Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Volunteering in Schools

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Tonga

Hi There,

My partner and I just recently rented an apartment for one month in Vava'u near Neiafu. It is going to be a month of chilling out with the locals and the humpbacks after a long working-holiday in Australia.

I am an aspiring primary school teacher and would love to volunteer in a local school for half-days during my time in Tonga. I want to know if this is possible - would people be receptive if I simply approached a local school and asked to help out for a month? Should I try to arrange things ahead of time? We plan on bringing over some school supplies as well. Any insight to this would be greatly appreciated, as well as advice on how to go forward with it. My interests lie in simply helping out with day-to-day classroom happenings, reading, writing, etc. I have hundreds of hours of experience in early-years classrooms and am very passionate about teaching.

Can't wait to hear back!

Cheers,

Ally