A fantastic opportunity to make an impact on people's lives and get to know a new country

I worked at the Santa Maria Education Fund for six months last year as part of my year abroad. My main goals when I decided to volunteer in South America were that I wanted to do something worthwhile with my time, speak a lot of Spanish, and have a good time. I can safely say that I did all of these things during my time in Paraguay. I didn't have any formal teaching training before starting at SMEF, but this was fine as I worked from useful course material, received advice and training from the organisation, and all of the students were lovely and welcoming to me as a first time English teacher. During my time I grew close to all of my classes and saw their English really improve (students ranged from 8 years old to 25 years old), and think I grew and improved as a teacher myself. Living with a host family in Santa Maria was a fantastic experience as I spoke Spanish whenever I was at home, and felt like I was a part of the community. Santa Maria is a quiet town, but if you want to there are countless things you can do to keep yourself entertained in your free time; I learned to play the Paraguayan harp! Would highly recommend this volunteering opportunity.