STIMULUS

STIMULUS is a project established by the university to help local schools with teaching. When you decide to volunteer within the project, you have to choose the area, which you want help out with. The areas you can choose from comprise IT, chemistry, physics, maths, etc. The main focus in on scientific and technical subjects. Having picked your subject, you are assigned to a local school, ranging from primary schools to sixth-forms. In addition, you have to have a security (DBS) check done, otherwise you would not be able to work with children. After all these procedures, you can enjoy assisting in the lessons.

Having gone through the selection process, I have been assigned to assist in Computing lessons at local sixth-form. For already two terms, I have been weekly commuting to the school, which due to its location at the other end of the city gives me a nice opportunity for a bit more exercise. What usually happens is that once I arrive, the teacher tells me what the plan for the lesson is, after which he explains it to the class and then both of us wander around the classroom to help anyone who is in troubles.

What does all that bring to the volunteer? Well, besides the good feeling of helping out, teaching assistance improves communication skills a lot. What I feel is especially useful for me is the fact that I can practice English even outside the academic environment. In addition, it is nice to see how the educational systems in the UK and in the Czech Republic differ. Out of all the differences, two are stuck on my mind. First, no physical contacts can be made with the students at all, including patting on the back. Second, the feedback should be positive, which I already found in my supervisions at the university.

To conclude, I have been enjoying STIMULUS and I really look forward to the three remaining lessons before the project ends for this academic year. Hopefully, I will have enough time next year to join this project again. In addition, I hope I managed to motivate at least one reader of this article to at least consider joining some tutoring programme as the education is what matters and what brings the improvements.

link: http://stimulus.maths.org/content/