Between 2012 and 2014, I’ve traveled to Africa and Israel to volunteer and teach students. I mostly focused on teaching English as a second language, though there was a little focus on math too.

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South Africa – This was a part of a volunteer trip that had two destinations, the first being South Africa. We stayed mostly in Johannesburg but worked in surrounding areas, such as Soweto and Swa Vana. In Soweto, I taught math to a group of boys in an after school program. Although teaching occurred, my trip to South Africa dealt with physical work as well. We painted classrooms in a public school to promote a warmer learning environment for the students.

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Ethiopia –  I visited Ethiopia for a brief amount of time, but during this trip, I had the opportunity to work with a group of students at a local school. We brought them an abundance of school supplies and then had a chance to work on some creative writing. The group that I traveled with, both Israelis and Montrealers, also created a variety of sports and drama games to play with the students during a lunch program. It was a lot of fun and allowed me to incorporate some of the games I’ve learned throughout my education and years as a camp counselor.

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Israel –  For six weeks, I went to Israel to teach English to Bedouin high school students. It is the third language they learn in school, after Hebrew and Arabic. At times, a language barrier created many difficulties, but with educational games and hand signals, my students began to learn basic sentences in English.