Teach English and Social Justice using popular education.
Complete training is provided and no Spanish is necessary!
Volunteers teach classes to motivated adults who are looking for better opportunities in El Salvador.
Classes are Monday, Tuesday Friday 5-6:45pm and teachers are responsible for making their own lessons plans (with any necessary support from the English school coordinator). Volunteers must commit to one complete cycle of the class in order to provide students with an appropriate level of continuity in their learning. An intensive 3 day training session will provide information about how to teach and provide security and cultural orientation.
Volunteers manage their own time and some take more time to plan lessons than others. They are expected to use popular education techniques and incorporate interesting activities in their lesson plans such as incorporating music or games. Social justice also must be incorporated into lesson plans to give students the opportunity to discuss important topics in a safe environment. Topics such as environmentalism, gender, multi-national corporations etc are great to incorporate into classes to increase awareness and understanding of such topics. Teachers often learn as much about these topics as students as they hear different perspectives.
Extra duties such as updating our monthly bulletin board and planning activities for graduation are given to people who have the time and enthusiasm. Other teachers offer to tutor students trying to pass the TOEFL test, or focus their time on classroom planning. Each teacher is assigned a class (Basic A, Basic B, Basic C, Intermediate A, Intermediate B, Advanced and Conversational) and are given a curriculum with the grammar requirements for each level. At the middle and end of the cycle, tests are written by teachers and given to students. At the end of the cycle, each teacher must decide if students are ready to move on to the next level or if they should repeat the level again to gain more confidence and fluency in the material.
Teacher meetings are planned for Monday afternoons where teachers can share successes and challenges they have had throughout the week.
Volunteers receive 2 weeks of free afternoon outings to historically or culturally important places in the surrounding area to help provide context to their work.
Volunteers who have extra time can offer to help out with other activities in the English school, or with our other grassroots programs.
They also receive discounts on Spanish classes in the mornings if needed, and small discounts on homestays which provide breakfast, supper and orientation to your new surroundings.
CIS has over 22 years of experience of working in solidarity with the people of El Salvador.
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