Maximo Nivel

This was honestly an eye-opener for me I had no idea what I was going into when I decided to take this course I was unprepared for the amount of love and support I was going to receive when coming to this course. Choosing to go to Guatemala was a stressful point for my parents and I'd be lying if I said I felt safe visiting Guatemala. Media portrays it as a place of violence and turmoil, but I can say with confidence that a lot of those rumors are untrue. This is coming from someone who walked home at least twice a week after 1 in the morning and I'm a female ( I'm in no way advocating for people to do this, I HAD NO DATA FOR AN UBER, which is dirt cheap here, invest in a sim card guys, also really cheap I was just lazy). Any ways my point is don't believe everything you see or read, this place is beautiful and the people even more so. My trainer Karen was one of a kind and such an inspirational figure she pushed each and everyone of us and the people at Maximo international department were truly angels. If you're thinking of going anywhere give Guatemala a go who knows you might just love it.

I loved my time as a TEFL student with Audra Wooldridge. She challenged us, encouraged us, and motivated us to be the best teachers that we can be. Maximo Nivel is an incredibly supportive and professional company, and I would recommend many people to take this course. I learned so much about teaching and myself that I so much appreciate. What a great and helpful staff. 20/10! They provide coffee and have snacks and drinks for purchase. I really felt comfortable and supported in every way. It has a beautiful view over the ocean, and monkeys and iguanas hanging out around the building. It's a very beautiful place to study if you don't mind the heat. This was a super interesting program all in all, and I have made lifelong friendships! I am so grateful!

The staff was very nice and helped me a lot to feel comfortable and to get to know the area. The teacher was really good and the lessons helped me improve my Spanish very quickly. Although I only took three weeks of classes, I felt like it was a very rewarding experience. First, I had one to one lessons, but later, anoter student joined us and the three of us talked a lot, which was really important for me. The service of Maximo was amazing, the Wifi was very good, I got coffee and water for free and I met a lot of amazing, nice people, which was really helpful considering I did not know anyone when I arrived. Also, I loved the extracurricular activities like cooking classes! I wished I could have continued taking classes, but for a longer period of time, I could not afford the costs. Nevertheless, I had an amazing experience with Maximo.

So I waited a whole month before writing my review- I wanted to come down from the euphoria and whirlwind that this course has brought into my mind. You might be reading this first sentence thinking no way it could be true. But let me start off by telling you a little about myself- I’m 29; have a good, well paying job in finance; and l live in Los Angeles- so if I ever saw myself as an outsider I’d probably think “she’s got it pretty made.” But as an insider of my life- my job burns me out, I’m almost 30 and I don’t enjoy what I do nor do I wake up everyday excited to walk into an office where everyone is out for themselves and will conquer all to get to the top. That’s not my personality and the exhaustion from being at war with the attempt to survive each passing day has caused me to think of “what’s next?” Quite frankly I didn’t know what’s next- so I took a three month sabbatical, traveled with my sister, visited my parents and decided to try something new- something completely outside of my expertise- teaching. I’ve always loved Latin America (obviously you have the food, but also the culture, the people, the music, the happiness I’ve know Every Latino to possess, even when they are faced with some of the most unimaginable hardships) I love talking, and I enjoy helping people and meeting new people. So I thought- why not try teaching in Costa Rica, who knows I just might love it. Day one in the classroom Audra enters, all 12 of us these doe eyed students looking at each other unsure of who this looney is that had just entered the room. She was a wrecking ball- full of energy from the minute her little red scooter pulled in till the rains came and her little red scooter left. Over a four week period she has given us a look into how she had good things going her way and she left it all to explore herself and the world that lays in front of each of us. Going into this I did not know I was a teacher at heart- but from the first day I stood in front of that classroom teaching a “HowTo - 20 minute mini lesson” she helped shaped me and bring my natural Goofyness out. Audra is an inspiration as a teacher as she wants you to feel the pizzazz that comes with standing up in front of a room of limited English speakers and talking. She will goof off and let you see that it’s okay to eff up, or to look like a fool and not always have perfect teaching days. But for each of those moments where you feel you did terrible, shell lift you up by finding something good in you. That’s not to say she’s an easy teacher/grader. Oh no, you’ll want to toss her into the floods outside on numerous occasions- but it’s so worth it. The experience I had at Maximo Nivel has brought me 12 amazing new friends, amazing new mentors as I embark on a frightening yet exciting career change, and numerous lifelong friends across Costa Rica. I so very highly recommend this course for those of you who are in my shoes, or those of you deciding between courses- this is it, it’s the one that will change your views.

Maximo Nivel has an awesome program in San Jose where you can teach English to refugees at Fundacion Mujer. I had a great time. My students were awesome and I gained teaching experience. I started the volunteer program in the beginning of August. My third day into it, I learned that I loved teaching English and I decided to get my TEFL certification through Maximo Nivel in Manuel Antonio. My first time volunteering in San Jose was for three weeks. Then I had to leave and get my TEFL certification then I came back for a week after my TEFL certification to volunteer teach and gain more experience.

The experience was awesome. My last day volunteering was September 27th. I am going to return again about a month to volunteer some more. I got a job teaching English. I was training and tomorrow I will be starting my new job so I cannot volunteer just yet. I think Maximo Nivel really helps you get ready for your volunteer project and you have a field manager that will take you to your project and guide you along the way.

Here is an example of what I teach in the classroom. This was this past Friday's lesson:

Friday’s Lessons at Fundacion Mujer September 27, 2019

This past Friday at Fundacion Mujer during my volunteer duty teaching English, my students learned about describing different processes in passive voice. Then we worked on some worksheets that I copied from my business English book. The worksheet was about how to inform clients using the present continuous tense. Then we learned about perfect progressive. I had copied a page from one of the English books I had gotten during my TEFL course. Afterward, we worked on present perfect progressive exercises.

We then worked on more exercises from the business English book. Afterward, we looked at the different verb tenses. I copied the pages from my Maximo Nivel TEFL book, which had the different verb forms. We learned about regular and irregular verbs.

I highly suggest this volunteer program. If you give it a try I know you will end up wanting your TEFL certificate so you can teach English for a living.