Introduction
Päikesejänku kindergarten in Tallinn is an educational institute for children. They have 2 separate buildings and all together 7 groups of kids. There are 155 kids in the kindergarten, from ages between 2-7 years.
Kids learn through playful activities inside the class and also outside on different topics – math, Estonian, environment and science, arts and craft activities, robotics and programming. We also have music lessons and physical education (for everyone) and for extra activities parents can send the kids to ceramics and art class, dancing, singing or yoga lessons. A big part of our learning environment is that we put a big empahize on also learning outside of the kindergarten, which means we visit a lot of museums, parks, theaters etc.
Kindergarten has many means to make learning fun and modern – easy access to the city, creativity room with lots of art and craft supplies, IT-technology (teacher’s computers, tablets, different kind of educational robots, interactive board etc). Every year we have many traditional events, where all the kids, teachers and parents are involved. We all enjoy the preparation part as much as the event itself.
Location
We are located in the center of the capital of Estonia – Tallinn. The population of the city is around 400 000 people. Tallinn is a beautiful and lovely town on the shore of Baltic Sea. The kindergarten is about 10 minutes away from the city center and has good connection with public transportation.
Work tasks and proposed activities
The typical tasks for the volunteer would be helping teachers in everyday indoor and outdoor activities and participating in learning activities. The volunteer will join in our visits to museums, art exhibitions, sports events, outings. He/she will introduce his/her country, nation and cultural traditions to our children, parents and staff (e.g. easy games and dances for children, national food). The volunteer will participate in our traditional kindergarten events and folk calendar celebrations.
Volunteer is a part of a team whose task is to assist the teacher in the learning process. The duties are:
- Directly assisting the children individual work preparing teaching devices if necessary.
- Taking part in the study visits , in outdoor education and in the movement activities.
- Assisting the teachers in the preparation of the traditional house events – sports days, play nights, folklore festival, health mornings, study visits, field trips etc.
Volunteer would be fully included in organizing the events. Kindergarten is equipped with an innovative and modern information and communication technology (ICT) tools. We have computer network and also WiFi hot spots, which facilitates the use of ICT tools. This enables to diversify the learning activities. ICT tools are used actively in learning, creating learning materials, making animations and videos with children etc.
Requirements for the volunteer
- Warm and friendly volunteer, who shares the love of children as much as we do.
- Open-minded, creative, independent and innovative young person, who shows initiative, brings new ideas to our kindergarten, comes up with fun activities and takes part of our events with enthusiasm.
- Curious person who is eager to learn new things but also to share about their own culture.
- Enjoys being outside, no matter the weather.
- Willingness to learn a bit of Estonian through playful activities with children.
PS: volunteers who speak Portugese, Italian or Spanish are especially welcome to apply, as the teacher with whom the volunteer will be working with speaks Portugese and understands also Spanish and Italian – besides Estonian and English of course 🙂
But of course they appreciate all languages and cultures, as long as you have the motivation!
Learning outcomes
The volunteer will get an opportunity to explore how to work with and teach pre-school children. They will learn cooperation skills, flexibility, innovative teaching methods, self analysis skills and self-management skills, responsibility, self-confidence, creativity and acceptance of different cultures and people.
Application
To apply fill in the application form in the left column and send it to evs@estyes.ee.
We are flexible regarding the project dates which means we can change the service dates according to the needs of volunteer.
