Costa Rica: Volunteer English Teaching in Latin America

Costa Rica: Volunteer English Teaching and Work-Experience

Located between Nicaragua and Panama, Costa Rica is a relatively prosperous Central American country. The country has long been a popular location for North Americans, but with its incredibly varied eco-systems and progressive attitudes to conservation Costa Rica is also becoming increasingly popular as a global tourist destination. Knowledge of the English language is highly sought after in order to make the most of the opportunities this presents.

Volunteer English Teaching in Costa Rica is a fantastic way to see this beautiful Central American country and learn about its people and culture. You can gain work experience on a Projects Abroad placement with no previous experience or TEFL qualification. Whether you want to volunteer as an English teacher on your gap year, career break or extended holiday, you will be valued by the local community and you will be fully supported by our local staff.

The impact you have on the lives of your students will be immediately obvious, but it is important to recognise you will also be part of an ongoing process, which is striving to make a really positive contribution to the wider community.

Teach English Language in schools and universities with Projects Abroad

Our volunteer Teaching projects in Costa Rica are based in primary schools, universities and language schools in and around the pleasant town of Liberia in the north-west of the country. Liberia is four hours away from the cosmopolitan capital of San José, less than two hours from the Nicaraguan border and one to two hours from an enviable choice of Pacific-coast beaches.

The primary schools are in Liberia and some of the smaller surrounding towns, up to a maximum of 45 minutes bus ride away. Many of the placements within the town are less than 20 minutes walk from host family accommodation. Depending on the school you are placed in you could be teaching children as young as 3 or as old as 13. The size of the classes may vary from as little as ten students to as many as forty. Although you will be given your own unique timetable, work generally begins at around 8.30am - although some schools start earlier - and runs until early afternoon.

Volunteers teaching English at the Universities often have lessons in the afternoons and sometimes in the early evening too. You will normally teach smaller conversation classes with students keen to both improve their English and find out about western culture. Your time-table will be prepared with you when you arrive and will be reviewed regularly.

Projects Abroad also run our own language school in Liberia. Lessons take place at the Central University from 4.30pm to 8.30pm. The language school is open to adults from 18 upwards and there are also some classes arranged for 12 to 17 year olds. As well as English, volunteers can teach other languages like French and German here, as long as we know in advance and can advertise the classes. Many volunteers combine work at our language school with work in the primary schools in the mornings. Please let us know if you have any preferences when you apply.

Up to two volunteers can also join our English training programme for the local police. This takes place from 6.30pm to 8.30pm each day.

Volunteering on a Teaching Project in Costa Rica

As a volunteer in Costa Rica on one of our Teaching placements, you can provide effective, practical help with spoken English in a number of schools, universities and at the Projects Abroad language school. For the students the increased exposure to conversational English will enable them to advance their language skills and brighten their futures.

Sometimes you will be supporting a teacher in a full-sized class, at other times you may take some of the students with you to give them more individual attention, or you may sometimes teach your own class independently or with a fellow volunteer. It is always worth talking to your supervisors about any ideas you may have for the students. If you have a passion for sports, drama or music there may well be the opportunity for you to organise some extra curricular activities.

The schools in Costa Rica have their main holidays from mid December to mid February, with a shorter holiday in July. Volunteers are able to travel or enjoy the festivities with their host family over the Christmas period, then from the second week of January we organise a variety of holiday programmes. These include extra work at the Projects Abroad run language school, sports coaching, painting a care centre and working with children at the care centres who still attend during the holiday period.

Before you set out to Costa Rica we will send you a teaching guide that has plenty of suggestions for games and activities that will help to stimulate the students’ minds and sustain their enthusiasm. We always welcome new ideas and we hope that you will take time to prepare and structure lessons. Good preparation will help to give you confidence and ensure that you and your students get the most out of this fantastic experience.

All volunteers on Teaching, Care, Sports, Journalism or Spanish placements in Costa Rica have the opportunity to add a 7-Day Conservation Project to the end of their main placement. For more information visit our 7-Day Costa Rica Conservation Project page.