Internship Possibilities  
       
  Interested in seeing all of this for yourself?  We always welcome visitors and volunteers.  We also have three-month (or longer) internship placements for interested individuals.  We are looking for committed people with creativity and initiative, and the guidelines given below are flexible according to your needs and interests.  In this way you get the most out of your experience, and you are truly able to contribute to our community.  Internships are ideal for university students taking a semester off, time between college and graduate school, something to do while on sabbatical or over the summer or something for recently retired individuals. 
 
     
  POSITIONS
  • Librarian

  • Nursery School Teacher and Extracurricular Activities Coordinator

  • Communications and Fund-Raising Intern

  • Music, Art and Drama Teacher

  • Teacher’s Assistant

  • Educational Developer
    		•   
         
      Librarian  
         
      Introduction:  
      King’s Matriculation School has basic library facilities at both the senior and junior sections of the school.  The junior school library is a small room with a very limited selection of picture books for children.  The senior section of the school has a spacious and airy library room, which is a part of the newest building at the school.  This library also has a limited number of books, of which the children prefer the periodicals and picture books.  However, individuals and churches overseas continue to assist us by donating children’s books to diversify our selection.   
      Currently, English teachers take their students to the library once a week for a library period.  A full-time librarian would be able to teach students proper care for library books and would have time to organize reading and literacy related activities for students.  We currently plan to computerize the senior school library and established a computerized cataloguing system.  This project is in its beginning stages as of June, 2007.      
         
      Job description:  
      To plan and execute regular library periods for students at the senior section of King’s Matriculation School.  This would entail teaching 8 periods a week for 4th to 9th standard students (9-14 years old). These periods would be a time when the intern would teach students about libraries and proper book care as well as exposing children to reading by reading out loud to students, performing skits related to the stories and playing book/story related games with students.  We encourage the intern to use his/her creativity to make library periods engaging, educational and fun for students.     
      To plan and execute regular story-time periods for students at the junior section of King’s Matriculation School (10 periods per week).  These periods could be held in the library at the junior school, in the students’ regular classroom or outdoors.  The object of these periods would be to expose young children to English, to books and to story telling.  Activities could include reading aloud to students, engaging them in games about books or story characters, getting students to practice telling stories with the aid of picture series, reading aloud and having students draw or paint a scene or character from the book as they imagine it, having children write their own stories, having children act out stories, puppet shows for the children, etc.  We encourage the intern to use his/her creativity to make these periods engaging and exciting for the children.     
      To maintain a well-organized library at the Senior Section of KMS and facilitate the borrowing and returning of books by students.  The intern would be expected to reserve part of each library period for students to return and borrow books.     
      To facilitate and run a club activity (it could be a Library Club, Literary Club, Spoken English Club, etc) three Saturdays a month.  Club meetings last 45 minutes.   
      To plan and execute a library fair with competitions and activities for the students of the senior school.  This fair would be held near the end of the intern’s stay at King’s Matriculation School.  Activities could include: illustration competitions, creative writing competitions, poetry recitations, skits of stories, library-related posters and charts.  Ida Scudder School, located in nearby Katpadi, holds such a library fair every year, and the librarian there would be a good resource when planning this fair.     
         
      Duration:            At least 3 months   
         
      Requirements:  
     
  • Intern should be 19 years of age or older and have completed high school at least one year previously.
    		•   
     
  • He/she must be interested in working with children and have an interest in libraries and books.
    		•   
         
      Tentative Schedule:  
      Sunday and Monday: OFF    
      Tuesday:              AM: 2 periods at the senior school
                                PM: 2 periods at the senior school     		 
      Wednesday:        AM: 2 periods at the junior school
                                PM: 2 periods at the junior school     		  
      Thursday:            AM: 2 periods at junior school
                                PM: 2 periods at the senior school     		 
      Friday:                 AM: 2 periods at the junior school
                                PM: 2 periods at the junior school     		 
     

    Saturday:            AM: 2 periods at the senior school

    		  
         
      All evenings are free.  The intern is welcome to participate in the Home activities such as organized games and study time in the evenings according to his/her time and energy.   
         
      NOTE:  One week a month is designated for Unit Tests at the school.  This week could be used for planning and library maintenance if needed, for travel or for a combination of both.   
         
      Nursery School Teacher and Extracurricular Activities Administrator   
         
      Introduction:  
      MBKG Pannai runs a home for orphans and children from destitute families.  Currently about 150 children, boys and girls aged 1 to 18, live at MBKG Pannai.  Approximately 45 of these children are under the age of 5, and of these there are usually between 6 and 15 who are under the age of three at which point, they enter school at the Lower Kindergarten Level.  For the children who are too young to attend school, we conduct playschool, in which they get the opportunity to play and learn from their playing.  The Play School is a brightly-painted room located in the nursery, which is equipped with a small selection of games and toys.  There is also a sandy area in the center of the nursery in which the children can play as well as a small playground about 200 meters distance from the nursery.   
         
      Job Description  
      To be in charge of the Playschool time from 9:00 am to noon.  The intern will probably be on his/her own during this time looking after the children.  However, the nursery mothers and Warden will be close at hand if their assistance in childcare is needed.  The intern would be expected to interact with the children, teach them songs and games, read them stories, and watch them as they explore the world around them and play in their surroundings.  If the intern wished, we could assign a mother to be a second person during this time, however, due to language barriers and other limitations, the mother’s role would probably simply be to help out and follow the intern’s lead.     
      To expose the children from a young age to English.  King’s Matriculation School is an English medium school, and English is one of two languages spoken throughout India (the other being Hindi).  Thus it is a great benefit for individuals to have a good understanding of the language.  If children in the orphanage are exposed to English regularly for this extended period of time, this will be a great help to them in the future.   
      To organize games, arts and crafts activities, skits, dances, teach songs, etc. to the older children.   The older children living at MBKG Pannai have a very rigid schedule which leaves them little time to spend doing fun things organized by adults.  An intern would organize activities which small groups of children would do for periods of approximately 45 minutes in the evenings.  The type of activity would depend on the intern’s interests and abilities.  The children could come in groups of 5-10 and the age of the children would also depend on the intern’s interests (possibilities are children aged 5-16).     
         
      Duration:            At least 3 Months   
         
     

    Requirements:

    		  
     
  • The intern should be at least 19 years of age and have completed high school at least one year previously.
    		•   
     
  • The intern should be interested in nursery-school aged children and preferably have some experience working with small children (babysitting, volunteering in a preschool, looking after younger siblings, etc).
    		•   
     
  • The intern should have some interest in working with older children as well.
    		•   
         
      Tentative Schedule:  
      Saturday and Sunday: OFF  
      Monday-Friday:         9 am – noon: Playschool with the nursery children  
                                        4 pm – 5:30 pm: Time with the nursery children and/or older                                   children after they return from school.  If the intern wants, this                                   can be organized activity time for small groups, reading in small                                   groups or it can be unstructured play time with the children.                                    However, it is important that this time IS spent with the children.
                                      6:15-7:45 pm: Organized activities for older children.     		 
         
      Communications and Fund-Raising Internship   
         
      Introduction:  
      MBKG Pannai is a non-profit organization that was founded in the late 1960s as a place for destitute children, women and elderly people to live in a family setting.  All of our funding comes from non-profit organizations and individuals.  Good funding enables us to provide a higher quality of life to those who live and work here: better diet, better-maintained living quarters, a higher standard of education.  As it is, many of our children lose sponsorship from foreign donors when they turn 18, at which point, we struggle to get money with which to finance their tertiary educations.  Two of the ways which we keep people informed about MBKG Pannai is through our website and our quarterly newsletters.     
         
      Job Description:  
      To update our website.   
      To train one of our staff to update the website and upload newsletters.   
      To redesign our newsletter so that it is attractive, informative and engaging.   
      To design an up-to-date brochure about MBKG Pannai.   
      To take photos and videos and create power-point presentations and/or a short video telling about MBKG Pannai.   
      To research and apply for grants and private funding to assist with some of our ongoing projects, which include:    
     
    • Scholarships for tertiary education for our older children
    • Teacher training and development
    • Improved living standards and increased stipends for our cottage mothers
    • Gaining sponsorship for the elderly who live at MBKG Pannai
    • Sponsorship for our younger children
    • Gifts for special events
    		 
      To organize and host a fund-raising or awareness raising event at the end of the internship.   
         
      Duration:            3 months   
         
      Requirements:  
     
    • Intern should be at least 19 years of age.
    • Intern should have an interest and/or experience in graphic design.
    • Familiarity with computers and websites.
    		  
         
      Tentative Schedule:  
      This internship would have a fairly flexible schedule, and much work would require the intern to commute to the closest town, Katpadi, where reliable internet connections are available.   
     

    We encourage this intern to join the children who live at MBKG Pannai for meals. 

    		  
      We also encourage the intern to get involved in the school and the home with at least two organized activities (games, songs, special classes, a club activity) each week.   
      Weekly or bi-weekly meetings with a supervisor to discuss (and look at) projects the intern is working on and progress that has been made.   
         
      Co-Curricular Activities Teacher   
         
      Introduction:  
      King’s Matriculation School caters to students from the orphanage at MBKG Pannai as well as from the surrounding 28 villages.  The School has LKG (Lower Kindergarten) to 10th Standard classes, and 2 sections for LKG to 5th standards.  There are a total of 23 teachers for our 610 students.  King’s School has a Physical Education teacher and a Computer teacher.   
         
      Job Description:  
      To plan and teach a variety of co-curricular subjects at both the senior school and junior school levels which could include, but need not be exclusive to, art, music and drama.  The senior school has some musical instruments, and the MBKG Pannai orphanage has a keyboard which could be used for music lessons.  The school would budget a small amount of money for art, music and drama supplies that could be purchased in Vellore or Chennai, but this would be a nominal amount.   
         
      Duration:            At least 3 months   
         
      Requirements:  
     
    • Intern should be at least 19 years old and have completed high school at least one year previously.
    • Interest and some experience working with children.
    • Interest in music, art and drama
    		  
         
      Tentative Schedule:  
      Saturday and Sunday OFF  
      Monday-Friday:              AM: Two 45-minute lessons in the classroom
                                           PM: Two 45-minute lessons in the classroom
                                          AM or PM: Two 45-minute periods used for class planning and                                        preparation     		 
         
      Evenings: Free.  We encourage interns to interact with the Home children in the evening – playing games with them, talking, helping them during study time.  The intern’s time and attention would also be very welcome in the nursery with the nursery children.   
         
      Teacher’s Assistant   
         
      Introduction:  
      King’s Matriculation School has 23 teachers and approximately 610 students.  Class sizes range between 25 and 35 students.  Teachers of LKG (Lower Kindergarten) to 3rd Standard and engage their students in all subjects except for Computer and Physical Education classes.  Teachers of 4th to 10th Standard are subject-specific.   
         
      Job Description:  
      To assist one or two teachers in the junior section of King’s Matriculation School to plan, prepare and teach classes.  
      To assist in creating and using visual aids during class periods.  
      To increase the levels of English spoken in classrooms (both by teachers and students).   
         
      Duration:            At least 3 months   
         
     

    Requirements:

    		  
     
    • Intern must be at least 19 years of age and have completed high school at least one year previously.
    • Interest in children and teaching.
    • Experience working with children (teaching experience or other classroom experience would be very helpful).
    		  
         
      NOTE: If an individual was particularly interested in assisting a particular subject teacher at the senior section of the school, we could organize something accordingly.   
         
      Tentative Schedule:  
      Saturday and Sunday: OFF  
      Monday-Friday:  8:45 am arrive at school for teachers’ meeting and assembly  
                                 9:15-12:30; 1:30-4:00 pm assist classroom teacher with planning,                            preparing and teaching lessons   
         
      Evenings: FREE.  We encourage interns to take time in the evenings to relax and rejuvenate as well as to spend time with the Home children (playing, helping with study, etc), as he/she would like.   
         
      NOTE: If the intern were interested in working in two classrooms, he/she would spend the morning in one classroom and the afternoon in another.   
         
      Educational Developer   
         
      Introduction:  
      The Indian system of education tends to promote rote learning and memorization as opposed to more integrative and experiential models of learning.  It would be valuable to have someone with teaching experience to work with our teachers to develop a phonics program at the primary level as well as a more hands-on method to teaching basic mathematical skills.  Experience teaching English as a second language or working with students who speak English as a second language would be helpful.     
         
      Job Description:  
      To work with the teachers to assist them in developing creative curriculum and more interesting and effective ways of teaching their students.
    To develop teachers’ confidence in their own abilities and creativity.
    To assist teachers in creating stimulating and useful teaching tools and aids.
    To assist teachers in effective classroom management.     		 
         
     

    Requirements:

    		  
     
    • At least 22 years of age.
    • A college degree.
    • Teaching experience.
    • Enthusiasm for teaching, creativity and good problem-solving skills.
    		  
      This position is ideal for a teacher who is taking a sabbatical or has recently retired and wishes to work overseas for some time.  
         
      Tentative Schedule:  
      Sunday and Monday: OFF and evenings free.   
      Tuesday-Friday: 8:45 am arrive at school for teachers’ meeting and assembly
                              9:15-12:30; 1:20-4:00 pm time spent at the school observing,                           planning, assisting teachers, etc    		  
      Saturday:            9:00-12:30 time to work with teachers as a group or with
                               individual teachers (since junior school students do not attend                           school).    		  
     
      Family Village Farm  
         
      MBKG Pannai was founded in the late 1960s by an American missionary, Dr. Pauline E. King, who was working in the Community Health Department of CMC (Christian Medical College), Vellore.  Since that time, MBKG Pannai has grown and currently accommodates approximately 160 boys and girls aged 1-18 years.  These children are orphans and semi-orphans (meaning that they may have living relatives, but that these relatives are unable to support them).  The youngest children (up to age 5) live in the nursery after which they move into cottages (these are simple structures, each of which has two cottages).  Boys entering 4th Standard move from the cottages to the Boys’ Hostel, which is located near the senior section of the school, about ½ km from the main campus.  Life is simple for the children, women and elderly people who live here.   
      It should be noted that MBKG Pannai retains its close ties with the Church of South India, and prayer, Bible reading and conversation about God and Jesus are very much an integral part of the life and culture of MBKG Pannai.  We welcome people of all faith backgrounds and beliefs to come and intern at MBKG Pannai, and we do not require interns to participate in faith-based activities if they do not want to.   
      King’s Matriculation School was originally founded as a school in which to educate the children who live at MBKG Pannai.  The school has grown and now extends its service to children of the surrounding 28 villages, many of whom come from impoverished families.   
      Interns would live in the Guest House, which has two rooms, each of which has a bathroom equipped with a sink and tap from which to get water for bucket baths.  Each room also has a small screen porch, built in cupboard, bed, table and chair.  Bedding will be provided.  The guesthouse has a rooftop terrace.     
      Meals would be provided in the central dining hall along with the children.  The diet is very simple and consists mainly of rice, a lentil or pulse-based sauce called sambar, and a side of vegetables.  This is supplemented once a week each by idli (small sticky paddies made of rice batter), dosai (large pancakes made with rice batter), and chiappati (flat-bread made with wheat flour).  Eggs, bread and fruit are each included three times a week in the menu.  An intern could request eggs, bread and fresh vegetables to be prepared for him/her more regularly.  MBKG Pannai also has a bakery that prepares tasty buns, biscuits, bread, and vegetable and egg pastries, with which an intern could supplement his/her diet.  Room and board will cost interns rupees 2,000 per month.   
      Television and internet access are not available.  Mobile phones are relatively inexpensive, and can be a good way of keeping in touch with home.   
      MBKG Pannai is located in Kasam, 5 kilometers (a 15 minute, 3 rupee bus ride) from Katpadi.  Kasam is a small village with a beautiful open chapel, the orphanage, King’s Matriculation School, an Agricultural Institute run by the Church of South India, a bus stop, some orchards and little else.  It is a fertile area, and many families subsist on farming.  With its flat land, swaying coconut palms, dry heat and interesting rock formations, Kasam is a quiet and beautiful village.   
      Katpadi has a train station that is a major stopping point for trains between Bangalore and Chennai, so it is easy to travel from Katpadi to almost anywhere in India. Katpadi is a fair-sized town and offers internet cafes, restaurants, shops, a small market, a post office, ATM machines and a grocery store.  7 kilometers further is the larger town of Vellore.  Vellore is home to Christian Medical College and Hospital (the Hospital offers some of the best medical care in all of India), and it has really grown up around these linked institutions as well as the newer Vellore Institute of Technology located on the town’s outskirts.  CMC attracts students, missionaries, doctors and researchers from around the world, and bustles with patients and students who come from all across India.   
      The most notable sight in Vellore is the Vellore Fort, which has a beautiful temple, an English church and a mosque.  Vellore also offers a wider range of shops, banks, internet cafes, restaurants and even a beautiful swimming pool at which you will forget the noise, dust and heat of the area.     
      Kasam, Katpadi and Vellore are not places to come to party or enjoy any sort of night life.  However, interns will have ample time to travel and can experience Indian night life in other parts of the country.  We ask that interns do not drink or smoke on campus and that they dress modestly (no tank-tops, avoid v-neck shirts for women, skirts that come halfway down the calf, capris or long trousers).  Appropriate clothing is available at very inexpensive prices in Katpadi and Vellore.  Vellore is a hot place 10 months out of the year, and a warm place for the other two, so plan accordingly.     
         
      NOTE:  All travel arrangements are to be made by interns.  Room and board at MBKG Pannai costs rupees 9,000 (about US$200) per month,Rs.300 per day US$7.  
      If you are interested in finding out more about interning with us, please contact:  
         
      Tharyan Koshi (Secretary of MBKG Pannai Management Committee) tharyan.koshi@banyansolutions.com  
         
      Vatsala (King’s Matriculation School Principal)
    principal@mbkgpkasam.org