Ecuador Teaching English

Project Summary

This project involves teaching English at a primary school in Quito. The students come from low income families and range in age from five to twelve. The school is severely under funded, with five full time teachers and just under two hundred students.

Due to the lack of teachers and economic resources, volunteers are desperately needed in order to give these children the opportunity to receive a decent level of education so that they can have the chance to improve their standard of education and their standard of living as well.

At a Glance

Minimum Program Length:	2 weeks
Start Date:	Every Monday
Arrival Date:	2 days prior to your Start Date (Saturday)
Minimum Age:	18 years old
Volunteer Gender:	Male and Female
Accommodation:	Your accommodation is included in the program price. Volunteers will be staying with homestay families in rural communities throughout the central valley region. Our homestays offer single or shared rooms and three meals a day provided by your host family. Volunteer Visions feels that this is the best way to become familiar with Ecuadorian culture and practice your Spanish. All homestays are located in safe areas and are within short distances of your project locations. If you prefer to have your own accommodation, we can gladly arrange other types of accommodations (apartments, hostels, hotels etc.). Please inquire about alternative accommodations in advance to get pricing.
Food:	Three meals a day are included in the program fee.
Pick-up Info:	You will be greeted at the Santa Cruz airport and guided to your homestay family by a Volunteer Visions representative. A volunteer coordinator will also take you to your project location the first day so that you become familiarized with the route to your destination. The coordinator will also introduce you to the staff of the project so to ensure that you are properly placed in the program.
Project Schedule:	Half day: 8am - 12pm or 1pm - 5pm Full day: 8am - 5pm with a hour lunch break Project Closed Dates and Holidays :: December 22 - January 1 (Christmas Holiday) :: May 24 (Easter) :: August 10 (Carnival) :: October 9, Novemeber 2-3, December 5-6 (Guayaquil)

Your role as a Volunteer

Based on your experience teaching, you may either lead your own class or assist one of the other teacher. You will also have the opportunity to lead extracurricular activities such as arts and crafts, sports, and music.

Project Location

Quito has plenty of colonial architecture and modern building have been strictly regulated in the Old Town since 1978, when it as declared a UNESCO cultural heritage site. The old centre is full of white washed houses, red tiled roofs and colonial churches, with no flashing neon to disrupt the ambient of the past. The northern part of the city is the new town, containing modern offices, embassies, shopping centres and airline offices. It is very popular with tourists and almost all travel agencies can be found here. Some of the major sites include the 16th century monastery of San Francisco, a 16th century cathedral and the historic alley of La Ronda, which is the best preserved street in Quito. Other sites include El Panecillo which is a hill with fabulous views of the old town, topped with a statue of the Virgin of Quito. There are a wide variety of museums, numerous colonial churches, several spectacular plazas and open markets at the foot of El Panecillo

Suggested Skills and Interests

Since you will be communicating with children who do not speak English, a basic level of Spanish is recommended, as well as the ability to think on your toes be resourceful and creative with your lessons.

Suggested Language Level

Supplementary Spanish language classes are offered at the local language school in Quito for volunteers interested in practicing and learning Spanish. The classes are run by certified ESL teachers and the groups are typically no larger than 6 students.

Although these classes are not mandatory, we suggest that you take these classes if you have little or no background in Spanish. Classes start at $70 for 10 hours of language instruction per week with additional hours of instruction per week available for $110/15hrs per week and $140/20hrs per week. These fees are added in addition to your program fee so if you were to participate in 1 week of language courses at 10hrs/week and 3 weeks of volunteering, your total fee would be the 4 week program fee plus the fee for 1 week of Spanish classes: $675+$70 = $745. If you are interested in enrolling in the Spanish course, please state this in the comments section of the final application form.