VSO wants every child in the world to have access to education. We don’t make this happen by sending money, but by sharing knowledge and experience. VSO professionals come from all over the world to work together with local partners, colleagues and volunteers.
VSO offers experienced teachers the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills in educational programmes in Africa and Asia. This quiz presents you with a glimpse of the realities that VSO professionals encounter while working abroad. Take the quiz and discover which type of volunteer you are!
Choose the answer that you think is best given the situation and write them down on a piece of paper, so you can calculate your score at the end.
Question 1:
You arrive at the location of your placement in Myanmar. You are going to train local teachers on how to include more innovative teaching techniques in their curriculum. You are very excited, but you notice that the temperature is much higher than you are used to. You feel dizzy and uncomfortable.
Answers:
A. You build a construction with a fan and a bucket of water.
B. You rent a room in a hotel where they have excellent air-conditioning and a swimming pool.
C. You meet up with colleagues or people from the neighborhood. Together you stay in a cool place and drink a lot of water. You talk with them about their local tricks to handle the heat.
Question 2:
You are working as a volunteer in Rwanda, aiming to improve education to 3-6 year olds. You are observing a class and notice that many of the children are not involved in the class. Some children have pencil and paper, others do not. There are not a lot of resources or materials available for the teacher to use. There is no money to buy them.
What do you do?
A. At home, after work, you sit down and start thinking about how the teachers can use different materials that are available (such as stones, caps, etcetera). The next day you present your ideas to your colleagues and the headmaster.
B. You immediately start a fundraising activity to collect some money. At the same time you order a large stack of pencils and paper and some other teaching materials. You hand them out to the children.
C. You discuss with the teacher how she can use different materials that are available (such as stones, lids or empty jerrycans) to teach through play. Together you make a resource plan.
Question 3:
You’re placed as a teacher trainer in Malawi and you are supporting local teachers to use tablet technology, in order to engage all students in the class, which often has more than 100 students. You want to ensure that you contribute to changes that last.
What do you do?
A. You start a Youtube channel for the teachers to watch tutorials even after you are gone.
B. You create an online platform where your colleagues from the VSO project as well as in your home country can collaborate and ask questions regarding tablet technology.
C. You encourage the teachers you train to come up with their own projects on how to improve issues they encounter in using the tablet technology. You make sure they are involved in everything you do.
Question 4:
You work as a VSO volunteer in an education project in Nepal. You live in a small village, about two hours from the capital. You work with a team of local volunteers and have a busy schedule. You visit a different school every day, sometimes even two schools a day, to work with local teachers. Your manager in the head office in the capital, regularly calls you and lets you know that you’re supposed to travel to the office the next day to report back about your work. But you have other things planned.
What do you do?
A. You don’t want to waste any time. You ask permission to skip the meeting and suggest to create virtual meetings for all of your colleagues.
B. You ask your colleagues if you can call them and put you on speaker during the meeting. You will pay the phone costs yourself.
C. You just go when he calls you. All your colleagues do the same and they respect their manager. You take turns if necessary.
Question 5:
Imagine yourself working and living in a very small village in Rwanda, without any entertainment, without any other ‘foreigners’. In the weekend you feel very bored and lonely.
What do you do?
A. You see if you can start a soccer team in the village and organize a competition.
B. You buy an extra large amount of Gb’s to videocall with friends and family at home.
C. You invest in the relationship with your colleagues and local people. When they invite you, you make sure you can go and bring a gift to show your appreciation.
You are probably very curious to find out which volunteer type you are!
In order to discover this, you need to count how many a’s, b’s and c’s you have. Every letter in this quiz corresponds to a specific skill. So please check your answers and read below which skill is dominant in your way of volunteering. It is also possible that you have two dominant skills, if that’s the case please read both descriptions.
A Skill: Making use of your own resources (finances, network, knowledge)
You are proactive and you like to work towards tangible results. You are willing to use your own network and resources to make sure your volunteer placement will be a success.
B Skill: Resourceful
You are resourceful and you believe that the work you are doing is important and should pay off. Others come to you when they are in need of a creative solution.
C Skill: Collaborative
You are a real people-person and you get most energy from collaborating with others. You are very flexible and focused on facilitating others to excel.
Congratulations with your results! Do you think, after having completed the test, that you’ve got what it takes to share your skills and knowledge as a professional in Africa or Asia? Then take a look at our current opportunities AND sign up to keep up-to-date with new opportunities.
Or do you want to get in touch with us personally? Then please leave your name and email address or phone number below and we’ll contact you as soon as possible.
Maybe you’ll be the next professional heading for an adventure!