Volunteer Teaching English Overseas
Rachel Cooper, Sri Lanka Volunteer
At a glance - Volunteer language assistants and English teachers needed in rural primary & secondary schools in Central Sri Lanka.
4-6 weeks summer or 3-12 month projects (Jan, May/June, Sept start dates)
» learn more »
We are still looking for 3+ month volunteers for September – October 2013 start dates and January 2014, our summer applications for 2014 are now open.
Learn more about OUR PROJECTS
We are a UK based charity, run by a dedicated team of experienced past volunteers.
We run well-supported projects providing opportunities to volunteer abroad throughout the year, helping support rural schools teaching English in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.
We are passionate about making each project a success and aim for every volunteer to feel proud of their achievement.
If you are looking for an experience you will never forget - get involved in a meaningful overseas volunteer programme
Download our info pack, browse our FAQ, read volunteer feedback & get in touch if you have any questions…
Don’t put it off - send us your application form & attend our next info & selection event
We have already started recruiting so please apply asap to avoid missing out.
The projects focus on volunteers teaching English or working as language assistants in rural primary or secondary schools.
We also have a small number of community development / orphanage support roles in Southern India.
4-6 weeks projects run through June-Sept.
3-12 month projects can run throughout the year – Jan, Jun & Sept start dates are preferred.
People of all ages (18 – 80) who have energy, enthusiasm and a commitment to do their best.
Our application process is open to all. We’ll give you honest feedback so, even if your not 100% sure yet, please apply and we can discuss things with you.
For more details go to >>> OUR PROJECTS
Responsible Volunteering Overseas (5/1/2013) - In response to today’s BBC News article on volunteering overseas, we’d like to stress that nothing about volunteering with VESL is ‘voluntourism’… it’s challenging work, and of real and measurable benefit to those schools and communities we work with. All volunteers are interviewed and we don’t just send anyone willing to cough up the funding [...]
Wild Fund used to promote hygiene in schools in India (4/25/2013) - Ingrid Masters volunteered in Kerala from January to March 2013, while she was there she used funding from the VESL Wild Fund and a personal donation to help improve sanitation and hygiene at the school she was volunteering in. Sanitation and hygiene is a really important issue for students in India as they use their right hand [...]
Edgehill Volunteers Win Awards (4/24/2013) - You may have seen our article last week about some of our volunteers who were short listed for Volunteer of the Year Award and Volunteer Group of the Year Award at Edgehill University for their work over the past year in supporting VESL and rural schools in Thailand and India. Today we are very pleased [...]
VESL Volunteers Nominated for Awards at Edgehill University (4/17/2013) - A huge congratulations to our volunteers who have been short listed for the Volunteer of the Year Awards at Edgehill University next week. Lucy Allcock has been shortlisted for Volunteer of the Year Award and our team of volunteers who were pioneers for VESL in Phayao Province have been nominated for Volunteer Group of the [...]
Congratulations to the VESL Major Series Runners (3/12/2013) - A huge congratulations to everyone who ran the Major Series in Tunbridge Wells on Saturday for VESL and raised £955! A team of past volunteers & VESL supporters endured the freezing weather and 20 obstacles over 10 kilometers to raise money…so a MASSIVE thank you to Eve (past volunteer), Katrina, Lauren, Charlotte, Alastair, Nick and [...]
Fundraising case study: Involving the local community (5/17/2013) - This week we have a great case study from our volunteer Sophie Ramshaw a student from Hull University who has done some great fundraising in her local community, check out the different events she held below to see how she met her fundraising target. To reach my fundraising target I decided to get the whole [...]
Teaching Advice: Learning Styles (5/16/2013) - All of us learn using different learning styles, so it is important as a teacher to ensure that you are incorporating these styles into your classroom practice. This way you are giving the pupils in your class the best chance of being able to understand the lesson as well as keeping them engaged and interested! There [...]
Student Leader Interview: Andrew Durrant (5/14/2013) - This is the second of our Student Leader blog posts (last week we had a post from James Hallworth), drawing on their experiences from last year and previous overseas volunteering they have written some useful advice. Our second post comes from Andrew Durrant, a student at Keele University. I am currently finishing my final year [...]
Student Leader Interview: James Hallworth (5/7/2013) - We will be bringing you a series of blog posts from our Student Leaders and past volunteers about their experiences of working with VESL and some handy tips for preparing to go overseas. Our first post comes from James Hallworth a student at Edgehill University. I have just finished my second year of studies at [...]
Fundraising Idea: BBQ (5/3/2013) - Summer is here! Okay we may be getting ahead of ourselves but a GLIMPSE of summer is here and there are two bank holidays in May (plus obviously all the weekends!), so let’s hope for once we get good weather and can crack out the BBQ’s and some Pimms! Who doesn’t love a BBQ? BBQ’s [...]
