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What does a Comenius Assistant do?

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What does a Comenius Assistant do?    

Typical activities you might undertake as a Comenius Assistant    

Comenius Assistants work in schools and colleges across Europe for between 12 and 16 hours per week. Their main tasks could include:

Teach English / your mother tongue
Every assistant will spend some time teaching his or her native language. This will generally be in conversation classes although some assistants with older students may have to teach grammar or written comprehension. If you are bilingual, for example a speaker of Welsh, Urdu or Punjabi, you may also get the chance to teach this language and show the cultural and linguistic diversity of the UK.

Teach your specialist subject
This is especially relevant if you are intending to pursue a career as a teacher. You could choose to go Spain to improve your Spanish but you might prefer to practise your Spanish-teaching skills in Romania. Intending geography teachers could gain practical experience by working in Iceland, or historians could learn from colleagues in Poland, for example.

Enhance the UK / European dimension across the curriculum
This means that you could get involved in a variety of different subjects such as history, geography or social studies and offer the UK/European perspective on themes as far-ranging as the Second World War, immigration and football hooliganism.

If you have an interest or skill in a particular area (piano player, budding actor, artist, or sports coach), you could be asked to contribute to music, drama, art or PE classes. This will enable you to come into contact with a wider range of students and teaching staff.

Raise awareness of the European Union
You may be asked to teach European political or social culture. With younger pupils this could be anything from naming the countries on the map of Europe to recognising the flags or languages of each country. Older students might have to debate weightier subjects such as the Euro(€) or the implications of further European integration. Alternatively, you could be asked to organise a Europe Day or produce visual displays for the classroom.

Help develop links with other European countries
Your host school may already have links with certain European countries. If this is the case, you could be asked to help translate correspondence, liaise with the project co-ordinators of their partner schools or help prepare students and/or staff for a study visit overseas. You might even be asked to find a school in the UK which would be willing to set up such a link with your host school. British Council can help you find partner schools.

Enhance the extra-curricular life of your host school
After-school clubs, school outings, special cultural events, language classes for staff or parents, presentations to local community groups - these are just some of the ways you can get involved with life outside the classroom.