Affordable Volunteer Opportunities Abroad
Africa, Latin America, Asia

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.

Minimum Program Length: 2 weeks
Start Date: 1st and 3rd Monday of every month
Arrival Date: 2 days prior to your Start Date (Saturday)
Minimum Age: 19 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:
A Volunteer Visions representative will be waiting for you at the airport in Quito and transportation will be arranged from the airport to your accommodation. The 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 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

Suggested Donations
For any donations, please inquire with Volunteer Visions prior to your arrival at the project site.

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.

Suggested Skills and Interests

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 are offered at $335 for 20 hours of language instruction per week. This fee includes all food and accommodation in Quito. Please note that the language classes must be taken prior to participating in your volunteer project and that the language course cannot be taken while volunteering.

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