Based in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador the Arajuno Road Project offers volunteers the opportunity to work and teach in schools, providing a structured curriculum for the children, and long-term benefits to communities of the Arajuno Road.
Volunteering with the Arajuno Road Project gives volunteers the chance to put something back into the areas they visit while getting to know and understand a jungle community and allows a rare insight into how the locals really live.
The Arajuno Road Project integrates volunteer lessons into the annual curriculum. This gives the pupils a structured learning program and ensures that volunteers efforts and enthusiasm have a long-term effect. Volunteers are allocated lessons and assignments according to their strengths, and all volunteers have the opportunity to help create an improved education for the local children. The importance of speaking English in an area which has tourism as a key growth market and a global economy where speaking English is vital.
The project works with 6 of the 8 schools between the provincial town of Puyo and Km40 of the Arajuno Road. Volunteers normally work in 2 schools, each twice a week. Lessons are between 8am and 12.30pm Monday-Friday and volunteers assist teachers or take classes for 2 and a half – 3 hours each day. One day a week is used to engage in activities outside the school and research special events for lessons.
I would like to know more and have a lot of questions.
The project is part of a UK charity aimed at advancing education in rural areas in developing countries. As a result getting the greatest value out of volunteers work is the objective. There is a volunteer to staff ratio of 3:1 onsite, with half of volunteers needing to have strong Spanish skills, volunteering for at least 1 semester, and idealing having teaching experience.
This still leaves space for the those who can only stay a few weeks and don’t have any qualifications or language skills. We feel that it is these types of volunteers who bring the imagination, creativity and energy to the project, enhancing the excellent work of qualified teachers.
Any questions post them here, or on our Facebook group ‘You Volunteer and the Arajuno Road Project’ and I’ll get back to you.