Summer Youth Academy

We are not the only project working in our organization, there is another Erasmus+ volunteering project "SYA'' which stands for "Summer Youth Academy''. For now there are 3 participants in the project Maria, Telmo and Loreta. Maria is from Portugal, she is 21year old and she is studying geology and she loves to teach English to children. Telmo is from Portugal as well, he turned 23 during his stay in Razlog, he is the master of languages because he speaks Italian, French, Spanish and, of course, Portuguese. Loreta comes from Italy and she is 29 years old, she studied social education and she is also a yoga instructor for children. She is here because she wants to share her joy and passion for teaching. To teach and to interact with the local children they use non-formal education mothods like playing games, performing artistic activities, listening to music, trying out different sports activities, taking them to cultural events and teaching them Spanish and English languages.

Non-formal education is a great way to interact with children and to connect with them as the dynamics develop. This way they can build a team spirit not only for children and in between them but also in between the teachers. The conection with children is very important, they feel and notice everything, so if the teachers are not motivated they are not as well. Volunteers teach languages to the children so they can ineract with them easier, but they don't only use actual language, they use also facial expressions, sighns and other ways how to conect with children.

Volunteers can share their experience and knowledge with children, but actually it works both ways, because children can teach a lot of things to us, adults, as well! By games and different kind of activities we can teach them how to be honest to themselves and to others. The best way how kids can learn is through actual exercises and in a practical way, so that is what volunteers try to do in every meeting with childern.

Volunteers have been here only a month and a half and that is not enough to create quality non-formal education programm, so they are still working on it every day, but they feel good about what they have done so far.

You can check what they have been doing till now in their project blog https://iicvolunteerssya.wixsite.com/syaproject