At a glance
- Teach in schools or language centres and help disadvantaged students gain confidence speaking English. This will open up more opportunities for students through tourism and global business.
- Assist with extracurricular activities such as music, sport or drama. This is valuable experience if you’re planning on a career in teaching.
- You can also teach adult students, or participate in a literacy programme.
- Our teaching placements are located in Ulaanbaatar. Here, you’ll live with a local host family and experience Mongolian hospitality first-hand.
Is teaching in Mongolia right for me?
This project is perfect for anyone interested in gaining practical teaching work experience in Mongolia. While you help children improve their English, you’ll also learn from working with experienced teachers.
This volunteer opportunity will give your CV an edge when applying for a job, or when applying to university of your choice. It’s also an excellent talking point during interviews! Even if you don’t work as a teacher, you’ll learn skills like planning that can be applied to any career.
No teaching experience? No problem! You’ll receive a full induction from Projects Abroad staff when you arrive in Mongolia. Your supervisor is also available to answer your questions, tweak your lesson plans, or guide you with challenging in-class situations. You can also take a look at our extensive online database for ideas.
Please note that you should have intermediate English skills to join this project.
If you're interested in teaching other subjects, contact our Project Experts. They'll advise you on what subjects you can teach in Mongolia, and whether you can teach those subjects part-time or full time.
This project runs throughout the year and you can join at any time.
What will I do at my volunteer Teaching Placement in Mongolia?
You'll gain teaching work experience in Mongolia at a kindergarten, elementary school, high school, or language institute placement. We also have university placements for volunteers interested in teaching Japanese, and opportunities to work in centres for special needs adults. You'll get involved these kinds of activities at your placement:
- Teach students English and make lessons engaging and fun
- Assist teachers with extracurricular activities such as music, sport, drama
- Teach adults at an NGO or University
- Take part in workshops and outreach work
Your work will focus on the following areas:
Teach students English and make lessons engaging and fun
Your main role in Mongolia is to teach English lessons in the afternoons. You’ll plan and lead your own classes, which should focus on raising students’ English ability. You can practice listening by telling stories, and encourage speaking by doing role-plays.
Assist teachers with extracurricular activities such as music, sport, drama
You can also help local teachers run and monitor extracurricular activities. You can teach music, help with sports lessons, or art sessions. We recommend using this time to incorporate English into your drama productions, or teach children what “GOAL!” means during a soccer match. You need to take the initiative with implementing any extramural activities. If you enjoy a certain activity, let us know!
Teach adults at an NGO or University
As a volunteer teaching English in Mongolia, you can also work with older students. You can teach English to government workers and business professionals. You can teach English or Japanese at a university.
You can focus on teaching business English, or run through the vocabulary needed when travelling, shopping, or meeting a new person. If you are interested in working as a full-time volunteer in these placements, we can organise it for you.
Take part in workshops and outreach work
An important aspect of your work in Mongolia is to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible. Our staff organise regular workshops focused on improving your teaching skills. You’ll also get a deeper insight into Mongolia’s education and childcare systems through outreach work.
Where will I be working in Mongolia?
Ulaanbaatar
You will work in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. The city is Mongolia’s financial hub, and you will live here with a local host family. There’s plenty to see and do in your free time. You can visit a Mongolian Buddhist monastery, take a trip out of the city to visit the nomads, or just wander Sükhbaatar Square.
We place volunteers at kindergartens, schools, and language institutes. At most of our volunteer teaching placements in Mongolia, teachers have limited English speaking ability. You will help teachers provide more focused attention to smaller groups of students.
A typical day on the Teaching Project in Mongolia
A typical day in Mongolia begins at your host family home, with breakfast and preparation for the day. From the host family home, you walk or take a bus to your project. This is dependent on how far the placement is.
You will work Monday to Friday with an average of seven working hours in schools or universities. Business professionals and government workers work during the day, so English lessons may only happen in the evenings.
Depending on your placements and tasks for the day, you will either set aside time to lesson plan, or begin teaching straight away. To prepare for your project, bring speaking games and conversational activities that can get your students confident with speaking English.
We encourage you to sing songs, practise pronunciation, and get your students speaking. This will help raise their confidence and improve their English much faster.
Weekends in Mongolia are the time to relax and explore the country’s vast plains and history. You can visit the nomads, learn about Genghis Khan, or plan a tour through the Gobi Desert. You can also spend a quiet weekend getting to know your host family and other volunteers.
What are the aims and impact of this project?
The aim of this project is to raise the English levels of children, teenagers, and adults
In Mongolia children begin learning English towards the end of their primary school years. With a late start in their English education, children struggle to grasp the language quickly. For older students, English lessons in Mongolia are costly, and not everyone has access to them.
Speaking English is important in Mongolia. Students need good English to enter university, and professionals need to communicate with colleagues and clients around the world. It’s also an important skill for entering the tourism industry.
Your role is to help your students gain confidence with speaking English and learning new words. Having you in the classroom also gives older students a chance to practice speaking with a native or strong English speaker.
We’ve identified four long-term, sustainable goals we want to achieve in Mongolia:
- Increase English levels
- Improve classroom support
- Improve teaching techniques
- Encourage learning through creativity
Help us achieve these goals by volunteering to teach English in Mongolia.
Management plans
We set out the aims and objectives of our projects in documents called Management Plans. We use them to properly plan the work you’ll do. They also help us measure and evaluate our achievements and impact each year.
Ultimately, our Management Plans help us make our projects better. This in turn means you get to be part of something that makes a real impact where it’s needed. Read more about our Management Plans.
Measuring our impact
Our projects work towards clear long-term goals, with specific annual objectives. Every volunteer and intern we send to these projects helps us work towards these goals, no matter how long they spend on our projects.
Every year we take a step back and look at how much progress we've made towards these goals. We put together a Global Impact Report, which documents our achievements. Find out more about the impact our global community of volunteers, interns and staff make, and read the latest report.
Food and accommodation
You'll stay with a host family in Ulaanbaatar. They will welcome you into their home, eager to share their customs and have you teach them about your own culture. We believe that this is the best way to immerse yourself in the culture of Mongolia and have a truly unique experience.
We will always try to let you live alongside at least one other Projects Abroad volunteer or intern at the same host family. Your room will be modest, but comfortable, clean, and safe.
Your programme fee includes three meals a day.
Find out more about our accommodation.
Leisure activities and free time
Mongolia is one of the most remote countries in the world. Volunteering here is a chance to experience a completely different way of life.
Our projects are based in Ulaanbaatar, the country’s capital. This city is an eclectic mix of modern and traditional. The Government Palace is a perfect example of this, with it’s old-world style architecture and glowing blue and gold lights.
Even when you’re in the city, you’re never far from the countryside. Just a quick trip can take you out to a nomad settlement, where you can meet travelling families who live in traditional gers. We recommend going on a horse ride or trek to take in the beauty of the endless countryside horizons.
The famous statue of Genghis Khan is a must-see. You can also learn about the country’s history at the National Museum of Mongolia.
We run a range of different projects in Mongolia so there will likely be other volunteers in the country with you. So you can travel alone or explore the country with a group of like-minded new friends.
Safety and staff support
Your safety and security is our prime concern. We have many procedures and systems to ensure you have the support you need to enjoy your trip with peace of mind. Our Projects Abroad staff are available 24 hours a day to help, and will be on hand to make sure you settle in well at your accommodation and placement. If you encounter any problems, they will be available to help at any time.
Find out more about safety and backup.
This placement is fully researched, safety audited, and risk assessed in accordance with the British Standard BS8848 for the Adventure Travel Sector.
Meet the team in Mongolia
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