The EtonHouse Community Fund (ECF) has launched Teacher Everywhere™, an innovative programme to train ‘Volunteer Teachers’ for free to enable them to work with and teach children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Recruitment of volunteers started in October 2020, and within three weeks, ECF received an overwhelming response from more than 200 volunteers stepping forward to express interest to be a part of Teacher Everywhere™. They come from diverse backgrounds, nationalities and professions, from homemakers, scientists to doctors. Many of them are parents, while some secondary and high school students have also signed up to volunteer.
EtonHouse educators and trainers have been hired to train the volunteers.
The course will be delivered over 6 sessions and includes 2 practicums.
Volunteers are not required to have a prior background or experience in teaching.
The course content will include child development, classroom management, communication with children, managing challenging behavior, positive guidance, strategies for leading effective story-telling and learning experiences.
The course including all materials are free of charge and will be delivered by highly experienced and trained early childhood leaders and facilitators from EtonHouse.
On the successful completion of the course, the volunteers will be certified to facilitate Joyful Learning, an exclusive programme created for children 4-6 years old. Based on 40 classic storybooks, the year-long programme delivered every week to children from disadvantaged families will cover literacy, numeracy, creative expression and fine motor skills. Volunteers will also engage parents during these sessions, supporting them with practical tips to extend their children’s learning at home.
No child should be left behind. Through Teacher Everywhere and our Joyful Learning programme, ECF hopes to increase our outreach and improve the lives of underprivileged children by equipping them with skills and knowledge to be successful in school and beyond.
The programme was inspired by a ground-up initiative in 2019 which saw EtonHouse teachers providing weekly English enrichment classes to 3-4-year-old children at Henderson WeLL Centre. Says Ms. Josephyne Ho, Principal of EtonHouse at Mountbatten who led her team on the year-long volunteering journey and has now joined as a Teacher Everywhere™ mentor, “As many of my teammates are teachers with young families, it took a lot to give up their family time during weekends.
I am extremely grateful to have a team of like-minded teachers who understand the value of literacy skills especially for children who are at risk. The children picked up literacy skills and experienced the joy of learning and reading. To see them attend the sessions with enthusiasm and learn to read was extremely rewarding.”
Mrs. Ng Gim Choo, Founder of the EtonHouse International Group and EtonHouse Community Fund, who initiated the thinking behind Teacher Everywhere™ says “No child should be left behind. Through Teacher Everywhere™ and our Joyful Learning programme, ECF hopes to increase our outreach and improve the lives of vulnerable children by equipping them with skills and knowledge to be successful in school and beyond.”
Upon completion of training, Teacher Everywhere™ volunteers will partner with various community groups to work directly with children and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. To sign up as a volunteer or partner, connect with ECF at enquiry@ehcommunityfund.org.sg
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Peimin Lin
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