Teaching with GAP Activity ProjectsGAP Activity Projects runs teaching placements in schools around the world. Here, two gappers share their experiences of teaching in two very different locations...
 GAP teacher in India
Fran Woolman writes...
'I have been living and working at Loreto Day School in Kolkata, India.
India is an incredible place: every adjective used to describe it is true. There is so much to see, smell and hear: the colours of beautiful materials, smells of street food, roadside sellers shouting at you to buy their goods, motorbikes, big yellow taxis, buses with ‘India is Great’ painted across the back, the beeping of horns, the dirt, sewage and poverty... it’s all a lot to take in.
I have been teaching a small group of pupils in the mornings and working with street children in the evenings. Working with the street children has been humbling. However, I have never felt any pity for them: how can you pity a child who has nothing but shows so much courage? They seem to smile in the face of danger and every setback is a new challenge.
I have met so many people, all with a story to tell. Sister Cyril, the principal at the school, is incredible. She is in charge of every project there, but still finds time to show the children a huge amount of love. She is one of the only women who drive in the city but the hustle and bustle doesn't seem to faze her. She sets off out of the gates in her little white van and every street-seller leaves his place and stops the traffic so she can drive out freely into the middle of the road and be on her way!
The poverty and homelessness in Kolkata is appalling but I prepared myself for the worst and nothing seems to have affected me as much as I thought it would. Widows have a particularly hard time. Outside the school gates, a little white-robed lady with a shaved head and a terrible stoop sits day and night, literally waiting to die. Her family has rejected her because her husband died before her and she was therefore reduced to a nobody. She comes in at lunchtime with her small box and the men in the school kitchen fill it up with rice for her. We once gave her a banana and I have never seen someone look so pleased: the warmth of her smile hit me and for a split second I could see in her eyes the person she used to be - that really hurt.
 The kids at school obviously made the whole placement what it was: happy, welcoming and great fun! They each had their own story to tell and even by the time we were leaving I don't think we had worked out who was related to whom or where they had come from. The gates at Loreto are always open and any new child is allowed to stay. Two Sisters, Mia and Tia, were found living at the railway station. They have no family, only each other, but are the most outgoing, bubbly children I have ever met. Their English is incredibly good and now thanks to the help they have been given from Loreto they have a bright future ahead of them.
Obviously I have had my ups and downs. Throwing up for 36 hours is not high on my list of ‘best bits’, and missing friends and family is difficult. But overall India is making me a better person: I have seen things I could never have imagined and coped with things I never thought I could deal with. I’m trying to avoid all the old clichés but I’ve had, and am still having, the time of my life! I owe a lot to GAP...'
 GAP teacher in China
Alex Pinfield writes...
'For reasons that have become hazy with time, I decided to go to China with GAP. I suppose it sounded oriental and mysterious, and sufficiently far away from Surrey.
I was sent to Qingdao, which is a beautiful, sunny seaside town famous for its excellent beer and long, warm, sandy beaches. I ended up in 'Number Nine Middle School' teaching English to pupils who were about my age.
My gap partner and I were given a flat in the school, and got on really well. But it's not just your gap partner that you have to get along with - you’ll have dealings with the local people, and since you probably don't speak the local language this can be challenging: it’s hard ordering food in a restaurant when you don't know which way up the menu goes! If you're on a teaching placement you will also have a lot of communicating to do with your pupils. No amount of TEFL training prepared me for the first time I had to stand in front of 60 eager students, all with pens at the ready.
 Employers look for many qualities when they're thinking about giving you a job. Do you have energy and enthusiasm? Are you resourceful? Confident? Can you work with other people? Can you work on your own? A gap year doesn't guarantee that you'll get these qualities, but it will give you an opportunity to do so which you probably won't get if you stay at home.
The confidence-building, resilience-enhancing, life-changing time I had with GAP was not only one of the best years of my life, but was also a factor in persuading the Foreign Office to give me the job I have now.'
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