Teach English in the Caribbean

  Dominican Republic

Barahona,  Santo Domingo

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks and 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks

Description: Becoming an English teacher in the Dominican Republic is one of the best ways to learn about and experience first hand, some of the joys of Caribbean life. These state and community schools receive little government funding (sometimes none at all), so i-to-i English teachers are a precious resource and always welcome. Here you could work along side the staff English teachers or lead the English classes improving the vocabulary, pronunciation and conversational skills of young children. To prepare you to teach English in the Dominican Republic and your first day of class, we also include the i-to-i online TEFL course and supplemental teaching aids.

There are two schools based in Santo Domingo and one in Barahona. The schools are all community based schools.

* Escuela 'Cafe con Leche' is based on the outskirts of Santo Domingo in the 'El Cafe neighbourhood. It is a small area characterized by great poverty and high population density on very uneven terrain that is difficult to enter and leave. There are approximately 500 children from nursery to grade 5 in this school which is the only one to serve families in this community. Many of the children who attend this school are orphaned or come from broken homes with absent fathers. As a result, many mothers are forced to work outside of their homes, which in turn means leaving their children unattended (in the best of cases, the older children take care of the younger ones). The school is an opportunity to change all this and create a future for these children.

* Escuela Comunitaria Mauricio Báez also located in the outskirts of Santo Domingo is a community school with approximately 1,000 children and 17 teachers. The school is part of a development by the Asociacion Pro-Desarrollo of Guaricanos (APRODEGUA) founded in 1996 to provide education to children from families that are unable to afford private school or where there is no room at the local state school.

* Escuela Maria Montes is a small community school in the suburbs of Barahona located on the South Costa of the Dominican Republic. The school was set up in 2000 with the aim of providing education to children from poor backgrounds and in an isolated community. The children are aged between 5 and 11 although there may be some older children if they have not reached the correct level of education. Class sizes are between 40 and 45. They also provide food at lunch time as many of the children come to school without having any access to breakfast.

Highlights: You will be the main class teacher or work with another volunteer, teaching English to the children at the school. You can also get involved in teaching English to the teachers or other members of the local community in order to improve their linguistic competencies. At the Maria Montes school Friday afternoons are normally set aside for the teachers to receive English lessons. You can also get involved with making displays for the classrooms, organising extra-curricular activities. There are also small areas where you could organize sports with the children. You may be able to organise smaller groups within the class so that you can spend more time on English exercises.

Qualifications: Volunteers most of all for these projects must have a love of children and be committed to the project. You will need to be flexible and be willing to get involved in anything that is asked of you. You must also be aware that the children you are working with are very lively and also disruptive and will need perseverance and tolerance when working with them. You will need to be able to think on your feet so that you are able to tailor your lessons to the different needs of the children if necessary.

Cost in US$: 1795 for 4 weeks. 195 for each additional week.

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to World Wide Participants.

Post Services Include:

• Alumni Network

i-to-i Meaningful Travel's Mission Statement: Founded in 1994, i-to-i is an award-winning organization providing unique opportunities for you to travel, work and live abroad. Thousands of travelers aged 18 to 80 have joined our volunteer vacations and over 15,000 have learned to Teach English as a Foreign Language through our tailor-made TEFL courses. With over 300 projects on 4 continents, you can join the worldwide i-to-i volunteer community on an extended adventure in areas such as teaching, community development, sports coaching, conservation, building or internships in tourism, marketing, journalism, or health.

Year Founded: 1994