. You have to prepare lessons for the children in the afternoon every day. They already go to normal school in the morning, so it's nice to do something active. The accommodation is very good.

I was essentially put in charge of a class of 15-20 children aged 5-7. There was also a broad spectrum of skill level and knowledge amongst the students, ranging from those who were very capable of learning the new concepts to those who had difficulty writing in Indonesian, let alone in English.

The experience was both challenging and very rewarding. It was rewarding in two main ways, firstly, to see that the kids were learning some basic English words and having fun provided me with a sense of achievement and satisfaction. Secondly, my Indonesian speaking skills improved exponentially and my teaching skills definitely got a work out.

My main criticisms are as follows. Firstly, there was no curriculum at the school, and so it was totally up to me to find out what English level the children were at. This makes it hard for the children to progress because with each volunteer they may be taught things that they have already done or things that are too difficult for their current level.

Secondly, the class was too big. This was not an issue of class control, as the kids were well behaved and I could comfortably control the entire class. This was more an issue of differing levels of ability. There were basically two main groups in my class - extroverts who worked hard and were able, and introverts who were a little shy and a majority of whom were unable to write neatly or at all. Because of this wide spectrum of ability I realized I had to create easier tasks for the less able and harder tasks for the more able students. Having two teachers or having two streams would be the solution for this group.

What I have seen are very motivated children and staff. New coming volunteers are receiving a warm welcome and de guidence of the coördinators is also very good. Friendly people, staff are very open for new ideas. This helps student volunteers. So the benefit works on both sides. What I like the most about VP Bali, is that the number one goal is that the children learn, have fun also and the local people are the ones who benefit.

The volunteer programs available were helpful to the development of the underprivileged children.
l especially enjoyed teaching English to 8-12 years children in the afternoons.
Working with the disable children in the morning was challenging, but rewarding.
Great support from the program's volunteer coordinator during my 6 weeks volunteering.
Accommodation was at a Balinese home-stay near the learning center, so it was really good to experience the real Balinese culture away from the tourist locations.

Overall great experience for my future social work back home.