Volunteer work for
Whenever one thinks about volunteering somewhere, some of the first questions that they might come across are; “how long am I going to work?” and “what am I going to do?”
For us here at espaanglish, volunteering does not really mean work. We would like to express to all possible future volunteers our flexibility about hours teaching or volunteering.
Weekly tasks and expectations:
You will be providing language classes according to the schedule and also you will be teaching about 2 or 4 hours per day during weekdays (except Monday when the school is closed). Weekends and Mondays are free. Apart from the time spent teaching you will be working about 1 to 2 hours a day to prepare your classes and homework. The cleaning of the classrooms is shared by all teachers and requires about one hour per week per person. David Mercedes (the local Spanish teacher) will give you free Spanish lessons to the volunteer teachers for 1 or 1:30 hours per week in return for teaching at the language school.
*Mondays we plan the lessons for the whole week. The time that we invest on doing it, will depend on how many classes you are teaching. The range is approximally 1:30 or 2 hours.
*From Tuesday to Friday one volunteer will have a minimal of 8 hours ( 2 hours a day) and a maximal of 16 hours ( 4 hours a day)
teaching any language.
*From time to time we need help with the promotional work for the school in places such as churches, shantytowns, markets, etc. This includes; handing out flyers, and painting signs and walls with our logo and information, in order to inform the locals about the school. These tasks are usually done in the beginning of the month, and range from about 3 to 4 hours on any given day
*Part of the activities that the volunteers have to do is: to ask for the money that students pay every month (a fee about, 7 US dollars in Huanchaco and 12 US dollars in Trujillo, a month), and put their names on a list.
Benefits of this program:
- Build a relationship with your local Peruvian students, make local friends!
- Previous teaching experience is not necessary as some free guidance is given.
- Obtain teaching experience in a different setting.
- Teaching methods are ready to be used by you or will be made by you. Feel the freedom to experiment.
- Get free Spanish lessons (Espaanglisch Spanish School).
- Get to know a Peruvian fishing village like Huanchaco and a nice city like Trujillo from an inhabitant's perspective instead of the short stay tourist perspective.
- Cheap long term accomodation in Huanchaco or Trujillo for all volunteers. An introduction to the Trujillo and constant advice on where to go and how to get there.
- Get to know other interesting parts of Trujillo while promoting the language school in the poor areas of town.
- Extend your travelling time in Peru at a very low cost of living and recharge your travelling batteries
Minimum requirements:
- Have at least a minimal knowledge of the Spanish language.(you don't speak Spanish but still want to volunteer teaching English, click here).
- Have an enthusiastic and lively character in a classroom environment.
- Be self-confident.
- That you stay at least for one full course of exactly one calendar month.
- to show up a few days before the end of the month and stay at least till the end of the next. The longer you can stay the better of course. Past volunteers have also recommended volunteers considering a longer commitment to get more out of the experience.
- Be a very responsible and punctual person.
- Teaching experience is not necessary.
- Must be able to survive in conditions that might not be as "perfect" as in the Western World countries.
- That you will send us the necessary information we ask for below. We cannot place you before we have this information. As there are only a limited amount of places for volunteers at the same time, we have to make a selection when more people are interested. We need to get to know you a little bit better before we can decide whether this project is suitable for you. So please write us about: davidmercedes@espaanglisch.com
a) Do you speak another language besides your mother tongue?
b) Your personal motivation to volunteer at Espaanglisch Language School and why the teaching vacancy suits you.
c) We also wonder what your expectations are. Could you describe us how you imagine a teaching day at Espaanglisch Language School? Of course this is hard to imagine yet but you must have some sort of picture in your head. It gives us an idea of your expectations and this is important because we want to avoid disappointments later on.
d) At last we would like to receive your Resume (stating age, education and past work and volunteer experiences).
e) To hear about your availability: when exactly do you want to come and for how long do you want to stay?
f) If you are willing to teach both in Trujillo and Huanchaco (according to the school's needs, or only in one of the two?
Only complete applications will be taken into consideration, so please send everything in one go.
What do I get in return?
Of course you get some things in return.
All the volunteers working for espaaglisch language school get:
*Classroom with all the necessary teaching materials.
*Volunteer meeting on mondays with the local teachers nd the other volunteers.
.free Spanish lessons ( according to your level ) in groups size maximum of 2 or 3. The lessons are given once a week and are about one hour to hour and a half per week with David Mercedes
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.guidence in different teaching methods. Which means, how to teach English, taking into account that peruvians only speak Spanish and that language is different to English and the student will try to focus ( in spelling, pronunciation, grammar, etc) English form their mother tongue “Spanish”. (Some guidance and training in your teaching tasks, but you must be able to work independantly)
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discount on the different service for all volunteers.
- 10% discount on all your Salsa lessons at Salsexy (salsa school).
- 25% discount on surf lessons, surf equipement rental and trips to Chicama at Wistana
- 25% discount on Peruvian Cooking Lessons at Ce-beache with María or Ana.
- 10% on Spanish lessons at Espaanglisch
- cheap accomodation in different places in Huanchaco or Trujillo for all volunteers.
- an introduction to the cities one might be living.
Volunteer Housing Options:
We have different places where you can stay cheaply with different services and different prices.
Hola señora Carmen.
a family house (also the espaanglisch School -Trujillo)
Single room:
* Private room per week s/. 90. soles (34. US$)
* Things to use included in the price of the room: a bike, free use of the kitchen, Internet access.
* no food included.
Dormitory for 2:
* a room ( 2 beds ) per week s/.175.soles (63. US$)
* Things to use included in the price of the room: a bike, free use of the kitchen, Internet access.
* no food included.
Huanchaco housing option: a family house
Hola Señora María. .
for one person:
- Private room per week s/.80.oo ( $ 28US)
- Things to use included in the price of the room: free use of the kitchen, private bathroom.
- no food included.
for a couple, friends or siblings:
- a room ( 2 beds ) per week s/.145.oo ($ 47US)
- Private room (one kingsize bed for a couple) per week s/.145.oo ($47US)
- Things to use included in the price of the room: free use of the kitchen, private bathroom.
- no food included.
Working Place:
espaanglisch language school has two different locations in the two neighboring cities of Trujillo and Huanchaco.
About Huanchaco:
the traditional boats in Huanchaco called "Caballitos de Totora" been used by the local fishermen for so long even before the Inka's time.
The school is situated in the tranquil fishing village of Huanchaco, 12 kilometers away from Trujillo, Peru’s second city. In the summer time (December till March) Huanchaco is a lot busier due to many people from Trujillo coming to the beach. Huanchaco lies in the small desert strip between the ocean and the Andes Mountain ridge. The village itself is very clean, safe and friendly. The climate is dry, hot and sunny during the day and a bit cooler at night. One classroom has space for up to 13 students, the other one for up to 8 students. Also in Huanchaco, the fee that espaanglisch estudents pay is just 7 US dollar per month.
Las Lomas de Huanchaco
Hermelinda Market, the second biggest market in Perú is located in Trujillo, you will find all you need here.(Foto taken by Maaike Van Hoye in one of our shopping days)
The second volunteer language school is situated the centre of the city and in David's aunt's house. the school in the centre is located in a beautiful colonial building where there are two classrooms. This area is generally safe. In order to pay the rent for the school a Espaanglisch student pay a fee of 18 US dollars in the centre and 12 US dollars in David aunt's house. Volunteer housing is available above the language school in David aunt's house Trujillo.
Please send us your application from above to volunteer. davidmercedes@espaanglisch.com
Do you want to support our school click here
Click here to volunteer as an art and sports teacher in a shanty town school
Click here to volunteer in Chimbote-Peru
Experience of past volunteers
Sebastian Hartzell, England sebhartzell@googlemail.com
If you’re looking to find out what happens when you put an English speaker into a class full of eager Peruvian students, this is a good opportunity. The prospect of this seems a little daunting at first. But you´ll like it. The attitude towards what is taught in the classes is far from strict. There are work sheets that you can use but how you teach them is up to you. The class room is your oyster. Teaching here is a real adventure. You´ll ride a steep learning curve along with your students as you help each other to break the language barrier. David is a bit wacky but nonetheless interesting. And he´ll do his best to make you feel at home and enjoy yourself. There´s a good cinema here and lots of night life if you’re into that sort of thing. Bla bla bla. Anyway. Most importantly. There´s coffee and bread. And if you’re lucky you might get lunch as well.
Neil Lawson, USA hooodooman@yahoo.com
My time in the espaanglisch volunteer program was a very fulfilling experince. When I first got to Huanchaco I met the head of the program named David Mercedes. Through all my time in Huanchaco he became a great friend and teacher. The first month in Huanchacho we began to paint a language school that would make way for several English classes in the upcoming months. The first month was a great time for me personally. Many days of the week David, I, and two other girls painted the language school to make it a more comfortable environment for the students to learn. In the afternoons I taught English at espaanglisch school in TRujillo. For 3 months I continued to teach English there and in the newly refurbished language school as well. When I arrived here I had my resentments about teaching English. However, that quickly changed when I met some students in a fellow friends class one afternoon. I had this epiphany that as we volunteers have been given the chance to come here and learn Spanish, and that the least I could do in return was to excersise my patience and help others learn a second language. After I let go of all my qualms of teaching English I started to really enjoy the experience fully. I also noticed tremendous progress in some of the students as well, which is of course an incredible feeling. I actually visited a few of them at their homes, and even took a trip with one of them to a small lovely town in Ancash, Peru.
The head of the Espaanglisch program, whom I’ve already mentioned is named David Mercedes. He gave me Spanish lessions at least once a week, which were extremely helpful and beneficial in the development of my current ability to speak spanish. He is a fantastically patient person and understands the rules, stucture, and grammar of many languages. The only thing that could be viewed as a downside of these lessons is that he sometimes comes late. However, I came just as late sometimes, as well. As long as you get rid of the concept of your time as being extremely important, individual, and like a commodity you will be fine and will take much from the lessons. Besides the concept of puncuality is not practicad a lot in Peru, and whether a person likes that or not they should learn, adapt, and live with it as they are a guest in another land with its particular customs. Other than just being my teacher David also normally had dinner at his house once a week where volunteers would rotate cooking bi weekly.
The best overall part of my experience in Huanchaco might have been the conclusion. I had been having some personal problems in my life, and when I talked to David it helped me very much. This combined with the genuine sencerity and friendship of some of my students helped me very much. I finished out my classes and some of my goodbyes to my studnets were very difficult. Overall I rate the experience as a very good volunteer work. I actually plan on coming back within a years time to teach a couple more months.
Michelle Stoner,
My volunteer experience as an English teacher with
And fun brings me to the second terrific part of my time with Espaanglisch. Huanchaco is paradise.
Amy Cronin, USA cronin.m.amy@gmail.com
It's hard to write only a small paragraph about my experience with Espaanglish Language School because it was filled with so many wonderful experiences. I learned about the program Espaanglish from a good family friend and the idea of teaching in Peru sounded ideal. My twin sister Laura and I decided to teach together and wow, it was a great experience. We arrived December 4th and we lived with David and his darling aunt Carmen for the first month. During my time there she was more like a mother to me than a "señora". She cooked the most amazing meals, always greeted me with a warm smile, and had a great sense of humor. My home in Trujillo was attached to the school, so it was very convenient to teach classes. My sister and I taught two classes in the morning for children. Our kids could not have been cuter. Many of the children commuted over an hour to learn English, so it was very special to teach them. Laura and I had lots of fun preparing for the classes as well. It was so fun creating activities and it was important to all of us to always try to make the lessons enjoyable. In the afternoon we taught a basic grammar class and during the night we taught a conversation class called "Gringlish". I especially enjoyed Gringlish! Gringlish is a conversation class where we get our students to try to only speak English. We organized different activities to make it interesting and it was especially fun for me because I learned so much about the Peruvian culture from my students. We sure had lots of laughs in this class!
David was so helpful getting me adjusted not only with living in a new country, but teaching as well. I really liked living in Trujillo for the first month because it gave me the opportunity to see first hand a typical day in Peru. Huanchacho is the little beach town just 30 minutes away on a bus from Trujillo, so it was so great being able to spend our weekends hanging on the beach. I met people from all over the world in this little town and friendships that I will hold on to forever. It was great to take some surf lessons and the cuisine in Peru is unbelievable. Just delicious! I truly feel that I could not have chosen a better place to volunteer and my students will always have a place in my heart.
I must say that I would never change living in Trujillo for the first month. The second part of our experience we moved to Huanchaco and it was awesome living there as well. Huanchacho is an amazing little town and I must say there's nothing better than waking up a block from the ocean.
Thanks David for allowing me such an amazing opportunity. I will also never forget last christmas with your amazing family.
Annick Oerlemans, the Netherlands. annickoerlemans@hotmail.com
A perfect mixture between teaching, developing teaching materials, promoting the school and painting a new school. This combined with lovely students, loads of fun, inspiring chats, pie de manzana and dancing salsa in the kitchen of the aunt of David made it for me an unforgettable experience. For me this project was exactly the depth I was looking for during my travels. Getting to know a country and its culture better by actual living and working in it instead of just travelling by. Contributing something to the society here, getting to know my students and getting a look in their everyday life, culture, dreams and beliefs where precious gifts that were given to me. I loved my job from the first till the last day. From the combi I had to take every day to get into Trujillo for my classes till the smiles on the faces of my students when they had pronounced another english word correctly. From buying the paint till opening the new language school and having an open house with popcorn and soda. From developing teaching materials till the last lesson when my students bought cocacola and sodacrackers from their own money to give me a going away party. How sweet is that?!