Ngobe Indian School Teacher

  Panama

Bocas del Toro

Duration of Program: 3-6 months
Typical Duration of Program: 3-6 months
Dates: 6/08-12/08

Description: We have a vacant teaching position in a remote Indian village located on a beautiful tropical beach. This is a privately-run learning center providing education for students who would otherwise not be able to attend school. The class will be small with probably no more than 14 Ngobe Indian students who are eager to learn. You will be teaching the Panamanian curriculum for 8th grade (from books provided), but which you are encouraged to supplement. We also teach environmental conservation (the village is on the edge of a large national park and turtle nesting area) and basic agriculture (if you have the background) and health (we will supply you what you need here). We strongly encourage cultural preservation and have had only Ngobe teachers at the center in the past two years. The new teacher will promote self-learning of the Ngobe culture through writing assignments, activities, elder visits, and research. The villagers (including the local shaman) have generally asked the teacher to teach an evening class of English (encouraged, but not required). You will work from 7:30 until 3:30 Monday thru Friday. The classroom is presently a very large (20ft.x40ft.) converted tool shed with homemade desks. You will work and live at the school site Monday-Friday (35 minutes by boat from the main town of Bocas). There are several small foreign-owned eco-resorts nearby. Lodging at the site may be a home stay or in one of our cabins if available. You will have the option to return to Bocas Town on Friday afternoons and return back to the school on Monday mornings of each week. Working with us, you will be creating much of your enrichment materials.

Highlights: You can do nothing more rewarding than helping better someone's life. That is what this position does. You will provide the opportunity for Indian children and young adults to attend school and learn skills that can better their lives. These skills are not limited to the textbook or the curriculum. You will find yourself drawn into their world as you come to understand them better and will broaden your awareness of a different way of living. You will come to learn the simplicity and struggle of daily living in their world, and if all goes well, you will make that world better for both them and you.

You will have the opportunity to walk on some of the most undisturbed and beautiful beaches and swim on some of the least climatically affected reefs, left in the tropical world. You will see animals beyond the "Discovery Channel". You will gain a sense of peace from the quiet afternoons. And more importantly, you will come to see if you can rise to a challenge.

Qualifications:
* Spanish speaking and writing.
* You will need to be able to teach in Spanish. Having experience as a teacher, lecturer, or speaking in front of groups of people is required. Having done so in another country and in remote conditions is a plus.
* Carry your own medical insurance.
* Able to commit at a minimum to 3 months.
* Willingness to work in remote locations for at least 5 out of every 7 days per week.
* Self motivator and creative.
* Concern for the education quality of indigenous peoples.

Minimum Education: Associates

Cost in US$: $100 per week

Credit Available: yes

Experience Required: yes

Spanish speaking and writing. You will need to be able to teach in Spanish. Having experience as a teacher, lecturer, or speaking in front of groups of people is required. Having done so in another country and in remote conditions is a plus. Carry your own medical insurance. Able to commit at a minimum to 3 months. Willingness to work in remote locations for at least 5 out of every 7 days per week. Self motivator and creative. Concern for the education quality of indigenous peoples.

Typical Volunteer: Persons seeking purpose in life and willingness to share with others. There have been college students seeking credit to retired persons sharing their knowledge. Age is unimportant if the education requirements are met, but this can be waived for persons with the proper life experience credentials. All have to be fully committed to enrichment of others lives. Most are deeply concerned about maintaining the diversity and health of the environment and indigenous cultures associated with it.

Age Range: Open

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants. This Program is also open to Families, Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to Panama Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Phone Interview
• Resume
• Written Application

Soluciones Biotecnologicas Tropicales (SBT)'s Mission Statement: We are an organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities (primarily to remotely located Indigenous Ngobe Indian children), community access to health professionals and services, and promoting environmental conservation, and cultural preservation. Our motto is one powerful word, "hope". SBT wishes to provide a realistic hope for a common future for the peoples and the environment of Bocas del Toro. Our long-term plan is that successful models or techniques developed and tested here would then be available to other areas of Panama and other developing nations through the power of the Internet and written articles.

Year Founded: 2005