Help teach Amazon children for a lifetime experience!

  Ecuador

• All Other Regions of Ecuador: 
Puyo

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks and 9-12 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: January 3- June 30 & September 1- December 15:

Description: Don't wonder what the Amazon Jungle is like, experience it! Help teach in schools of the Amazon Jungle. Experience the satisfaction of helping children learn and smile.

Based in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador the Teaching in Pastaza project offers volunteers the opportunity to work and teach in a school, providing long-term benefits to the children and families of the area. With the help that volunteers give, essential educational and sporting equipment can be supplied, and give the children a more exciting learning experience. By using activities, art and music to teach the children are exposed to a variety of techniques used to engage them in the learning process.

The Project aims to create a structured curriculum within the jungle schools of Ecuador and volunteers assist in creating a stable learning environment. The Project also aims to use local community skills and resources to help develop the community and preserve the rapidly depleting rain-forest.

Highlights:
Volunteer Role:
School Year: (Volunteers will primarily work in the school. Lessons are between 7am and 12pm Monday-Friday and volunteers will have the opportunity to assist teachers for 2 1/2 - 3 hours each day. Each afternoon volunteers will spend time in teams planning the following days lessons. Volunteers will work with our coordinators to plan lessons that form part of a structured curriculum, giving volunteers clear guidance and support. In addition to academic activities, volunteers will also have the chance to teach sports, arts or music.

Summer School: In Ecuador, schools terms are from January to the end of June and from September until the middle of December. In the months in between, the Project will run a summer school. During the summer holidays many of the children are left with little to occupy them, the summer school is designed to give them more creative freedom than they have during term time. The project's summer school placement is focused on sports, arts and music, and volunteers will also have the opportunity to put their own ideas into action.

Community Projects: During the same period as the summer school the Project will also be running local community projects. These are subject to funding and what is needed but placements can be anything to redecorating the school to sprucing up the local community to installing clean running water into local homes.

Location: Set amongst stunning scenery in the Amazon jungle, the project is located in between the towns of Arajuno and Puyo in the province of Pastaza. There are scattered communities of farmers and lumberjacks in the small hamlet of 10 de Agosto and in the halfway point town of El Triunfo there is a small community of families based along the side of the main road.

Accommodations and Meals: The volunteers live in a communal house. The house provides spacious dorm rooms (bedding provided), a kitchen, living area, working area, hot showers and clean running water. Volunteers and coordinators take turns preparing meals. The volunteer house is a social environment and will give volunteers the change to relax and unwind as well as getting to know other volunteers from other schools and what is going on in the different communities.

In your free time you can enjoy the following activities:
* Baños is located on the northern foothills of the Tungurahua volcano. It is named after the hydrothermal springs of mineral water located around the city. Baños is full of adventure activities. You can't miss the Manto de la Virgen waterfall, ride a horse in the hills around the town, walk, hike or climb the surrounding trails and the volcano, mountain bike the breathtaking scenic road to Puyo or raft in one of the nearby rivers.

* Take a jungle tours to the Amazon rainforest. There are many tour operators in Baños and some in Puyo than can help you with this.

* Visit the National Park Yasuni. The park is primarily a rain forest that lies on 9,820 square kilometers between the Napo and Curaray rivers in Napo and Pastaza provinces in Amazonian Ecuador, around 250 km from Quito. The park was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989.

Experience Required: no

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

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Other
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Alumni Network
• Job and Internship Network

LEAD Adventures Ecuador's Mission Statement: Since its creation in 2004 LEAD Adventures has been extremely successful launching programs in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands and establishing mutually beneficial partnerships abroad. Up to date we have efficiently managed over 2,000 inbound participants individually and in-group programs. Our programs are targeted to young minded people from all over the world that want to experience the great destinations Ecuador and South America have to offer.

Year Founded: 2004