I loved my students and living in CR, but I would not work again with this organization

I absolutely loved living in Costa Rica. I loved teaching and my students and ultimately they were the reason that I did not leave early, even though I was extremely frustrated with EVOLC at many times to the point that I considered leaving.

This non-profit is very disorganized. There were many things that we were initially told- that did not end up happening (for example we were told that EVOLC would organize an end of the term get together with the other volunteers and leaders, which just never happened).

The same standards were not applied across the board, some volunteers were told that they had to have a TEFL certificate and pay full price, while others did not have to do the certification and did not pay to be in the program. I also was not told that my students would have to be paying for their classes- which made no sense to me because I was paying to volunteer there to offer what I thought would be free classes.

I expressed these grievances multiple times and was not heard.

Overall, I absolutely loved living in Costa Rica. I would go back again in a heartbeat. But- I would go with a more organized program. I wish there had been a website like this when I was looking so I would have known what to expect.