Hi, my name is Helder Henríquez and I worked with PEDIA for one year as a volunteer.
I had an amazing year and the coworkers were super friendly with me and when I needed something they were always there to help me no matter what. If you are thinking about doing a volunteer work in Germany I believe this is the best option.

I had a really interesting time working at the PEDIA Kita Vierländer Damm, considering that I didn’t know how to speak German well, working with the children together with the staff members, I learnt not just the language but the children came from mixed cultures, which I found beautiful. I always looked forward to waking up I the morning to hear the children’s stories, that was sometimes also too much to hear because excited children give off a lot of energy that you feel at the end of the day. I never thought I would gain so much inspiration in working with kids after spending a year volunteering in a kindergarten. It’s exciting seeing children learn and repeat after what you taught them,  it’s exhausting to hear them complain about how the other kids won’t share the toys with them, it’s funny how they still give you hugs after they did something bad. It’s heart filling when the babies cry and immediately stop once you carry them and calm them. I had a really great time volunteering at a kindergarten. It’s the best place to learn while you teach young minds. I’m actually considering doing child psychology based on the experience I had working at Pedia.

My name is Jaqueline Tuyisenge , I am 21 years old from Rwanda . With ongoing partnership of PEDIA and Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, my previous High School, I was very happy to be offered opportunity to do my voluntary social year in the German-Chinese Kindergarten Hamburg. 

I remember jumping up and down with joy because of receiving my visa, flight booking, getting an apartment all have been very well organized and helped by PEDIA. I met my mentor first time at Hamburg airport and she helped me a lot to learn about, social life, history, culture, and she also introduced me to other colleagues.

Work in the German-Chinese kindergarten

I work in the toddlers class. There are 10 children between the ages of 0 and 3 years. Working with them sure brightens up my every single day. I work together with my colleagues to help these little ones learn at their own pace and experience themselves. For example brushing their teeth, feeding themselves, washing hands and handling brain activities like puzzles, painting, all of these activities boost their creativity and curiosity. Of course we help them a lot because they are still so young to do all of this perfectly. During the day time in kindergarten we try to find a good way which can help them to socialize with other children. Through involving them in activities during the day like teaching them different skills, such as singing, dancing, playing games. 

Our weekly schedule we do a lot of activities including taking kids to the playground, painting, attending music class and morning circle, having breakfast and lunch together , snacks after a short nap and listening stories using the CD player. I was so impressed with our preparation of different parties in kindergarten for example lantern festival evening with parents, advent calendar for Christmas, Halloween party, fashion day, sleepover all of these activities help kids to have fun, learning, growing ,feeling loved and involved .

With love and support from the colleagues of the German-Chinese Kindergarten, I gained a very tangible skill of being responsible for leading students through creative play and hands-on activities, doing experiments with kids and to introduce some projects which help kids to start having knowledge about science, social skills, art and humanities 

During my holidays I visit other places in Europe, meeting new people, learning language, enjoying changing of season’s spring, summer and winter for the first time and it was so challenging! 

I would love to thank the director of PEDIA Mr. Stefan Hensel for starting the partnership between PEDIA and Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, to organise the great year and allow me to participate in Rwanda comity here in Hamburg. Thank you a lot for this opportunity to volunteer in German-Chinese kindergarten your advice and experience has been tremendously helpful throughout these past nine months. It is a wonderful experience and made me even sure that I would like to pursue a career in early childhood education.

大家好，我的名字叫徐方芳，今年23岁，来自中国广东佛山，已经在佛山阳光幼儿园从事幼儿教育4年了，我是从2016年2月起在中德双语幼儿园担任志愿者，我非常高兴也非常荣幸能够加入这个大家庭！让我有许多机会认识新同事和新朋友，自2014年以来，德国·汉堡PEDIA教育集团与阳光幼儿园建立了友好深化的合作关系，是阳光幼儿园的长期海外合作伙伴，而我通过自荐、面试和考核等得到了两园的认可，因此成为阳光幼儿园与德国汉堡中德幼儿园合作以来外派学习工作的第二位老师将进行为期一年的交流学习，也成为了“德国联邦政府优才计划”的第二批交流教师。

      在我办理签证手续时，除了家人朋友的支持以外，阳光幼儿园的领导和中德幼儿园的同事都尽全力地为我提供各种资料帮助我解决在办理签证手续中会出现的各种问题，非常感谢他们耐心地协助我，如果不说感谢,我真地想不出还有什么词语可以表达我的心情了，在当我真正地踏上德国之旅时我就时刻提醒自己要注意自己的言行举止，因为意识到我代表的不仅是阳光幼儿园的老师，还代表我是以中国人的身份来到这个与中国有着7个小时时差的德国，来到汉堡后，双语幼儿园的同事准时地来到机场为我接机，我还记得出了机场后天气很冷，玉婷就立刻拿下她的围巾围在我脖子上怕我着凉，我从那一刻开始感受到了德国同事的热情温暖，随后同事与我一起把行李搬到新家，还为我讲解途中看到的一景一物和社会规则，让我在更短的时间内适应在德国的生活，然后洗漱完毕休息一会儿就来到中德双语幼儿园开了个短暂的会议后同事就详细地为我介绍幼儿园，往后的日子我除了在幼儿园上班之外，我还与来自世界各地的志愿者参加培训。

     这些志愿者有的来自印度尼西亚，有的来自马达加斯加，还有的来自尼泊尔等等，只有我一个是来自中国的，因为大多数志愿者都会讲德语，所以第一次的培训就是全德语授课，在培训期间，由于我不会讲德语，所以培训师和志愿者都很有耐心地充当我的“英语翻译官”，从而迅速地提升了我的英语能力，每一次的培训都是去不同的城市，我们会跟随当地的工作人员去博物馆和著名的教堂等，你只要细心观察，你就会发现原来一砖一瓦都有不同的历史背景。

    我们在每一次的志愿者培训中都慢慢组成了一个温暖的大家庭，我们会一起出去公园玩游戏，或者一起爬山去烧烤也是常有的事，当我跟他们介绍中国幼儿园的规模和人数时，他们表示感到很惊讶但是也很感兴趣，于是大家都在培训过程中向对方介绍自己的国家文化，也慢慢地感受到大家尽管来自世界各地，有着不同的文化背景，但是大家都不约而同地在这个团队中互相帮助。

       最后不得不说愉快的时光总是如此短暂，正因为如此，才让我觉得在这德国汉堡双语幼儿园工作和生活的回忆是弥足珍贵的，让我接触不同的人与事，更让我成长并不断地进步。