Location
  • Costa Rica
    • Nosara
Length
4 to 52 weeks

Program Details

Language
Spanish
Age Min.
18
Age Max
65
Timeframe
Year Round
Housing
Host Family
Groups
Small Group (1-15)
Travel Type
Budget Family Older Travelers Solo Women

Pricing

Starting Price
1210
Price Details
The price of 1210 US$ is for the minimum stay of 4 weeks.
The maximum stay is only determined by immigration rules.
For every extra week the cost is 190 US$.
What's Included
Accommodation Meals
What's Not Included
Activities Airfare Domestic Airfare Airport Transfers Equipment SIM cards Transportation Travel Insurance Visa
Jan 30, 2023
Feb 15, 2023
1 traveler is looking at this program

About Program

We're looking for volunteers to work with kids in schools, pre-schools, or Kindergarten.

The English language is very important for Costaricans because the main income sector in this area is tourism - besides, the teacher might also need you for any other material or for helping students with special needs. Depending on your personal abilities and skills, be an assistant to the teacher, and help in classes and in all areas and events that the school needs help with.

We also highly appreciate it if you organize extra activities after school for homework, sports, dance, arts and crafts, etc. And it would be wonderful if you offer language classes for the local youth or adults.

After the pandemic, we have been re-starting to work with local public schools and we added a little private school close to Nosara.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Immerse into the life of a Costarican family
  • Enjoy life in rural areas close to the beach
  • Learn to live with less and share a lot - pura vida!

Program Impact

You should have basic knowledge of Spanish if you want to work in schools where you have to communicate with children and teachers. Depending on how fully we are booked, we offer a parallel Spanish class with your host guest mother or coordinator - 2 h daily. If that should not be possible, we work together with a language school where we can book classes for you prior (!) to your school volunteering - 4 h daily. Please mail us for prices.

Program Reviews

4.33 Rating
based on 3 reviews
  • 5 rating 33.33%
  • 4 rating 66.67%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 3.35
  • Support 4
  • Fun 4
  • Value 3
  • Safety 4.7
Showing 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Default avatar
Simon
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Zeit während Schulprojekt

Ich war in der Familie von Arabella für 3 Monate. Zunächst will ich erstmal die positiven Erfahrungen teilen:
Ich hatte sehr gut das Leben der Leute vor Ort kennengelernt, da Josué der Gastbruder mich vorallem den letzten Monat fast jeden Tag fast überall mitgenommen hat und wir mit seinen Freunden am Strand, feiern oder was Essen waren. Mir hat es sehr gut gefallen Ticos kennenlernen und sehen wie sie sich im Gegensatz zu uns Deutschen verhalten und Leben. Sie kamen mir oft viel freundlicher und “normaler” vor als Deutsche. Teilweise habe ich auch gemerkt, dass ich einfach anders groß geworden bin und mich auch anders verhallte und nicht ganz so offen und “unbesorgt” bin.
Auch Lehrer und vorallem die Kinder in der Schule waren extrem Herzlich!
In der Schule war ich den allergrößten Teil nur in so genannten Campamento was wie eine Ferienbetreuung war. Ich war eigentlich sehr froh darüber, dass es so so war da ich gemerkt habe, dass es mir viel besser gefällt, mit Kindern Fußball zu spielen, als Ihnen etwas über Geschichte beizubringen. Da mich diese Dinge auch mehr interessieren als die anderen.
Die negativen Seiten waren jedoch, dass ich mir teilweise sehr einsam und gelangweilt Programm, da zum Glück für auch eher kurze Zeit ich alleine in der Familie war und ist in dem Dorf, wo ich war, auch kaum Möglichkeiten gab etwas zu unternehmen und ich auch nur mit einem teuren gemieteten Mini Moped aus dem Dorf richtig raus gekommen bin.
Ich bin sehr, sehr froh, das Projekt gemacht zu haben da ich sehr viele schöne Momente, wie zum Beispiel die Lagerfeuer nachts am Strand hatte und viele neue Freunde gemacht habe.

Pros
  • Nette Leute und neue Freunde
  • Gute Möglichkeit um das Land besser kennenzulernen
Cons
  • Teuer
Default avatar
Mélina
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Review

This has been the best trip of my life. This experience was incredible on all levels. First of all the family that hosted me were very kind, very welcoming and very present when I needed help. Secondly, in regards to the school that I helped out in, everyone there was extremely nice to me and made me feel comfortable right away. I was able to meet some very nice people in this school and make some very nice friendships. As far as the children in this school are concerned, they allowed me to grow, to learn about life, and I was happy to realize that I was able to make a small impact on them. I also made incredible connections with them and the goodbyes were very emotional, they even gave me a gift for my departure.
And finally, in my free time all the people I met there were very dedicated to giving me an incredible time doing lots of activities and discovering Costa Rica and their culture with them. Therefore this experience was incredible and exceeded all my expectations, I highly recommend and thank the First Hand Costa Rica organization and all the people I met there for what they made me live.

Pros
  • The project in general (the school, the impact, what I did there)
  • The people (my host family as well as the staff at the school but also the people I have met in Costa Rica)
Cons
  • The cost
  • I was supposed to be a teacher at a primary school but I ended up being more of an assistant in preschool
3 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Katharina
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

six weeks primary school Nosara

I worked as a volunteer in a private school. It was a small elementary school where every teacher has his own class with about seven pupils of two different grades for example four pupils of grade 4 and three of grade 5. There was also a kinder garden and a pre-school. In the beginning I helped the teacher in the pre-school by repeating easy English vocabulary with the children like the colors and assist the kids for example with tying their shoelaces and so on. Later I was in the class of grade 4 and 5 where I looked after the children while they were working on their own with their workbooks and tried to answer their questions about their exercises. I also practiced a poem with them. One day they did a spelling competition where I was one of the judges. It always depends on the teacher what work you will do, but you should not expect a good organization in advance. It is more an organization day by day.

While I worked in the school, I lived in a host family. The host family was living next to the beach. I needed to take the bus to get to the school. The bus was really cheap, but I needed to get up early, because the bus drove there at 6 in the morning. Some other teachers also arrived that early in the school, so that we sat there together before the children arrived and ate our breakfast. In the afternoon I took some Spanish classes offered by my host mum, I would recommend you to do it, too. It was perfect to improve my Spanish skills and it is better to have some knowledge of Spanish, because not every teacher there spoke English. The children there have taken me to heart, so it was hard to leave the project in the end.

Thanks to firsthand, with their organization and information it was much easier to travel the first time alone in a foreign country.

5 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers