A rewarding teaching experience with real impact

I had a wonderful time in Paraguay on my Year Abroad, thanks to a combination of a worthwhile and effective teaching programme and a culturally rich and welcoming community.

What sets this apart from other volunteering programmes you may be looking at:
- You are provided with sensible teaching resources, but you have complete freedom as to how you teach the material. You are not tied to the textbook and can be as creative as you like.
- The students are intelligent and motivated, and classes are fairly small.
- Classes take place every day Monday-Friday, meaning real progress can be achieved.
- The students work towards (and regularly achieve) internationally recognised Cambridge English certificates.
- English is a relatively rare and therefore valuable and employable skill in Paraguay - so the classes genuinely open up opportunities for people in an area where unemployment is high.
- There are few fluent English-speakers in the community, which helps to improve your Spanish!
- Security is not an issue as Santa Maria is very safe (compared to eg. working in shanty town areas of Lima, where I wasn't allowed to live in the area or go out after dark for security reasons).

Santa Maria is a small town but there is plenty to do if you widen your interests to see what is there. The treasure is really the relationships you will build up with your host family, students and the local community - you can spend hours just sitting in people's gardens drinking terere, which is really an essential part of the cultural experience!