Case studies : PoD Summer Camp volunteer: Stephanie Davis

Stephanie Davis is a student at the University of Edinburgh studying Applied Sports Science who volunteered on the English Summer Camp with PoD to develop her teaching skills and improve her confidence.

The Summer Camp in Thailand was the highlight of my university holidays. I met some really lovely people and had an amazing time teaching in all three of the schools. I particularly enjoyed the 2nd school summer camp as the kids had great energy and were very enthusiastic. The Thai home stay was also another favourite part of the programme. The family was extremely generous and it was great to visit an area of Thailand where there are very few Westerners. I would recommend a PoD placement to anyone. It was good value for money and well organised. The PoD teams in the UK and Thailand were very helpful. There was a good balance between teaching, socialising and sight-seeing. Overall the programme helped me to become more confident in myself and prepared me for future travels on my own!

Each day would be different but on camp days we would wake up at 7am (if you want breakfast!) to be ready for 7.45am to leave for the school. Teaching began at 8.30am where we would teach 4 groups for approximately 25 minutes. At 11.30am there would be a lunch break. Lunch was provided by the school who fed us very well! We would begin teaching for the afternoon at 12.30pm and would finish at 2.30pm. The teaching would always fly by! In the afternoon we had free time so usually we would go to the beach or relax by the pool. If it is raining, there is always the option of going for a massage (I recommend not getting a Thai massage...its painful!). The PoD group would usually meet for dinner around 7.30pm. If we had a free day the next day then we would go for a night out but if not then we would have a movie night at the resort. Non-teaching days were a bit different...we did a snorkelling trip, a cooking class and rented a jeep and toured around KohPhangan.

It is very rewarding and a great way to meet new people. It helps you to grow as an individual too.

I chose PoD because the programme they offered suited me perfectly. I wanted to do some volunteering but I also wanted to do some travelling on my own. As I could only afford to be away for a month, 2 weeks of volunteering with PoD and 2 weeks of travelling seemed like a good balance. I also felt the programme was very good value for money. I would definitely recommend PoD to others.