Mid-term (1 to 6 months) "work with children/teenagers" projects in Austria

Our organisation (the Montessori-verein Huetteldorf) is a small non-profit NGO that runs a nursery school, a primary school and a secondary school. This secondary school we have only just began to build
up. We work according to the pedagogy of Maria Montessori and provide a relaxed learning environment for people from 3 to 15 years. The
organisation is run by parents. The school is member of the "Austrian Montessori Society (OEMG)", which is member of "Montessori Europe". (fur further information please look at www.montessori.at or
www.montessori-europe.com.)

In our school children of different ages, abilities and backgrounds learn together. Montessori pedagogy offers education for life by providing free choice in a structured learning environment. This helps to develop the child's personality in a way that it remains free, self motivated and self responsible. Maria Montessori believed – as we do – firmly in the fact that people that are treated respectfully
throughout their youth can later on help to create a peaceful world.

Hütteldorf is a green area at the west end of Vienna.

Grenzenlos is a Vienna-based NGO different from the project. We are supporting the project and the intern/volunteer before and during her/his stay, and we are organizing the logistics. Grenzenlos identifies and prepares hosting projects, organises the accommodation, offers a basic introduction and orientation for the participant after
arrival, helps with finding language courses if needed, offers a mentoring program, helps with all administrative matters and conducts the evaluation meeting at the end of stay.

Our organisation would like to host an international volunteer because the comprehension between cultures is one of the main aims of Montessori
pedagogy. the volunteer/intern should spend the school day (8 am to 2 pm from Monday to Friday) together with the 6 to 15 year old children, simply by staying in class, answer in English, when she/he is spoken to, assist children when they cook their meals themselves, eat with the children and spend the break times whith the children. the children are
always under the supervision of their class teachers, although they usually choose their work by themselves and work independently for most part of the day.
Our children learn english from their English teachers, but this formal teaching can never replace the experience to be with an English speaking person all school day round. Only in experiencing the "real"
English speaking person will children get an idea that it is not just the words that might differ between German and English but a lot of concepts and things they take for granted.
Volunteers/interns in our Montessori school would also be involved in creating the world wide known Montessori materials and get to know them while working whith them together with the children. Base for a volunteer/intern would bo our Montessori primary and secondary school. It is situated in the western part of Vienna, easily accessible by
underground transport and bus.

Employees - 10 full-time teachers, several part-time teachers, one part-time secretary, several part-time cleaners.
Voluntary Co-workers - In our organisation most of the parents do voluntary work.
Experience with international volunteers - we hosted already 2 volunteers within the Experience Austria programme.

There would be one person in charge of the volunteer/intern. We would organise a meeting every other week with enough time to talk about problems and sort out all kinds of difficulties that might arise.

The main requirement for any volunteer/intern is her/his openness and respect towards children. She/he should speak english as a mother tongue (no matter whether this be with Scottish, Irish, Welsh or Oxford
English accents). We especially welcome people from minority groups.
Interest in and – if possible – knowledge of at least one reform pedagogic approach can be helpful.

Please end your VEF together with a Motivation Letter and your CV.
The selection will be made by the hosting project itself.

Volunteers should pay upon arrival 150 Euro administration fee per project and. They will receive pocket money of 110 Euro.
Food is partly provided by the project.

The Kindergarten Regenbogen, the German word for "rainbow", is an international Kindergarden and After school care where the development of children is the main focus. Holistic support after the principals of the Montessori pedagogic is important for us. We try to strive social learning and led the kids to become more independent.

If we see a special talent in a child we support it. For example: We give special support in learning an instrument, another language ice etc.

Kindergarten Regenbogen consist of 5 groups...

- Baby group for children aged from 18 months-3 years
- Three Family groups for children aged from 3-5
- After school care for pupils aged 6-10

The kindergarten teachers offer various project activities to the children along the seasons. Important highlights are also our regular fests like birthday celebrations, summer festival, Easter party, hand latern fest, family fest and a variety of excursions according to the season.

For more infos you can also have a look on our webpage - www.kindergartenregenbogen.at

The project is located in the center of Vienna. Vienna is the capital of Austria and has 1,8 million inhabitants. Located in the centre of the new Europe and heavily influenced by its history as the capital of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, it builds a bridge between east and west. Many historical buildings offer loads of sight seeing opportunities, but fortunately Vienna is also influenced by modern times - it has a lively night life, many opportunities to practice sport and a large cultural programme. Vienna is a relatively safe place to live in and to walk around during the night is not a problem.
The kindergarten itself is located in the 1st district, very close to the old city center.

Grenzenlos is a Vienna-based NGO different from the project. We are supporting the project and the intern/volunteer before and during her/his stay, and we are organizing the logistics.
Grenzenlos identifies and prepares hosting projects, organises the accommodation, offers a basic introduction and orientation for the participant after arrival, helps with finding language cou­r­ses if needed, offers a mentoring program, helps with all administrative matters and conducts the evaluation meeting at the end of stay.

You will be mainly involved in the after school care and working with the older kids and most of the time in the afternoons.

For the so called “Hort” 2 staff members are employed. The kids arrive between12-13.00 and receive lunch.

14:00-15:00 - Study hour, doing home work.

Then we have a little snack and play time. Children can play inside or we do excursions to close parks or in the museum etc. Here we would ask you to support us and bring your own ideas.
We would also ask you to help us with dressing on and off the kids if needed, serving the meals etc.

During the public school holidays we would also invite you to help us with the more little kids and to switch the group.
Because you are an international volunteer, the children will be very interested in where you come from and how is the daily living in your country. For sure they will ask you about animals and plants at home. Perhaps you want to start a country project. You can tell the children small stories, take some photos with you to create a big collage together with the children, or maybe you can teach the children some words or even songs in your language.

Opening times of the Kindergarden -
Monday-Thursday 7-17.30 and Friday 7-16

Holidays -
The Kindergarden is closed during Christmas holidays 24.12-06.01 and in the last 2 weeks of August.

The After School Care is closed during public school holidays.

Volunteers have the right to have 2 holidays/month. The time need to be agreed with the kindergarden team.

Employees - 13 kindergarten teachers and assistants.

All our interns have training days, where they stay with the group and watch. Bit by bit they learn about the needs of the children, so the interns can start to support the team.
There is a monthly teammeeting in the evening to discuss the status of ongoing activities or to prepare new projects. There are also regular information evenings with the parents, where the team presents current activities and how the children are developing in the group.

The volunteer should love to play with children and should like to do some sporting activities. We prefer to host MALE volunteers as the staff consists only of women and we would like to give the kids a male role model.
She/He should be a good team player and support the team during the day.

Please send your VEF together with a Motivation Letter and your CV.
The selection will be made by the hosting project itself.

Volunteers should pay upon arrival 150 Euro administration fee per project and. They will receive pocket money of 110 Euro.
Food is partly provided by the project.

The Kindergruppe Gatschhüpfer, the German word for "mud hopper", is a nature Kindergarden where children are outside in the nature the whole year. In May 2009 a group of parents got sick of the normal kindergarten where the children spend most of the day inside assuming that milk is growing in the supermarket. So we founded the “Gatschhüpfer”. In this nature kindergarten, our children play outside during most of the day and discover grassland and forest. They learn a lot about the animals around them, plant their own flowers and trees and watch them grow. The group currently consists of 14 children and always 2 kindergarten teachers, so our children spend their day in a very familiar and cosy atmosphere. In total there are three kindergarten teachers (Alexandra, Peter and Amadeo) who alternatingly take care of the children. One day a week, heimo, a zoologist from the University of Vienna spends his day with the children and discovers with them the flora and fauna. In case of bad weather conditions the children have the possibility to warm up or get dry inside a large mongolian nomad tent (a yurt) or their nearby kindergarten room.
Due to the fact that the children have the possibility to run when and where they want, the agression level is very low in our group. The kindergarten teachers have studied the pedagogy of Montessori, Moto-pedagogy and Nature pedagogy. All three forms of pedagogy aim at developing the autonomy and independence of the child. The children learn self respect and respect for others and the nature around them. In and with the group they learn to cope with conflicts and to establish relationships.
The kindergarten teachers offer various project activities to the children along the seasons. A good example is the winter project: how do survive men and animal during tough winter times? The children learn how to dress properly during cold times and what different sorts of material we can use to warm us (wool, leather etc). They also got to know how other nations survive in winter, e.g. the Inuit. And because the children have been very enthusiastic about this, they have built themselves a big iglu.
It was also very interesting for the goup to discover the tracks of the animals in the snow and to watch the birds at their feeding station. The children wanted to know everything about winter sleep and they were quite surprised to hear that some birds leave for holiday and don't come back before spring.

The Project is located in Vienna, capital of Austria. Vienna has 1,6 million inhabitants. Located in the centre of the new Europe and heavily influenced by its history as the capital of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, it builds a bridge between East and West. Many historical buildings offer loads of sight seeing opportunities, but fortunately Vienna is also influenced by modern times: it has a lively night life, many opportunities to practice sport and a large cultural programme. The kindergarten itself is located on a big grassland area in the Vienna Forest. On the way to the kindergarten, the children pass by forest and grassland and stop here and there to take a brief look for special stones or animals. When they have arrived on their grassland, they are free to climb on trees or to play hide and seek in the forest.

Grenzenlos is a Vienna-based NGO different from the project. We are supporting the project and the intern/volunteer before and during her/his stay, and we are organizing the logistics. Grenzenlos identifies and prepares hosting projects, organises the accommodation, offers a basic introduction and orientation for the participant after arrival, helps with finding language courses if needed, offers a mentoring program, helps with all administrative matters and conducts the evaluation meeting at the end of stay.

Your day starts at around 8.30. You meet the group at the metro station Heiligenstadt and together with the two kindergarten teachers you take the children up by bus to the Vienna Forest. At bus station Cobenzl everybody leaves the bus. Enjoying the beautiful view on vienna, the children sing their morning song and welcome everybody. Then the group takes a walk through the grassland and the nearby forest. For sure you will find some interesting stones or animals to watch on your way and maybe there is still enough time to play on one of the beautiful playgrounds. If the walk takes a long time, everybody arrives hungry. So it's time to have a picnic. The walk ends at the kindergarten grassland. One of the team starts the fire to heat the mongolian yurt while the others discover the huge grassland area together with the children. There is enough time for the children to find their own games. If they want to, they can also stay around the tent area, where you can help them building a big sand castle or cooking a magic pot for witches. Around 12 o'clock it's time for lunch. One of the team prepares the kindergarten room for lunch (arrange tables and chairs and set the table, then fetch the meals from the cantine), while the other ones take a small walk with the children towards the room. There you help the children washing their hands and support the team during lunch time. After lunch one of the team cleans the playroom kitchen, while the other ones read a book to the children or tell them small exciting stories. Then you leave again for the kindergarten grassland. While the group takes a longer walk or stops at the big playground area, one of the team takes the younger children with him back to the tent, so they can have a nap. Round 14.30 or 15.00, the first parents arrive to take their children home. Also for you, it's time to leave the magical Vienna Forest. Because you are an international volunteer, the children will be very interested in where you come from and how is the daily living in your country. For sure they will ask you about animals and plants at home. Perhaps you want to start a country project. You can tell the children small stories, take some photos with you to create a big collage together with the children, or maybe you can teach the children some words or even songs in your language.

Employees - 4 Part-Time (Alexandra 4 days, Peter 3 days, Amadeo 2 Days, Heimo 1 day).

All our interns have training days, where they stay with the group and watch. Bit by bit they learn about the needs of the children, so the interns can start to support the team. There is time for debrief with a staff member once a day to discuss the work with the children. There is a monthly teammeeting to discuss the status
of ongoing activities or to prepare new projects. There is also a supervision meeting, where the team meets with a psychologist to discuss potential issues and to develop solutions. Also once a month there is a parents reunion, where the team presents current activities and how the children are developing in the group.

The volunteer should love to play with children enjoy outdoor life regardless of weather conditions. She/He should be a good team player and support the team during the day. It would be perfect, if the volunteer has already experience in working with children (babysitting,
younger brother or sister, internship in a kindergarten etc).

Please send your VEF together with a Motivation Letter and CV. The selection will be made by the hosting project itself.

Volunteers should pay upon arrival 150 Euro administration fee per project and. They will receive pocket money of 110 Euro.
Food is partly provided by the project.

At the Europahaus des Kindes, a part of ‘Kinderfreunde Wien’, we offer a creche for children over 1 year old, two bilingual groups (English-German), a family group for children between the ages 2 and 6, and two after-school groups (Hortgruppen) for children who attend the local primary schools.
Our children are collected daily from two primary schools and brought here by bus. On arrival, the children enjoy a leisurely lunch in our free-time group and then go over to the learning group to do their homework with help from the teachers and the volunteer.
After the children have finished their homework, there is enough time left over to play with friends or choose from an array of activities which are offered within the free-time group. We offer a variety of different activities to the children, depending on both their age and their likes, in order to aid their development through play. The animal farm at the back of our grounds is particularly popular with the Hort children as they are able to experience first hand what farm animals are like, how to care for them and build basic impressions about the world of animals.
Despite our beautiful surroundings, the children are taken on many trips into the city centre. These include visiting museums, ice-skating, swimming, going for walks, etc

The Project is located in Vienna, capital of Austria. Vienna has 1,6 million inhabitants. Located in the centre of the new Europe and heavily influenced by its history as the capital of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, it builds a bridge between east and west. Many historical buildings offer loads of sight seeing opportunities, but fortunately Vienna is also influenced by modern times: it has a lively night life, many opportunities to practice sport and a large cultural programme. The project is on the edge of the Vienna woods with large playing fields attached to the house, which offers many play opportunities and we therefore aim to spend as much time as possible outside with the children.

Grenzenlos is a Vienna-based NGO different from the project. We are supporting the project and the intern/volunteer before and during her/his stay, and we are organizing the logistics. Grenzenlos identifies and prepares hosting projects, organises the accommodation, offers a basic introduction and orientation for the participant after
arrival, helps with finding language courses if needed, offers a mentoring program, helps with all administrative matters and conducts the evaluation meeting at the end of stay.

The main idea is to have a young person from another country present and to let children get to know this country, culture and language by his/her daily presence. The project of the volunteer will consist of introducing different aspects of his /her culture into the leisure time programme of the children. It would be especially great to receive a person interested in sports as our grounds offer excellent opportunities for playground games, tennis, volleyball, football etc. as we consider this an important part of a healthy life for the children and it enables us to integrate volunteers with limited language knowledge: playing games and doing sports together knows no boundaries!
For the implementation and the planning of the leisure time activities in the regular schedule, the staff will be there to support. Therefore, the volunteer will not be alone with the whole group of children, but always shares responsibility with the rest of the team. This project would give the volunteer the opportunity to develop skills working with children, encourage team-work and provide a supportive atmosphere in which the volunteer is able to bring ideas from their own country and experiment with them.
We have two classes for 43 kids (6 to 10 years). We need the volunteer 2 days a week from 10am to 5.30pm and three days a week from 12am to
5.30pm. Once a month there is a meeting with all the teachers from 6pm to 8pm. At 12am we pick up the children from school (with a bus) and at 12.30 there will be a common lunch, where the volunteer can join the meal or he will help us to pick the other kids from school at 1pm (also
with a bus), the children start doing their homework and take as long as they need. The kids will have lunch around 1.30 (where the volunteer can join the meal), and than they have to do their homework too.
The volunteer can assist them with the subjects he/she understands. When the children are finished, the volunteer will organise the rest of the afternoon programme with them. Around 2.30pm there will be a common break with a small snack. At 4.30pm, the children will be picked up and the volunteer finishes the day with the staff. Some children are picked up from parents in Europahaus, others are going with the bus – the volunteer and the teachers have to take the bus too.
There are two stations in Vienna – Ottakring were the bus stops. Normally on Fridays we do not make any homework so we have time to do some trips to the city or to the surroundings of the school or, if the weather does not allow this, continue with our projects – but it is a
decision from the parents so it could be different every year.
As mentioned above, the main idea of the project is to challenge the children with the presence of a volunteer from a different country, who speaks a different language and knows different customs, habits etc. With this as a start off, the volunteer develops ideas for activities and can implement these in accordance with the schedule of the teachers. The projects of volunteers in the past years that proved to
be interesting for the children and the volunteers are projects involving singing/music (music and songs from the other country, learning these songs together or making music/dancing together); all kinds off creative work (projects with clay, wood, paper, paint, according to the seasons or for special occasions); projects with a special topic, like the country the volunteer comes from, ‘Europe’, theatre, etc.

outdoor games like football, basketball, tennis, and other outdoor activities in the surrounding forest will be a big part of the leisure time, when the weather allows it.
Most activities and projects can be done with a few of the children, as well as with the whole group, depending on the resources and what the volunteer feels comfortable with. We hope that the volunteer will transport his/her background and culture to the children and in this way will create an international atmosphere within the daily life of the children.

Employees - 19 full-time/1 part-time.

Experience with international volunteers - We hosted already 4 international volunteers.

The volunteer would be included in meetings; he/she will have an mentor inside the project who would be available for
feedback. Preferably once a week the volunteer will have a meeting with a person who is in charge for the volunteer once a month we all have a team meeting.

The main requirement for any volunteer/intern is her/his openness and respect towards children. She/he should speak english as a mother tongue.

Please send your VEF together with a Motivation Letter and CV.
The selection will be made by the Hosting project itself.

Volunteers should pay upon arrival 150 Euro administration fee per project and. They will receive pocket money of 110 Euro.
Food is partly provided by the project.