Casa Milagro Foundation is a not-for profit organization dedicated to working in the areas of environmental conservation, education and community development in the country of Costa Rica. The foundation is divided into 3 programs: Tropical Adventures, Vecinos del Mundo (VdM) and the Environmental Policy Advocacy Program.

 

The Language Exchange Intern would be working on an entirely new project of the VdM program, the language exchange project. The mission of the VdM program is to bring cultures and people together in the community of Hojancha, Costa Rica in a collaborative effort to increase cross-cultural understanding with an emphasis in community development, education, culture and conservation. The language exchange project fits right in with our mission since our international interns, volunteers and the Language Exchange Intern would be exchanging their native language and/or English, for Spanish. The Language Exchange Intern would be in charge of the entire project and come up with modules. The language exchange project has a minimum age of 15 years old. This is why the Language Exchange Intern will also work on tutoring elementary school/high school kids with English and the intern will produce a tutoring model for us.

 

The town of Hojancha is not much different than many other small, rural towns in Costa Rica. The list of problems includes, but is not limited to, the following:

 

  • Large percentage of students that do not finish school.

  • High rate of alcohol and drug abuse.

  • High rate of teen pregnancies.

  • Lack of activities available to residents.

  • Lack of resources to help people return to school, or to prepare for and search for a job.

 

Hojancha is however a good place to live for families though since it is a quiet town and it is a very clean town compared to other towns in Costa Rica. The language exchange project could be a great opportunity for residents of Hojancha to improve their language skills to have a greater chance of securing a job. Also the demand for the project is high since the residents of Hojancha like learning a new language and being able to communicate with more people. Most residents of Hojancha are not even able to speak any English, so there is a lot of potential for the language exchange project.

 

The overall goal of VdM is to set up a facility to house programming but since that would cost a lot of money we are first starting with building up the program by starting with some projects. While we are developing this new program, at the same time we are becoming more immersed and knowledgeable about the community and the actual and perceived needs before rushing into developing intensive programs. The language exchange project is at this moment one of our main priorities with the VdM program.

 

We already started with trying out a couple of language exchange sessions and these were very successful. If all goes as we expect, the model that will be created by the Language Exchange Intern will be used as a template for starting with VdM and language exchange in other towns in Costa Rica.

 

Position Location: Hojancha, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

 

Duties and Responsibilities:

 

  • Managing project development and execution from concept to reality.

  • Working with the VdM program manager for the culmination of project charter outlining goals and objectives, logic models, budget, timing, deliverables, project scope, and required resources.

  • Researching community feedback by communicating in person with the community whenever possible and by making evaluation forms on a regular basis.

  • Gathering people that are willing to participate in language exchange.

  • Gather data to be used for marketing purposes, as well as photos. Then provide the data in a format that can be used on our website.

  • Resolving issues and solving problems throughout the project cycle.

  • Tracking and reporting project milestones and providing status reports to the Executive Director.

  • Determining the test results of the project and completing project evaluations to determine the expected results.

  • Developing tools and applying best practices for the execution and project management.

  • Ensuring successful archive of project documents after the project completion.

Position Sample Tasks:

 

  • Gathering a group of kids needing English tutoring; make contact with the local schools.

  • Create material for the one-on-one language exchange sessions, topics with sentences and exercises for examples.

  • Manage the monthly language exchange meeting. This meeting will include all the project participants.

  • Create evaluation forms for after one language exchange module to measure improvements.

 

Benefits of this position:

 

  • Getting to live in Costa Rica and travel to various projects in the country.

  • Getting to know the Costa Rican culture.

  • Make a difference in people’s lives by assisting them with learning a new language that could offer them a lot of opportunities.

  • Gain experience working with people from different cultures and backgrounds in a meaningful way.

 

Requirements:

 

  • Must be studying or have finished a study that includes teaching and/or languages.

  • Must be able to speak at least Spanish and English.

  • Must be a good communicator.

  • Leadership qualities and excellent problem-solving ability.

  • Ability to work well with limited supervision.

  • This internship position is for a minimum period of 3 months and could last for up to a year.

 

Not included:

 

  • There is no salary or stipend for this internship position

  • No plane tickets or transporation costs from and to the airport will be provided

  • No work visa is provided. You will come on a ‘tourist’ visa and will be required to leave the country every 90 days for at least 72 hours. This is legal and is very easy and very inexpensive to do. We will help you figure it out.

 

Things which are included:

  • If space is available, lodging can be provided for between $100 and $150 inside the house where the office is located. If nothing is available during the time period the intern is available, we will assist you in finding something suitable nearby, either another house or a host family. A host family would cost between $100 and $350 depending on the situation.

 

 

If you are interested in applying for this position, please send your cover letter and resume to us by clicking here.

 

Last updated 24 October 2012