Work

I thought it was about time for a word on what I actually spend most of my time doing...

The Santa Maria Institute has its own two-year degree programme - free and open to all - in Food Technology, which is highly employable. It also provides university scholarships for poor students with academic potential. Apart from this (though there is often overlap between the branches of activity) it offers free English classes, taught by volunteers such as myself. Students can enter the adult course from age 13, but must first attend a short course open to all in January and pass a (fairly challenging) exam. This means that the English students are selected to some extent for aptitude and commitment. All classes run every weekday for an hour, and there are currently six levels, ranging from absolute beginners (Class 1) to advanced level. There are also non-selective children's classes which run when there are enough teachers available.

I teach the morning Class 2 and the evening Class 1 (the less advanced classes are taught on two timetables) and Class 6.  The students in Class 6 are working towards the Cambridge Advanced English certificate (having passed KET, PET and First Certificate) and have also gained qualifications in Business English and Teaching Knowledge, which they utilise professionally through interpreting, teaching English and managing the town's small hotel.

I also teach keyboard to several students, a recorder class for children and German to one girl who is going to Switzerland in August with an international exchange programme.

It's an ideal teaching situation in many ways, as the students are generally highly motivated, the classes are fairly small and the daily lessons mean they make clearly perceptible progress. The coursebooks we use are a little dated but an absolute dream compared to e.g. the Peruvian education system I worked within on my gap year, and the Cambridge certificates are qualifications of international value. English - let alone good English - is a rarity in Paraguay, but is and will continue to be important in the country's development.

For more information about the Education Fund and its various projects, see the link at the side under "About the blog", PART 2.