Panama
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Quick Facts
- Duration: 6 weeks
- Orientation: 3-days
- Village-stays: 6-week session
- 2010 Program Dates
- Orientation: June 16-18
- Mid-Point Break: July 9-11
- Program ends: July 30
- Orientation Location: Panama (City)
- Number of volunteers: 7
- Language Requirement: Intermediate Spanish
- Village Setting: Rural
- Living Conditions: Basic
- Students’ Level of English Proficiency: Basic
For questions not answered on this website, contact the 2010 Program Director, Toni Skalican at panama@learningenterprises.org.
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Program Structure
You will spend the first three days of the program in an orientation in Panama (known in America as Panama City). During this period, you will meet the twelve other volunteers, discuss different teaching strategies, as well as acclimate to local culture. You will also have the opportunity to tour different locations, such as the Panama Canal and Metropolitan Park rainforest. After the conclusion of orientation, you will take a bus to the Los Santos province, where all of the LE village are located.
LE host communities are usually rural villages in the countryside of the Los Santos region. They will be on the routes of different buses (known as chivas) going to the three main cities/towns in the region: Chitre, Las Tablas, and Macaracas. The region itself is not very large, but it can take you anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours to get to any given village by bus, not including the time spent waiting for the bus, which could range from 10 minutes to 4 hours. Taxis are available for those willing to pay extra for a shorter commute. Most volunteers will be in neighboring towns, allowing easy access to visit other volunteers.
For six weeks you will stay with a Panamanian family and teach in the local schools. On the weekends, you have the options of spending time with your host family or exploring the beautiful countryside. We recommend that you do both! On the third weekend of the program, there will be a midpoint break at a location to be determined.
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Your Host Community
Panamanian families tend to be extremely hospitable and accommodating. They are quick to associate you as part of their family. Your family will help you experience Panamanian culture through bringing you to a rodeo with modern day gauchos, feeding you traditional foods such as mango batidos, or even teaching you to dance. As a result of the poor, rural setting, most families do not have much. Some have outhouses and outdoor showers, while other may barely even having running water. Insects (especially mosquitos), rats, and other pests are common in some villages. At the same time, these families might also have televisions, cellphones, and cars. Your family will most likely not have any English speakers.
All volunteers will have free time outside of teaching, and it is up to you to decide how to spend it. During the week, you can spend time discussing issues with your Panamanian hosts, you can visit another volunteer, or you can even visit a nearby city to pick up supplies. On the weekends, there are many accessible and interesting places in and nearby the Los Santos region. Such places are El Valle, a heavenly town set in the crater of an ancient volcano, Santa Clara, host to the Decameron All-Inclusive Resort as well as Noriega's beach house, or for those wanting to visit someplace nearby, Pedasi is an interesting place to visit. We recommended that volunteers spend their first weekend in country with their host families to create a strong bond and to exchange cultures and ideas with them.
Panamanians in the Los Santos region eat diets that are usually made of meat with very little fruit or vegetables. Vegetarians are asked to consider this before applying. Also, as electricity can be scarce or expensive, no electronic devices should be brought to Panama, especially iPods and laptops. There is a high possibility they might be stolen, lost, or broken, and they also demonstrate disrespect for the local culture. Cellphones are permitted. Conditions are tough in Panama, as you will probably have to face a bucket shower and/or an outhouse during your visit. All volunteers will be required to take malaria medicine. Anyone not willing to live in such conditions is respectfully asked to not apply.
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Teaching
Your teaching space will most likely be a room at a local school or community center, and all students will be on their summer break. You should expect to teach anywhere between 30 and 150 students in total, depending on the size of your host community. You will be teaching all ages of students from 5 to 60 years old, with the majority falling between 8 and 16. Upon arriving to your community, you will be free to design your own class schedule considering student age-levels, experience, and availability. Most of your students will be beginners in their knowledge of English, so your classes will be generally be very basic. You will be required to teach for three hours a day, but you will most likely teach longer than this due to a high demand. Also, it is likely that enough adults will be interested to allow for an adult class in the evenings.
Due to the close political relationship between Panama and the US, there is a high level of interest in learning English and you should expect your classes to be full and your students motivated and excited to learn. Many Panamanian elementary schools have begun incorporating English into their curricula, and both the students and their parents recognize time spent learning from an American speaker as invaluable. Volunteers are provided with a classroom, usually with a chalkboard and chalk or whiteboard with marker. You should bring along a few other basic teaching supplies and prizes for games, such as stickers, American candy, and photos of your life at home. You will have complete freedom over your lessons and every opportunity to be creative in your teaching. Keeping your classes interested and occupied can be a challenge, but always proves to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the program.
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Additonal Information
Please note that Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view this document. To download this program, go here.
Panama Addendum, a field guide to life in-country.
Projected Expense Sheet. Please note that all expenses are estimates and can vary depending on personal spending habits.
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