Lesson preparation for volunteers - this is how you get started right away

Du do not have to study teachingto in your Volunteering or yours Internship to work as an assistant teacher. Your appearance usually already influences the class atmosphere. The children are often shy. Your social skills and empathy are required here. Bad experiences often have a strong impact on the kids. Lack of response or understanding problems can be frustrating, but you should still try to stay patient.

In addition, many students come from poorer backgrounds, so their education and consequently their behavior suffers. Many parents expect teachers to educate their children for them. That's why you should have a portion Bring assertiveness. Don't forget: Bring your creativity. Having fun while teaching is the be-all and end-all. If you want, you can, in consultation with the teachers, do various activities with your students. And the more creative you become, the better.

Finding a topic for your perfect lesson is not that difficult. It is very popular to present your country or your city - because your culture is completely foreign to them and vice versa. For example, the students from tropical or subtropical countries often do not know any snow and are completely fascinated by snowmen or snowball fights.

You can also tell something about your traditions, your food, your family. Working out the flow of your lesson is also not particularly complicated. Photos of your family and your hometown, German children's songs or maybe a few movement exercises - a successful hour is already complete. But not only that is interesting!

Informative topics can also be packaged well, Examples include: nutrition, climate change, recycling. You can do beautiful illustrations or sing songs. Social content is also exciting and can be fun for the children. Fairness, problem solving, human rights, equal rights - these are particularly important points.

A good way to make this topic exciting for elementary school students is exciting teaching material, such as a children's book or a story told. This makes it easier for your students to understand the abstract topic. You can also simply discuss with the responsible teacher which topics are suitable for your school class.

First you have to define the general conditions of your lesson. This includes: the age group of your students, the level (e.g. English for elementary school students), your available time (e.g. 60 minutes) and the goal (e.g. learn to count to 10).

Then you can start, one Plan to create. You should ask yourself how much previous knowledge your students have. What problems can you possibly encounter during your lessons and how can you solve them? You can find one here Plan what your example lesson could ideally look like, It is important to note how much time each unit needs.

• Warm-up: e.g. a short game in which knowledge from the last hour is repeated
• Thematic introduction: You introduce the topic and observe whether every child understands the topic
• Lecture: You explain the content and practice in frontal teaching
• Exercises: You do various exercises or games with the students so that they apply the knowledge
• Lecture: You explain the topic further
• Exercise: The students get another exercise
• Produce: Now the students have to independently produce something from their acquired knowledge and possibly present it
• Cool-down: You ask the students thematically relevant questions
• homework

It is important interactivity to include in your lesson. Pictures, games, songs - this is how the students can concentrate better and remember the information. For games, you can use bingo, charades, activity or hangman, for example. In poorer countries you have often only a blackboard, on this you can eg paint pictures or mind maps. Keep in mind to write big and clear.

If you follow these training tips for volunteers, your lessons will surely become one Enrichment for your students, Let us know how it went! We are always happy to receive feedback on the progress of your stay.