ALL NEW RECRUITMENT FOR GRANNIES IS ON HOLD TEMPORARILY.

DO WATCH THIS SPACE AND FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH OUR ETHOS AND PURPOSE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS INITIATIVE. YOU CAN CONTACT US VIA OUR FACEBOOK PAGE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Cloud Granny. We accept applications from English-speaking adults aged 21 or over. Before filling in the application form below, please familiarise yourself with the information on this website. In particular, you should read the following carefully to ensure you understand what’s involved.

Your main role as a Granny is to provide positive encouragement. You are not there to teach or give lessons, but rather to moderate the session, providing praise and support to enable the children to work as a community and take the lead in their learning, helping them to explore and develop their natural curiosity. You will help them question different ideas, access different viewpoints and enable them to think through their ideas.

Goals  include:

  • stimulating children’s curiosity
  • developing their confidence
  • helping them take ownership of their learning experience
  • exposing them to people and worlds beyond their context
  • fostering independent thinking
  • improving English conversation
  • improving literacy skills
  • familiarising with the internet
  • developing search skills
  • strengthening social skills
  • encouraging collaboration with peers
  • developing habits for lifelong learning
  • and having fun!

Depending on the children you’re working with, the focus of your sessions will vary. Whatever approach you use, you will be supporting the development of key skills that children will need in order to take control of their learning through conversation and inspired curiosity.

What can I expect from the children?

Talking to a Granny over Skype allows children the opportunity to be curious, friendly, imaginative and enthusiastic. However, you may find that in some cases they take a little while to warm up to you and they may be shy, wary or lacking in confidence at first. In some cases their English will be very limited and you will need to find ways to communicate effectively.

The important thing is to persevere and hopefully you’ll soon see them becoming more confident. Be encouraging, and consistent, and soon they’ll start to amaze you!

What will the sessions be like?

Each Granny Cloud Centre will be different and they operate in many different locations – rural, semi-rural, urban and urban slums. Not all centres are situated within schools; some are based in community centres and some in private homes.
Different centres will present different challenges. They may be noisy, or hot or internet connections may be poor.

Your focus during a session will be on developing the key skills that the particular group of children will need in order to take control of their learning.

If they start taking interest in things outside of what you have planned, embrace it. Ideally Grannies allow the children to lead the way. Flexibility is an excellent  trait in a Granny!

You’ll be asking questions too – this might start with smaller questions that work towards solving a bigger question – progressively encouraging them to think and research in new ways.

Sessions might include:

  • engaging the children in conversation
  • asking questions and inspiring curiosity
  • exposing them to ideas and concepts
  • showing them pictures, videos or artefacts that provoke curiosity
  • encouraging them to find information on the internet
  • asking big questions for them to explore
  • responding to their questions and interests
  • singing and playing games
  • arts and crafts

How do I become a Cloud Granny?

Before getting started we need to learn a little more about you:

  • Fill in the Application Form (Please note there’s a minimum age of 21, and we would like you to commit to being involved for atleast ONE year with this initiative)
  • We will review your application and invite you to send us a brief (less than 5 minutes) video responding to some straightforward questions. Don’t let this put you off! We will offer some advice on how to do it.
  • If the video application is accepted, you will be invited to a interview via Skype with one of the Granny Cloud core team members.
  • Once approved, you will be able to access the website and receive an invitation to our Grannies-only Facebook group. It is essential that you be part of this group since support and quick communication is made available through it. The Facebook groups are secret groups – to ensure the privacy of both Grannies and children.
  • Orientation to the Granny role and ongoing support will be available at the time of interview and later through the Facebook group. If necessary, further support will be available through Skype or Whatsapp chats, as well as by email.