JA Malta offers a unique experience for anyone looking to extend their work experience and broaden their horizons when it comes to working in new fields.
Working with JA Malta during their summer SkolaSajf programme will provide you with a totally new work experience and one that you will not forget.
JA Malta’s summer programme is a good fit for anyone, especially if they are pursuing their studies, or have some sort of background in business, or the humanities. No prior experience with children is needed; training is given to all facilitators to ensure they are equipped with the skills needed to deliver the programmes JA offers to the different age groups.
Of course, as with everything, despite the immense support JA offers, the job comes with its own challenges.
Here we seek to give an overview of the JA Malta summer work experience, and of the benefits and the challenges encountered.
During the first week, we were trained at the JA office, where we met the rest of the team and our fellow facilitators. We were trained to deliver both JA programmes, these being “Our Community” and “Europe my Business”. As part of our training, we delivered lessons to the other facilitators who acted as our students.
Thanks to our training, we felt prepared and confident in class, despite this being our first time teaching. The students found it easy to follow the concepts, the delivery being so hands-on, even more so since they usually had a basic idea of how the market operates.
For the programme “Our Community” it was of the utmost importance to adjust the pace of the programme according to the students’ individual learning speed. The activities were designed so that pupils could understand and visualise abstract concepts such as money management and taxes.
The first activity consisted of children exploring the “Our Community” map, in order for children to grasp the basic layout of a community with its multiple buildings, occupations and roles. One of the activities assigned is asking students to draw their favourite or future jobs, while asking basic questions to assess their understanding of how jobs interlink within a community.
Another activity is distinguishing between private and public jobs. An obstacle when approaching this topic is the fact that most students confuse public jobs with ones that either reach most people or are jobs outside and readily available. By explaining how jobs get paid differently and repeating this, students reason out the process and differentiate between matters of a private and public nature. Another obstacle we faced as facilitators is adapting to the student’s behaviour after break, as they get tired after physical activities and therefore activities should be communicated in a way to sustain their attention.
Considering that the participants in the ‘Europe my Business’ programme primarily consisted of secondary school students, managing their comprehension and familiarity with terms was generally more straightforward. Most students in the course had an idea of what “EU” stands for, and which countries make up the European Union. Most activities required the students to extract the information needed for them to work out the questions. They were for the most part very adamant on setting up their own ‘small business’. During this activity, they were given a business plan and a t-shirt to come up with a business plan to sell it, which involved understanding the requirements for selling it, identifying the target audience, and determining the methods for selling it. By the end of the two-day course, students expressed satisfaction, this being an enjoyable course to teach. We recommend it to anyone with any sort of economic background, as complements that line of study, and will assist individuals in enhancing their knowledge, while gaining insights into effectively presenting and communicating their acquired knowledge.
Overall, the JA Malta SkolaSajf programme is a very satisfying one. Knowing that you are imparting knowledge to the next generation of entrepreneurs and business professionals will undoubtedly evoke a feeling of pride and happiness. We wholeheartedly recommend the JA Malta SkolaSajf programme to students seeking a summer opportunity that brings personal fulfilment.
This article was written by a SkolaSajf facilitator, and reflects their experience delivering our set of summer school programmes this summer.
SkolaSajf is supported by HSBC Malta Foundation, EY Malta, The European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta, The Ministry for the Economy, Lands and European Funds, Nestle Malta and Faraxa Publishers.