WORK CONTENT AND DESCRIPTION
Locations:
We work in two different locations and you can choose which one you want to be based
at:
- HEREDIA (Central Valley) lies near San Jose, the capital city,
and is part of the San Jose greater metropolitan area. Here you'll work in one of
a selection of different Kindergartens or Care Centres. Heredia is also where we
have other projects as well, such as our teaching and internships.
- Jaco Beach is a resort city on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.
The beach is 2.5 miles long (4 km) and is renowned for having some of the best surfing
in the country.
The kindergarten and care centres provide the children with an opportunity to learn
by playing. Their main objective is to look after children from the local area whose
parents need to work but who don’t have anywhere or anyone else to look after the
children. This is a great opportunity to give your assistance to hard-pressed staff,
to children who deserve all the help and attention they can get, as well as to mothers
who need to be able to leave their children somewhere safe while they go out to
work.
The children love having extra people to play with and their smiles really make it
worthwhile! Just a small amount of your time can really make a big difference. Activities
are mainly based on helping the teachers to take care of the children, as well as
developing educational games, and recreational activities. You'll mainly be playing
with the children, feeding them, reading to them and finding ways to interact and
help them learn.
If you have any special skills, such as playing a musical instrument, sports,
arts, etc., please let us know as kindergarten and care centres would love
you to teach the children these wonderful skills.
Due to the level of poverty, neither the children nor their families normally have
any knowledge of English, so basic lessons are really important. Teaching them the
alphabet, colours, names of animals, etc., by using flashcards, organising games,
singing and narrating nursery rhymes all bring huge smiles to the children’s faces.
Your Supervisor will liaise with you to agree your daily schedule. Some of the work
you may be also involved in could include:
- Educational games and play time supervision
- Helping to teach children;
- Help with kitchen duties;
- Creating activities and entertaining the children with games and songs and Teaching
Basic English,
- Teaching the children about health and hygiene
- ... and much more ...
At our beach projects in Jaco you can also helping other teachers
with:
- Physical Education, Arts, Music, etc., but this would be according to your abilities
and your level of Spanish.
- /li> Help in the Day Care’s Kitchen & Dining Room, by serving meals, eating with
the children, washing dishes, etc.
You'll normally work Monday to Friday, at least 4 hours a day. This is subject to
change according to the supervisor's needs at the time you're there. Free time will
be Saturday and Sunday.
HOLIDAYS!
School is normally closed from the 15th December 15 to the 15th February.
CAN'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE?
If you speak some Spanish, you'll find it very beneficial on this project. However,
don't be put off if languages aren't your thing! You're sure to pick up some of
the basic words whilst you're there and, like other volunteers, you'll find other
ways to converse without language becoming a barrier.
Don't forget that we can also arrange some Spanish Lessons for you during your programme
if you'd like.