Belingual volunteers are parents of multilingual families who enhance the well-being of multilingual families with under school-aged children by making Belingual activities possible through volunteering. Belingual volunteers can run language clubs in their home language or help with organizing the clubs, they can facilitate virtual reading circles, organise local events for families that speak the same home language or help develop Belingual Family Network activities by going the Family Network Steering Committee.
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For more on Belingual volunteer opportunities
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ARE YOUR OUR NEW LANGUAGE CLUB VOLUNTEER?Belingual lanuguage club volunteer training
We have one more volunteer training planned for fall 2023, the date will be announced shortyly. If you are interested in coming along, get in touch: belingual@familiary.fi
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WHO CAN BE A BELINGUAL CLUB VOLUNTEER?
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Volunteers of all languages are welcome, from all over Finland! We would love to start a club in a new language, in a new place! We try to make sure there are 2-4 volunteers running each clubs to share the responsibility and workload. At the moment, we are also looking for volunteers to help with the following clubs next year:
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WHAT DO CLUB VOLUNTEERS DO?
WHAT DO I GET OUT OF IT?
- You take part in the Belingual training
- You plan the club activities with your team and coordinate with them to make sure there is always at least two parents responsible for each club meeting. Preparing for each club, every other week should take about half and hour to an hour.
- Together with your team or volunteers, you lead the a 2-hour club, every two weeks using the materials and guidance provided by the Belingual team.
WHAT DO I GET OUT OF IT?
- You will give your child the opportunity to meet other families who speak your home language, and share your culture, make friends and strengthen their feeling of belonging.
- Training , support and new skills for supporting your child's language and identity development on a safe and fun environment
- Tools and materials developed by professionals
- The Belingual team will help with finding a club space, advertising, manage registrations and provide some funding to cover costs of materials
LANGUAGE CLUB VOLUNTEER TRAINING STUCTURE
The training consists of three parts and takes a total of 8,5 hours to complete. There are several dates to choose from for each part. The training will be held in English and/or Finish according to participant needs.
Part 1 : Introduction to the Belingual Model and your role as a club volunteer: A self-study video lecture and short assignment (approx 1,5 h to complete) Part 2 : How to run a Belingual Language Club -Face to- face at Familia or online (3 h including break). Choose from either face-2-face training at Familia* or remote training via Zoom. Face-2-face @ Familia (Helsinki)
Remote training via Teams
The total duration of the training is approx 7 hours. During the training you will also receive some of the materials needed for the clubs and meet your team of 2-4 other volunteers. |
SIGN-UPThere are no prerequisites to take part in the training, however, you will be required to complete the full training and your suitability to act as a Belingual Club Volunteer, will be assessed through out the training.
training content
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BElingual Language club VolunteerIf you can't find the activities you want for your children, make them happen yourself! Belingual Language Clubs are family clubs in different minority languages for families with under school- aged children. Each club is led by a team of 3-4 volunteers, mainly parents of the children taking part in the club. Children always participate with their parents. The clubs take place every two weeks, lasting 2-hours each time. Families play, sing, do crafts and other fun activities together in their language.
Club volunteers are parents who want to give their children the opportunity to experience their home language and culture in a community and to meet other families who speak the same language. The clubs are guided by activities developed by experts, but each club can bring in their own culture and make it their own. |
BELINGUAL family network steering commitee memberBy families, for families The Belingual Family Network Steering Committee is a group of parents of multilingual families who come together 2-4 times a year to help steer the direction of the Network. Together the help us develop the activities that the Network carries out, how we communicate with families and help ensure that our activities are developed for families, with families.
If you are interested in joining the Steering Committee, get in touch with our Belingual Coordinator. |
other volunteer opportunitiesWe all have something to offer our communities! There are many ways to get involved for example:
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INFORMATION AND SUPPORT FOR OUR VOLUNTEERS
Online Cafe for Volunteers
Come and share ideas, feedback or just to meet other Belingual volunteers and find out what they are up to whilst enjoying a cup of tea or coffee from the comfort of your own home. A Teams link will be sent to all Belingual volunteers. Our upcoming volunteers online cafes are from 17.30 -18.30 on:
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Skills Building #2 Pedagogical principles for group activities with under school aged children.
Tuesday 24.10 klo 17.30 -18.45 via Teams. Two experts from the Language Clubhouse to talk about how to manage club activities for different age groups, how to refocus when you lose children's attention, and how to get your club back on track. Together Becky Louma (inland/USA - Early Childhood Educator, PHN) and Rezvan Zonoubi (Ph.D Education, FI/IRAN) have a wealth of knowledge on working with young multilingual children and lots of practical tips to share to help you with your clubs. Workshop 3: Incorporating Music into club activities Date: Tuesday 24.11.2023 Time: 17.30–18.45 Learn why to incorporate music into your club activities and get simple, easy tips to build your confidence in including music, song and rhythm. Organized in cooperation with International School of Music Finland. SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS : All volunteers are invited to share some information about challenges you have faced in your clubs on submit specific questions that will be shared with the presenters before the workshop so they can plan their presentation according to our clubs' needs. You can share your thoughts here. |