1. Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Jack and I’m 19 years old. I live in London, England and I’m a big fan of Chelsea team. Since I’m interested in different languages, I want to learn languages at the university.

2. Why did you choose this project?

 I’ve studied Spanish for a few years in high school and want to study modern language in the future. During my gap year, I wanted to travel around South America or Spain where I can practice learning Spanish. While I looked for the opportunity to travel and volunteer at the same time in South America, I found Voluntario Global and decided to work with children, which I’ve never done before.

3. What do you like the most about working with kids?

 When you go to the kindergarten, I can see that the children are from different backgrounds socially and economically. Also, each one has a different pace of understanding and following the teachers’ instructions. As a volunteer, however, I feel rewarded and satisfied with the fact that I can make a small difference for a few hours each day by playing with kids and helping them mingle with each other.

+ What do you expect from this experience?

I expect to feel better about myself and feel that I made a small positive contribution in one small part of the world. Secondly, it’s learning Spanish. Surprisingly, it’s easy to learn Spanish with kids because they pick up the basic words, so they are basically my teacher. From this experience, I hope I can improve Spanish especially while talking with children since I’m volunteering at the kindergarten.

4. Which expectations did you have?

I expected Argentina to be Paris of South America and full of rich culture, which definitely lived up to my expectation.

5. Why did you choose Buenos Aires?

The reason why I chose Buenos Aires is that I’ve never been to South America before and wanted to learn Spanish. I decided to take a year off and it makes sense to go to a place where people speak Spanish. Also, I’m a fan of soccer and I thought Argentina would be a perfect fit for me.

6. What does volunteering mean to you?

It can be making an impact on one person’s life in just a basic level. Going to the kindergarten in the morning and playing with the children is not a lot for me to do, but I think it is volunteering if they are happy with my actions.