Teaching Internship Program in Costa Rica

  Costa Rica

• San Jose: 
San Jose

Term: Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter 
Duration of Program: 9-12 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 1-2 weeks

Description: The Global Routes Teaching Internship Program in Costa Rica has been designed in coordination with community members, teachers, and school administrators. Interns live with a family in a rural village, help teach in the village primary school, offer extra-curricular activities, and initiate and participate in community service projects. It is not necessary to have a background in teaching or a particular subject area. The first portion of the program is dedicated to preparing interns for their teaching placements.

Orientation and Teacher Training (the first 10 days)

Interns arrive in the capital city of San Jose to meet the Global Routes in-country director and spend some time getting to know each other, sharing expectations, and acclimating to Costa Rican life. After a couple of days in San Jose, they travel to their orientation site at the remote Rara Avis Reserve north of San Jose. Rara Avis is home to quetzals, toucans, green macaws, varied species of frogs, bats, monkeys, tarantulas, armadillos, olingos, jaguars, ocelots and over five hundred species of tropical plants. Here interns work with their in-country director on setting goals, lesson planning, teaching strategies and techniques, and classroom management. Rara Avis staff join the in-country director in discussing the environmental issues that confront Costa Rica today. Interns also learn about Costa Rican culture and customs, life in rural Costa Rica and some of the specifics of the villages in which they will be placed. Naturalist guides lead the group on hikes in this protected rainforest. Interns also work on environmental projects alongside the Rara Avis staff. From Rara Avis, the group travels to La Fortuna, near the Arenal Volcano, where red lava flows can be seen at night. They soak in nearby hot springs, hike in the area, and finish their teacher training.

The Teaching Placement (2 months)

During this core program component, two interns are placed together in a rural village to teach in a primary school. Co-interns may collaborate on lesson planning and team-teaching endeavors. The Global Routes in-country director meets with interns on a regular basis to provide support and assistance with lesson planning. Interns develop a working rapport with their students and their mentor teachers. They identify educational needs and ways in which they can be most helpful. They may teach English, environmental education, math, health, science, geography and/or any other subject, depending on their own skills and interests and the needs of their schools. Interns will also assist schoolteachers by tutoring individual students within the school.

The Family Stay (2 months, during the teaching placement)

Although two interns live and teach in the same community, each intern lives with a separate family. Living in rural Costa Rica means giving up several of the comforts and conveniences to which you might be accustomed, such as electricity, indoor plumbing, and familiar foods. You might find yourself washing clothes with water from a well, cooking over a fire and discussing politics and philosophy by candlelight. The experience can be frustrating, rewarding, challenging, and amazing all at the same time. It is a chance to make cross-cultural discoveries and to improve your conversational Spanish skills. The Global Routes in-country director will be there to help you make the transition.

Community Involvement and Secondary Projects

In addition to teaching, interns are expected to become active members of their host communities through self-initiated secondary projects. They can attend community meetings and social gatherings, volunteer at a local heath clinic, initiate a project to renovate the village school, plant a garden with their students at school, design and paint educational murals, teach sex education workshops, direct a musical production, offer after-school recreation activities, or teach evening English classes for teens and adults.

Weekly Group Forum and Support

Each weekend Global Routes interns and staff gather to share and discuss teaching strategies, problems and possible solutions, challenges, and successes. Throughout the teaching internship the Global Routes in-country director provides support and guidance: observing and critiquing teaching techniques, helping to design projects or presentations, purchasing teaching supplies, easing culture shock, dealing with medical issues or just taking time out to talk. On some weekends, interns spend time working on their secondary projects and lesson plans. On other weekends they travel to see nearby points of interest in Costa Rica including the coast, nearby mountains, and national parks.

Final Travel (the last 10 days)

During the final travel component, the interns embark together upon a journey of their own design within Costa Rica and/or neighboring countries. Contained within this region are white sand beaches, volcanoes, virgin rainforests, rushing rivers and waterfalls and thousands of species of tropical plants and animals. Within Costa Rica, your group may explore the Caribbean Coast, hike in the remote Corcovado National Park, and whitewater raft through tropical forest on the Rio Pacuare. In Panama, the group may bike, snorkel, and relax on Caribbean beaches. In Nicaragua you may hike, swim, explore beautiful Isla Ometeppe in Lake Nicaragua, and visit artisan markets and colonial towns.

Qualifications: The internship is a seven to twelve week program (fall, winter, spring and summer semesters) designed for students 17-22 years old. Applicants should have a passion for adventure, social contribution, cross-cultural friendship and personal growth.

Conversational Spanish is required for programs in Costa Rica.

In-country training, support and adventure travel are integral parts of the program. All Global Routes programs have trained staff members on-site to oversee the needs and interests of the participants, as well as the host communities.

Cost in US$: $4,250 - $4,950

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 17-21 years old

Participants Travel to Costa Rica Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently Or in Groups of 12

Global Routes's Mission Statement: Global Routes offers community-service/cross-cultural exchange programs for North American high-school and college students throughout the world. Students immerse themselves in the life of a small, rural community as they live with a local family and teach in the village school, build a community meeting house or participate in other service projects.

Year Founded: 1991