When I came back from Macedonia to
Resita on 23th of October, I immediately felt the change in the association.
The overall atmosphere became more
positive and pleasant. I've seen a smile on people's faces and an overall
friendlier attitude amongst volunteers and between volunteers and the staff
from the association.
I can also say that Nevo's staff
were way more involved in their work and were way more open and willing to help
us and provide us with the necessary things that we need in our private lives
and the voluntary work which gave them the impression of a professional working
team that could be an example for other NGO's.
In my opinion, the drastic change
happened because, at about that time, Nevo had already started other new
projects which brought more volunteers from all around Europe and Western Asia.
Also, we had more opportunities for
our voluntary work. We had many schools, special schools youth and elderly
centers to choose from.
My first week after coming back From
Macedonia started by going and having fun with the people at the elderly center
and the children from Semenic kindergarten who I missed so much.
During the first weeks, I was so
lucky to meet a very interesting and friendly guy called Vali Balaban. It
happened while I was in a supermarket, we started a random conversation and it
turned out that he worked in the nearby mountain resort. And he was so kind as to
take me on trips to explore more the city of Resita while telling me all the
interesting facts about the history of the city and the region. He also took me
to see ''Semenic Mountain'', the place where he works, ''Three waters'',''
Valug'' and some interesting villages.
Also, Nevo has organized a team
building on the 1st of November that held a place at Baila Herculane.
This was the perfect timing for me
to get to know the new volunteers and spend more quality time with them while
simultaneously learning new useful things that could help me during my EVS
stage.
The new volunteers that I've met
were very friendly, open-minded and intelligent which made expressing myself
and befriending them very easy.
I pretty much liked the trainers and
how they organized our sessions. The lectures and educational games that we
were exposed to were very interesting and fun that taught us a lot about
teamwork between volunteers and recipients. They showed so useful that I am
still using some of the methods and techniques in schools and kindergartens
that the trainers used on us during the team building.
After the team building, I
immediately started creating non-formal activities for schools and
experimenting with my ideas and implementing them.
I can say that the greatest joy that
I felt in my entire life is after performing a method in schools that showed
successful and amusing.
Also, I started going to ''Primavara
Center '' during the morning hours where we were free to choose different
classrooms in which we observed and helped teachers with their activities.
That was the first time I visited
the school. I loved the teachers and their dedication to every child which gave
me a lot of inspiration. The children there were very interesting and every
individual was different and unique that made my experience fun.
I can surely say that aside from the
Semenic kindergarten, Primavara is one of my favorite schools.
Schools:
The places that I've visited and the
children that I worked with most of the time were:
Primary school ''Generala2'', School
for children with special needs ''Primavara'' and Primary school ''Traian
Lalescu''.
Methods used:
Generala2
In this school, I used interactive
non-formal methods while trying to explain the activities to the students only
in English without recourse to the native language. The purpose of this was to
create an atmosphere in which students were exposed to the language so they can
acquire it easily while having fun.
I used a lot of energizers, fun
interactive games, English teaching based games, and drawings.
Primavara
In the evening hours, we used a lot
of interactive physical games that helped the children develop their motor
skills.
Traian
Lalescu
In this school, we used interactive
methods with a lot of energizers and fun games. We also always had one Romanian
volunteer with us that translated the activities from English to Romanian so
the children can comprehend them better.
Semenic
Kindergarten
In this kindergarten, I focused more
on teaching English words and sentences through fun games and lessons suitable
for the students there accompanied by a lot of energizers, exposing them to the
language through the natural approach.
Materials used:
Worksheets, color-pens, Modified
games from a copy of the book of ''Alliance100 ways to energize groups: Games
to use in workshops,
meetings and the community''.
