English Teaching Activity Lead

Otra Cosa Network is a well-established UK Registered Charity and Peruvian registered not for profit (NGO), addressing the educational needs of children and vulnerable adults in an extremely impoverished area of Northern Peru. We work in informal settlements where many community members have been displaced by climate change, disaster and political instability. They live in precarious circumstances, few have running water, sewage provision and there is only sporadic electricity. Additionally, many children are forced to work instead of continuing their education, in order to boost family finances and there are no community-based facilities for learning and developing new skills in a safe environment.

Our dynamic range of activities address language skills, environmental awareness, women’s entrepreneurship, youth, employability and gender empowerment. we are seeking volunteers to work in project implementation in our new Recreation and Education Centre as well as our field office. Projects will restart as soon as the community is safely able to come out of isolation, post coronavirus. Our range of activities are implemented by national and international volunteers, allowing them to express solidarity whilst boosting their field experience. 

As a English Teaching Activity Lead you will work under the guidance of our Community Development Coordinator and make sure that our English teaching is meeting high quality standards and is carried out successfully. You could be leading several volunteers in their work of delivering English classes and putting their ideas of lessons plans together.

This role may require only a few hours a week but also gives you the chance to work on other projects within the Otra Cosa Network to top up your hours to around 25 hours/week.

Please note that all volunteer positions are also available as Internships. With this add-on you will receive an extra level of mentorship and where necessary all appropriate liaison with your academic institution to ensure compliance with internship placement requirements. 

• Facilitate weekly meetings with volunteers to plan lessons

• Deliver English language lessons to the children we work with

• Help volunteers to deliver high quality lessons and guide them with your specific knowledge in this field

• Maintain and update all material related to the English program

• Be creative in coming up with new ideas and policies to improve our English program

• Help managing the English teaching budget

• Have weekly meetings with the Project Coordinators and participate in the Coordinators meeting 

• Personal pick-up upon arriving and walking tour through Huanchaco

• Working with an organization that has many years of experience teaching English to vulnerable communities.

• Possibility of contributing with your own ideas

• Thorough introduction to the organization 

• Certified training in First Aid and Child Safeguarding.

• 24/7 emergency support 

• Personal pick-up upon arriving and walking tour through Huanchaco

• Organized activities & trips (barbeques, game nights, volunteer-lunch, team building trips) with like-minded people from all over the

world

• Working in a friendly beach & surf town right next to many

historical sites

• The satisfying feeling of committing your work to a good cause

whilst gaining insight into a new culture.

• Certificate of completion detailing your role, the project(s) you

participated in and the dates you volunteered in.

• Current background check from your home country.

• Spanish level: Not required but desirable *

• Time commitment: 2-3 months

* We can arrange Spanish classes for you in advance (by Skype) or during your stay,  if you have no/minimum Spanish or want to improve your language skills.

• Total 25 hours per week: 5-10 hours in this lead role, in addition to 15-20  hours spent on another activity

• Education

• TEFL

• English Language and Literature

• Project Management

• Community Development Studies

• Youth Work

• Anthropology

• International Relations

• Sociology

• Spanish

Whilst there is a lot of variety in this role, on a typical day as an English activity lead you will start with planning the structure of the lessons for the following weeks in cooperation with the Community Development Coordinator. Therefore, you will work closely with other volunteers to decide on topics and teaching measures. You will guide the English Teaching Volunteers with the implementation of an efficient lesson plan and curriculum. You will also give helpful advice in how to catch the attention of children and how to actively involve them in class. As a role model for other volunteers, you also have the opportunity to actively show your teaching skills in front of the children.

After work there is plenty of time to catch one of Huanchaco’s world famous sunsets from the tranquility of the beach, or indeed from a surfboard. Then there are various options to fill your evening, socializing with local and other volunteers, sampling the famous Peruvian cuisine, attending talks and cultural events, music, dance, theatre, movies- the list is endless.