A common question we get asked is how to make the most of your project, this is especially true for volunteers doing a short term project, so we have written some tips below to help you make the most of your time overseas: *Have an idea for your first lesson plan ready for your first […]
VESL Volunteer Blog
Travel Advice: Books to Read About India
Doing some reading before you go overseas helps to give you a real sense of what the culture like in your destination country will be like, this is especially true for India where there is a plethora of books out there to help you get a real idea of what Indian culture is like. We […]
Travel Advice: Communicating With Your Host Family
Lots of volunteers worry about being able to communicate with their host family if they speak little or no English, having been placed with a host family myself with VESL who spoke little to no English (although this didn’t stop them trying!), I have put together some handy tips to help you communicate: 1. Learn […]
Teaching Advice: Ice breakers
Having a number of icebreakers up your sleeve can be incredibly useful! They can be used initially to warm up a class or to form a ‘break’ between sections of a lesson. They can be used as a way to introduce yourself to a new class or to introduce a new topic. Entering a new […]
Student Leader Interview: Lucy Allcock
Our next Student Leader post comes from Lucy Allcock who volunteered in India in 2012 and is returning with a team of six volunteers this summer, check out her advice below! I’m Lucy Allcock, just finished my second year at Edgehill University studying Drama and Creative Writing. Last summer, I went to Kerala, Southern India […]
VESL Interview: Programme Manager
As we have asked our Student Leaders to do interviews and provide advice for our volunteers we also thought that we should give you some of our advice as past volunteers ourselves. So this interview comes from myself and I hope you find it useful!! I originally volunteered with VESL in September 2011 for three […]
Fundraising case study: Involving the local community
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
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
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
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
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 […]
Fundraising Case Study: Charity Event
This week Kirsty Armour from Edgehill University has written a fundraising blog for us about the event she held last weekend in her home town. A massive congratulations to Kirsty who raised over £500. Check out how she organised, ran and promoted the event below. I have always been involved in Performing Arts and so […]
Fundraising Idea: Quiz Night
Pub quizzes or quiz nights are a great way to raise money and awareness of your project in your local community and they have a huge potential to raise a large proportion of your target. Read on below to find out how to set up an event in your community or how to run a […]
Fundraising idea: Match Funding
Match funding is when a company you work for or are associated with match the funds that you’re raising for charity, companies do this as a way of encouraging people to do charitable activities. Lots of larger (and sometimes small companies) will have funds set aside specifically for match funding and some small companies are […]
