Costa Rica - Lady Gladys

Introduction

The Lady Gladys Centre for Education is located in Alajuelita, San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica). It was built to provide poor children from the area with a good education at a cost they can afford to help them escape the poverty in which they live.

John (the director of the project), first had the idea to open the school 4 years ago and it has been a long and difficult journey! The school is named after John's mother who passed away in 2008 whilst he was building the project. Now the primary school area of the centre is open.

We started running a "social education programme" in October 2009 to give extra classes to children who are currently in poorly run government schools. It is covered by at least 2 volunteers and 4 Spanish teachers. The programme has been a great success for everyone involved and is really benefiting the community so we want to keep it running all year round.

The primary school will open in February, licensed by the Ministery of Education Costa Rica. Volunteers will be working for the ´social education programme´ and the school depending on what is needed most. Classes for this take place in the school centre.

Project Manager & Volunteer Coordinators

The founder and director of the centre is John Hawker. John was born and raised in England and had a poor and difficult upbringing. This has inspired his will to bring good education to everyone, including the poorest children. He believes that education is the greatest gift that you can give a child to help them create a better life for themselves.

The volunteer coordinators are Georgina and Paul. Paul is a member of John's family and the project is very close to his heart and Georgina is his partner. Both coordinators’ have spent a lot of time at the centre working with the children and developing a good volunteer programme. You will be communicating primarily with Georgina and Paul to arrange your volunteer placement.

About Our School

Our key aim is to provide a good education for poor and under-privileged children. This is not easy and we are lacking substantial funds. This is why dedicated volunteers are so important to help us continue this project. Anyone who comes here must understand and believe how important it is for these children to have a good education to help them escape the poverty in which they live.

olunteers must truly want to make a difference and not just be coming on a whim. Volunteers must have a big heart and a lot of love and compassion for the children here.

Who do we need?

• English teachers, preferably with a TEFL qualification or previous experience teaching English as a foreign language (although this is not necessary, but determination and patience definitely is!)

• Play teachers and nursery nurses to work with 2,3 and 4 year old children teaching basic English (some knowledge of Spanish is extremely helpful if you want to work with the younger children).

All volunteers must be very dedicated to our cause and give 100% whilst volunteering here.

You must have a love for children and want to make a difference for those who need it most.

You should also be prepared to adapt to Costa Rican pace of life (things can move very slowly here!)

All volunteers must be 18 and have a full CRB check . The minimum volunteer commitment to this project is 2 months.

Activities at the Centre

Volunteers will be teaching English to children aged between 3-14. Classes are given as formal lessons for the older children, and as play group learning sessions for the very young children. Classes begin at 8am and don’t finish until 4.30pm, so it’s a very long day!

Volunteers will be giving classes Monday – Friday and occasionally on a Saturday morning. Sundays are always free.Due to the long hours and days of this project, volunteers must be incredibly hard working.

It is always helpful to come prepared with some plan or ideas about how you want to teach the children, bringing flash cards for example. There are a lot of English learning materials here, but if you want or need anything specific, it is much easier to source materials outside of Costa Rica!

Volunteers will also have the chance to set up and run extra English groups/classes for staff at the centre who also really want to learn.

Accomodation

This price includes all food, accom-modation, bedding etc. You will have clean and comfortable accommodation with a local family who speak some English.

Accommodation will be a short drive from the school. We ask volunteers to pay this much so that we can house you in a safe and friendly neighborhood. No profit is made for anyone from this donation, your money will only pay for what is mentioned above.

We can discuss cheaper prices with any volunteers wanting to stay with us for 6 months or more, as long term volunteers are so valuable!

This is a very new project - we do not yet have any feedback from volunteers.

Volunteer Vacancies:

2 volunteers at any one time. Below is our booking calendar which is updated in real time: