Purpose of Position: To work with American Councils Staff, Teacher and Teaching Assistant to make the Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) a smoothly-run, organized, dynamic, and enjoyable experience to prepare exchange program participants for their year in the USA.

 Description of Duties:

Preparation for the PDO

• Familiarize yourself with PDO schedule including meals times, arrival and departure information, blocks of time for activities, logistics, etc.
• Help hub office with all necessary preparations for PDO rooms and classrooms.
• Plan evening activities. Also be ready with ice-breakers, short group games and camp songs- these can – and should – be fun!
• Familiarize yourself with participant travel schedule.
• Assist with creating flipcharts and other necessary materials before PDO begins.

During the PDO

• Help American Councils staff to meet PDO participants.  PDO participants will arrive by bus, train, and car to a meeting place before leaving for PDO site.  LA will assist in coordinating these groups of arrivals, keeping track of students, and help to get them to site.
• Know logistic details of PDO. LA should know contacts of the PDO site, bus that takes the group and additional contacts if needed (pizza place if it’s planned PDO evening activity, taxi, etc). To get this information, LA should be in touch with Hub office prior the PDO.
• Assist teaching staff as necessary. LA should be prepared to help organize and distribute materials to students, find/purchase additional materials as necessary, create props, make copies, cut papers, and be ready and available during all sessions in case needed by teaching staff.  Before large group activities and meals the LA should coordinate with each classroom so that they are together at the same time.
• Help Teacher and Teaching Assistant to organize students during PDO. Make sure that students know where their rooms, classrooms and cafeteria are located; check that students come on time to the sessions and meals. LA should be ready with fun warm-up games, songs, and group activities at any time.  LA should make sure that after “lights out” that all students are in their rooms.  LA is responsible for waking students up in the mornings.  LA is responsible for counting to check that all students are present at games, meals, classes, etc.
• Monitor the service at the PDO site and act as a liaison with site management. PDO staff relies on things working smoothly with the PDO site. This means working with the administration and staff to make sure the correct number of meals are served at the correct time (or adjusted because sessions will end early/run late), everything is in order with participants rooms, classrooms, and transportation services.
• Stay at the PDO site throughout the entire PDO. LA should accompany students to the PDO site, stay with them and leave the site with the group after PDO is over.

Qualifications:

• Alumni of the FLEX program who successfully completed their program with no extensive on-program issues.
• Alumni must have completed their secondary school education;
• Comfortable with large numbers of teenagers and able to relate to their anxieties while acting as an authority figure;
• Demonstrated ability to deal with unpredictable situations;
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills and ability to function with staff of different ages and cultural backgrounds.

To Apply: send a Resume/CV and a cover-letter to Tatyana Kopytova at flex@americancouncilstm.org or to Gerogly street 48/A, 2nd floor Ashgabat 744000 Turkmenistan Tel. (99312) 36-90-16/36-90-21.

 Application Deadline: 4 June, 2018