Program Reviews

This trip has been so rewarding and was more than I ever expected! Since day one I have felt welcomed, supported and safe in my volunteer program. Which has made the whole experience of traveling solo that much more memorable. The impact left on me After one month of caring for patients and exploring, will be lifelong. During my time caring for patients I got to assist in managing blood pressures, blood sugars, health education, wound care and so much more! Soon I hope to return! Thank you everyone at Maximo!

Incredible. That was my first travel alone and as a 17 years old girl I felt secure all along the trip. The Maximo staff are super nice and make a great accompagnement. They are listening and give you solutions for any problems you can have. I have meet some incredible people. I dont regret at all my decision to go with Maximo Nivel. I was travelling alone but with my amazing guest family, friends I have make and Maximo staff, I was not really alone. I’ve always had a back up somewhere. Well, best adventure of my Life.

This course has been so helpful. It was over 4 weeks and involved a lot of learning and teaching. The teacher in Guatemala, Wayne, was such an inspiration in the way that he taught us and the information that he gave us was very useful. His feedback after classes were encouraging, inspiring and helpful. I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone interested in teaching English as a foreign language. The resources that we were given were of high quality and I learnt so much in the actual hands on teaching opportunities.

Spent two lovely weeks doing the Jungle Conservation program! Being in the Amazon truly is such a surreal experience and something I will value for the rest of my life. I definitely had moments where I felt out of my comfort zone, but the people at the volunteer site and Savannah from Máximo were amazing support throughout my time there.

The activities varied from day to day, including things like identifying different species, planting trees, clearing trails, and some construction work. Highly recommend!

This course was very well created and provides everything you need to begin and earn in teaching. The instructor was very approachable and was able to create a fun and enjoyable learning environment that encouraged us to do our best. Really enjoyed it.
The lessons and the experience gained are worth every penny, I feel much more confident in my ability to teach and prepare lessons now for a variety of language levels. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a change in pace or to add another string to their bow.

My two daughters and I traveled to San Antonio Aguas Calientes to stay with a family for a week for the Mayan cultural immersion program. It was an enjoyable and touching experience. Although my daughters do not have Spanish language skills, they were able to connect and have fun with the kids. We had multiple opportunities to engage with the community during religious events. We visited during La Semana Santa, which was a great time to visit. We felt safe the entire visit. Our program was only one week and we wish we could have stayed longer.

The Maximo Nivel online TEFL course was comprehensive and hugely informative. This course gave me all the necessary tools to teach English as a second language. The layout of the course was easy to navigate and arranged in such a way that the course work never seemed too daunting or unachievable in any way. Additionally, the support I received throughout the course was amazing. My trainer MacKenzie was always only an email away, and gave great advice during the process. I recommend this course to anyone seeking a TEFL certification.

I was feeling apprehensive before starting this journey. As a non native speaker, I wanted to prove to myself that I was able to take an advanced and well qualified course in English. As the days went by I felt more comfortable doing the course. My classmates and Sean made this small adventure one of the best I've ever had. Maximo Nivel and its staff are amazing, I really recommended taking this course. We covered everything from teaching methodologies, English grammar, teaching with games, the differences between teaching adults and teenagers. We started practice teaching on the 3rd day of course with real English students. The highlight was the practical teaching week at the end of the course.

To put it simply- Wayne is a remarkable teacher who truly cares about the growth of his learners. He was very well organized and explained the concepts professionally and with a good amount of humor which kept us laughing and learning.

He taught one class to us on Japanese in order for us to see the importance of the techniques and that we could truly learn some of a new language without knowing anything beforehand. This was an eye-opening experience and provided an important perspective that I kept throughout the class.

I've had an amazing experience in Guatemala! I've felt supported by the volunteer agency, Maximo Nivel, at every stage of my volunteer journey.

I've spent a fortnight teaching English at San Juan, helping to improve the English of children here. I worked to augment their existing education to improve their life chances and career opportunities in the future.

The challenge is that the student numbers are small and attendance is variable! Also, their ages and abilities vary, so be prepared to teach 3 things at once to different kids! But they are a delight to teach and they have a willing attitude to learn.

They learning points for me were to realise that I can't change the world in a fortnight: to teach in baby steps and look to achieve 100% percent of a few things rather that 10% of everything!

Overall, a great experience 😊