Teach at American International School in Accra, Ghana

  Ghana

• Accra: 
Accra

Description: In response to a growing group of expatriates living in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, NICS has opened the American International School. The school was founded in 2006, and has experienced steady growth since then. Please pray for this new school as they continue to provide a quality education for expatriate children.

Population: 3 million
Region: Greater Accra

Accra stretches along the Atlantic Coast and north into the interior. It was originally built around the port. Its architecture ranges from large and elegant 19th Century colonial buildings to skyscrapers and apartment blocks made of concrete, glass and steel in the 1970s. Shanty towns at the city's edges are where the majority of Accra's ever expanding population can be found. Since the early 1990s a number of new buildings have been built, including the multi-storey Novotel hotel which is French-owned. There is also an impressive National Theatre that was built with help from the Chinese. The centre of Accra contains the main banks, the large department stores, the Cocoa Marketing board headquarters and a whole area known as The Ministries, where the government administration is concentrated. Most people still live in the poor shanty towns which have grown up around the edges of the city and near the port. They are mud built huts made from any materials that their owners can find. They are made of sticks, palm fronds woven into screens, sheets of corrugated iron or plywood, concrete breezeblocks and discarded packing cases from the port. The shanty towns, like James Town, are like mazes with muddy lanes where goats, chickens and dogs scramble for scraps.

The dusty roads that lead into Central Accra are lined with open-fronted shacks and stands selling everything from cooked food, trousers and haircuts, electrical goods, or cast iron gates. Most have colourful headboards advertising the name of the shop. The central Makola market is very big and very busy. Market women sit under huge straw hats, with babies strapped to their backs, behind piles of tomatoes, yams, beans, plantains, peanuts and rice and basins of dried fish or meat. The residential areas are to the north and west of Accra. In the wealthy areas two storey houses, some elegant colonial houses on stilts with wide verandas, are surrounded by tree-filled gardens and bougainvillea covered walls. Many of the middle range houses (mainly occupied by government workers) are corrugated roof concrete bungalows, surrounded by scrubby grass and hedged by trees. On the outskirts of Accra some concrete blocks of flats have been put up to house the expanding population of Accra.

Accra, the Cultural Melting Pot

Accra, the seat of the Ga State, is today a melting pot of several Ghanaian and other foreign cultures. It is home to virtually anyone who identifies himself or herself with the city. That, in itself, is the bottom-line of traditional Ga heritage. The population of the Gas is relatively small. But today the whole city is filled with people from all walks of life. The city of Accra has been Ghana's capital since 1877, and contains fine public buildings reflecting its transition from a 19th century suburb of Victoriaburg to the modern metropolis it is today.

Spreading along the Atlantic coast, the city is well endowed with luxury as well as great value hotels, excellent restaurants and bustling entertainment. A range of absorbing museums and fine public monuments, modern business and commercial areas, as well as busy markets and tree-lined residential suburbs, is ready to be explored.

The beaches of the Atlantic coast are popular with visitors and Ghanaians alike. La Pleasure and Kokrobite Beach, just 25km west Accra, are particularly popular on weekends. Among the highlights of Accra are the National Museum, with its splendid display of exhibits that reflect the heritage of Ghana from prehistoric times to modern times; the National Theatre with its distinctive modern architecture, the Centre for National Cultural Centre, Independence Square, the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum; the fishing port at James Town and Makola Market. The University of Ghana at Legon is just 14km north of Accra, and its distinctive buildings are set amongst elegant tree-lined gardens that are popular with students and visitors alike.

Highlights: All NICS schools are accredited by accrediting associations in the States. Therefore, our schools use American curriculum and follow the American calendar. We use a variety of American-based curricula. Each of the NICS schools has an administrator and curriculum committee that determines the best curriculum and resources for their school. Just like schools in the United States, the amount of resources depends on the size of the school.

We prefer teachers who have classroom experience, at the minimum: student teaching. While most mission organizations require a teacher to have at least two years experience, NICS is willing to invest the time and effort to help you get that experience. In return, we get energetic teachers with a teachable spirit and a willingness to learn. Final decisions regarding staff placement are made by the school's administrator.

Salary depends on the school and the location. NICS has three basic types of schools, Pioneer (Start up), Transitional (Becoming an International school) and International (Established). While each school has different positive aspects that make it unique, the Pioneer and Transitional may require the raising of some support and the International schools will provide a salary. The salary is one that will allow you to live comfortably in that country. By comfortable we mean able to cover all living expenses (Apartment, utilities, clothing, food and able to go out to eat a couple of times each week and still be able to save enough money to come home for Christmas or travel during the summer break).

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to American, Australian and Canadian Participants.

Participants Travel to Ghana Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network
• Re-Entry Debriefing at Home

NICS (Network of International Christian Schools, Inc.)'s Mission Statement: The mission of NICS is to establish a worldwide network of international Christian schools staffed by qualified Christian educators, instilling in each student a Biblical world-view in an environment of academic excellence and respect for people of all cultures and religions.

Year Founded: 1984