1. Bringing culture into the classroom
Scholars into Schools
Bringing culture into the classroom

2. What’s it all about?
Helping local children learn about life beyond their classroom;
sharing information about students’ home countries, culture, language and traditions;
building links in the community and between the university and the county;
Developing the transferable skills of international students.
The scheme is designed to encourage international students studying in Durham to get involved in their local community and contribute to local children and young people’s global education. County Durham is a predominantly mono-cultural county in North East England. For a variety of reasons, many children have few opportunities to experience other countries and cultures at first-hand.
By having an enthusiastic student from another country visit the classroom to share their experiences and traditions and answer questions on a range of relevant themes, we hope to encourage our young learners to develop into informed and responsible global citizens with a greater knowledge of the wider world.
Several years ago, Durham County Council’s International Relations team recognised that giving international students studying in Durham the chance to visit local schools to share a part of their culture was a fantastic opportunity for both students and schools. Along with Durham University, we’ve built on this over the past few years to develop what we hope is a well-organised yet flexible volunteering opportunity for international students.

3. What’s in it for me?
The unique opportunity to visit an English school to compare with the education system in your home country;
A fantastic way to meet new people and find out more about the local area and lifestyle;
Chance to develop your English competency;
Opportunity to improve your communication- and presentation skills;
A good way to increase your interpersonal skills;
Useful work experience, even for non-intending teachers;
Every volunteer will receive a certificate of recognition at the end of their service.
Here are just some of the advantages of the scholars into schools scheme. I’m guessing you have probably thought of at least some of these already as you have signed up for the scheme, but there may be some things here which you hadn’t considered, e.g. the certificate of recognition which you will be eligible for at the end of your volunteer sessions – just let us know that your sessions have finished and that you would like a certificate and we’ll do the rest – it even comes with a supporting document to explain what the scheme is and how it can contribute to your personal and professional development – handy for prospective future employers!

4. Building skills Communication skills Self confidence Creativity
Time management
Cultural awareness
Teamwork
Networking
Leadership

5. What does it involve? Assemblies Debates Presentations
Regular visits to a local school, perhaps just for a couple of hours at a time. Individual activities to be agreed between students and schools, but could take the form of the following:
Assemblies
Debates
Presentations
Language taster sessions
Traditional dance and music
Craft/cookery workshops
Traditional songs and games
International day celebrations
You can find more detailed ideas in the activity pack!
It’s difficult to explain exactly how each student-school pairing will work as each partnership is unique and varies according to the needs and availability of each student and school.
Some schools may only be looking for a one-off visit from a student of a particular nationality to support a specific curriculum topic, e.g. a Chinese student to help with work on Chinese New Year or students from different European countries to work with pupils around Europe Day. Many Durham schools now have educational links in different countries right across the world, so sometimes they will be looking for somebody from that specific country to help support that link and work with the children to help them understand what life is like in your home country.
We now have an option for schools to have a “mini cultural festival”, which is basically students from several different nationalities all visiting the same school on the same day at the same time to run a variety of different activities to reflect their own culture and language.
Other schools may be looking for somebody to visit every week or every other week, potentially for the full volunteering period – which has been set as 31st October – 2nd December, 16th Jan – 10th March, around exams and holidays (12/13 weeks). In the past, some students have worked in every single class with all year groups of students, whereas others have stuck to just one particular class. We have already asked you to specify on your registration which option suits you best, and schools have done the same.

6. International Student Volunteers Activity handbook

7. Previous volunteers…
Student from Sri Lanka

8. Italian Erasmus students – It’s perfectly acceptable for you to visit a school with one or two friends from the same country, just include this in your registration!

9. School children studying the currency of their student volunteer’s home country

10. Answering questions in a small group

11. What students say about it…
“I met awesome people and pupils and sharing a bit of my country knowledge was a real pleasure.” (Ingrid, French Erasmus student)
“I'm really glad I did it because that way I could learn more about the British school system and I enjoyed some really nice experiences. The teachers and pupils were very nice and welcomed me warmly.” (Rebecca, German exchange student)
“It was a wonderful experience!!” (Martina, Italian Erasmus student)
“It was a good experience as it enabled me to present Chinese culture and allowed me to clear some typical stereotypes about China.” (Dong, Chinese study abroad student)

12. What’s next?
Complete the induction session and all necessary forms – don’t forget to let us know when you are available for visits!
We will identify a suitable school for you to visit and send contact details;
After your first visit, it’s up to you and the school to decide whether you will visit again and how often.
The programme is very flexible and is designed to suit you. As long as you are honest and upfront about your availability and willingness to commit to the programme, the finer details can be arranged on your terms with your school match. Please make sure that either you or the school let us know what is arranged and when, so that we can keep an eye on the process and make new matches where necessary.

13. Points to remember
Please respond to all messages from schools and project organisers as quickly as possible;
If you are unable to make a session as arranged, please let the school and SCA know in plenty of time – it is very difficult for teachers to organise their timetables and trying to rearrange things at the last minute causes lots of problems ;
SCA will cover transport costs if needed – please keep all bus tickets as proof;
Any resources which you may need for e.g. craft/art activities may be obtained from the SCA offices free of charge;
If you can no longer commit to the programme or your timetable changes – please tell us!
Here are a few things which are important to remember about our volunteering scheme. You’re about to find out a bit more about volunteering in a school generally; how you’re expected to behave etc, but these points are quite specific to this scheme and have been the main causes of problems on the scheme so far.
Transport – Those participating in one-off cultural festivals in schools could be eligible to use the SCA car – as long as at least one student holds a full driving licence!

14. Please contact: Karen.smith@durham.gov.uk Or scholar.sca@durham.ac.uk
Any questions?
Please contact: Or

15. Happy volunteering!!!