Community intern teaching English in Costa Rica

Reference Number

CRGVI-008

Date Posted

03/12/2008

Status

Vacant

Duration

At least 10 weeks

Location

The expedition is located at the Caño Palma Biological Station owned and managed by one of GVI Costa Rica’s main partners, COTERC. The community intern will be working in San Francisco, a small village that has a population of approx. 270 (about 70% Costa Ricans) and is continuing to grow with the increase in tourism in the local area. San Francisco can be reached after a short canoe ride and then walk or by boat (10 min ride).

Start Date

Preferably February 2009 or March 2009 at the latest

Job Type

Teaching

Work Type

Volunteering

Description

This position will give someone the opportunity to work within the small community of San Francisco north of Tortuguero on the north east coast of Costa Rica. The community intern(s) will be working and potentially living with the GVI expedition based at the Caño Palma Biological Station. The major role in this position is to continue teaching English to both the adults and children of the community and Environmental Education for the kids only. Depending on the interest from the expedition members, the intern(s) will be provided with a group of expedition members to train as teachers. Interest in this tends to be strongest with the children’s classes and hence those have previously been run as a group activity.

Salary

The position is voluntary and GVI will cover food and accommodation. Candidate must pay for own flights and provide personal medical insurance in case of an emergency for the duration of the contract.

Number of positions available

2

Responsibilities

  • As the intern(s) will be working with inexperienced teachers, there is an element of training and guidance required for the expedition members. The intern(s) will therefore run the short ‘GVI introduction to TEFL’ course (a full curriculum is available) and then assist with the development of lesson plans throughout the course of the expedition.
  • Along with Environmental Education and English classes, it is hoped that the community intern(s) will help develop the relations between the community and GVI in the local area. Coordinating regular community events will be an important role of the intern(s); these may be simple events such as tree planting with the children or more complex events such as community fundraisers.
  • This position will allow the applicant(s) to develop a strong and worthwhile community project in an interesting and diverse location. It will provide a challenging arena where a combination of teaching experience and environmental awareness can be used to help improve the environment and living conditions of many people. This project is in its early days and hence provides many challenges but also allows much opportunity to produce a fantastic, long-term project.

Qualifications Required

  • Applicants should have at least an intermediate level of Spanish and not be afraid to use it
  • Awareness of health and safety issues
  • Self starting
  • Good understanding of community dynamics
  • Open minded
  • Adaptable
  • Good sense of humor
  • Responsible

Qualifications Desired

  • TEFL trained or previous teaching experience desirable
  • Environmental Education experience desirable but not compulsory if willing to learn
  • Current First Aid qualification

Other Details

Please see www.gvi.co.uk for further details of the expedition itself. To apply, please send a full covering letter clearly stating the post that you are applying for, your availability and aims, along with a full, updated CV (resume) with contacts for 2 referees. Please note due to the high number of applications GVI receives we will be unable to answer unsuccessful applications. Thanks for understanding.

Conditions

Living accommodation for this position is decided based on the applicant’s interest. The first option is to be based with the expedition at the biological station, this would involve living in a dorm with up to 28 other people both staff and expedition members. Rooms consist of up to six people and staff are preferably housed together in smaller numbers. If based at the station there will be a certain requirement to become involved in the day to day running of the station however this will not be extensive. The second option is to be based within the community. This is very much dependant on the willingness of the applicant and the availability within the community. If this is the route taken then living accommodation is normally basic but adequate and gives the applicant the advantage of being part of the community.

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