Every year many young people leave school for a few weeks or months and enjoy an unusual type of educational program. They learn new skills by living in a different country and doing unusual jobs. There are several organizations. They help students to find the experience they are looking for. The table below shows a few possibilities for students.
Country | Job | Time | Description |
India | Teaching young children | One month | ·Teaching music and dance ·Helping children learn how to communicate |
Ghana | Health care work | Two months | ·Seeing how doctors work in a less developed country ·Helping care for patients |
Thailand | Saving elephants | Three weeks | ·Cleaning elephants ·Helping train elephants |
New Zealand | Teaching Chinese | Six weeks | ·Helping adults learn Chinese ·Spreading Chinese culture |
One interesting possibility is helping elephants in Thailand. Most people think of elephants as animals in zoos. In fact, many elephants in Thailand are no longer kept in cages. Now, hundreds of them are homeless. They don't have owners to care for them. Although they may look well, they are often in poor health and don't have enough to eat.
One center in Thailand cares for these elephants. It gives them a safe and natural living space. When they are at the center, they stay in a building but are free to walk around. Students come from all over the world to help here. The student helpers work with the elephant keepers. These keepers train the students in caring for the elephants. In the morning, they go to the forest together and lead the elephants to the center. They clean them and give them food. In the afternoon. They take the animals back into the forest for the night. Helping at the center is interesting and the young people learn a lot.
