Costa Rica, ”Pura Vida” for ESL Teachers ~ by Laura Dulin

Costa Rica ”Pura Vida” for ESL Teachers ~ by Laura Dulin
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I have lived and taught English in Costa Rica for almost three years. It’s a lush tropical country with kind, welcoming people. I highly recommend it as a place to discover rainforests and the Costa Rican version of Latino culture. There are many ESL jobs available to people even if they have little or no experience teaching.
I have taught for three different schools since coming here in 2001. The first was a non-profit called The Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center, the second was Pro-English, ESL for businessman, and now I am currently teaching for a private language school called Intercultura that gives small group English classes to local Costa Ricans. Each school has had its advantages and disadvantages.
The Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center, SCLC, was my fist, and most enchanting experience here in Costa Rica. I found the job posting while scanning through Dave’s ESL Cafe. I was in the process of finishing a TESOL coarse at Western Washington University, and I had the option of finishing my TESOL abroad.
. I contacted the school hoping to finish the TESOL, gain experience teaching ESL, and begin my adventures. I knew nothing about Costa Rica, but the job posting had an exotic appeal. It said I’d be teaching ESL and Environmental Education to children on a rainforest preserve in northern Costa Rica. In trade for working thirty hours a week, the non-profit would pay for my home stay with a Costa Rican family- food and lodging, but nothing beyond.
In March of 2001, the school offered me the position, so I packed my bags and flew to Costa Rica with a Lonely Planet phrasebook and a few words of Spanish that I managed to retain from high school. When the plane landed, I looked out the window and three tan-skinned, handsome young men were waving at me. It made a good first impression.
On my first journey to the school we drove through the Braullio Carillo Rainforest. Mist moved through the high rounded mountains, and then hovered over the deep ravines below. I had never seen such a dense tropical forest. On the side of the highway waterfalls plunged into ponds surrounded by blankets of pink flowers and pre-historic size plants. When I arrived at the Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center I felt like I had come to a tropical paradise. The school was constructed right next to a river and at night we could sit in the hammocks and watch Iguanas and rainbow colored Toucans moving around in the trees.
Teaching was really difficult at first. I couldn’t control the children I was teaching, because I didn’t know any Spanish. It got better over time and my methods as well as my Spanish grew. I also taught adults at night and we had a nice exchange of cultures. While working as a volunteer there were many moments were I felt like I was making a difference in peoples future.
Every experience has its downfalls, and the downfalls at the SCLC were mainly interpersonal or administrative. There was only one paid director and three volunteers running the school, and this meant that things weren’t run very efficiently. We were also pressured to work over forty hours a week and were only receiving the living stipend. All in all it was a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to live in the rainforest and experience rural Costa Rican life. .
After volunteering at the SCLC for eight months, I decided it was time to find a paid ESL job. The only paid jobs are located in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, which is urban and a completely different experience than rural Costa Rica-dirty air, crime, and no butterflies or birds.
I found a job at ProEnglish in San Jose. Instead of teaching children in the rainforest, I was traveling around the city from company to company teaching to businessmen in cubicles. I liked the increase in intellectual stimulation of teaching businessmen, but it was a terrible letdown from my experience volunteering in the rainforest. They paid around eight dollars an hour which was a high salary at the time.
Life in San Jose, was difficult to get used to. The buses, noise, and car exhaust nearly drove me crazy. I spent at least several hours a day stuck on buses trying to get from one company to another, and the school didn’t reimburse me for any travel time.
.. I only lasted for the minimum four month commitment at Pro-English until I decided that I would rather be back in the United States.
I flew back to the USA, worked, and took classes for about a year. However, I still felt that I hadn’t learned enough Spanish and that I wasn’t entirely finished with Costa Rica. I decided that I wouldn’t go back until I was able to find a job that paid a fair wage, and had a community of teachers to rely upon in a foreign land. I searched around the Internet and found a school called Intercultura. They were able to offer me a job with a yearlong contract and some fringe benefits, like free Spanish classes. So I hopped back on the plane and headed down again.
Now, I still work for Intercultura. The school is laid back, well managed, and fair to its employees. This has been the best school that I’ve taught at so far. Even though its location isn’t as exotic and beautiful as the Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center, I receive free Spanish lessons and make enough money to get by comfortably.
Teaching here in Costa Rica has really altered and enriched my life. I can now speak Spanish semi-fluently, and have gained a Costa Rican perspective on the world. I discovered the “Pura Vida,” (pure life) of Costa Rica... .. Contact Information For Schools In Costa Rica:
1. I recommend first reading about other peoples work experience and the contact information offered at www.daveseslcafe.com. International Job Forum, Costa Rica.
2. Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center, www.learningcentercostarica.org: The SCLC is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing low-cost or free education to the rural community of Sarapiqui and surrounding areas. Volunteers work in a rainforest setting with children and adults.
3. Pro-English (506)280-6053 or (506)280-7098 in San Jose. This school sends teachers to businesses to teach English to business executives in San Jose.
4. Intercultura, Apartado 1952-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica, Central America: Tel: (506) 260-8480. <www.Interculturacostarica.com> Intercultura offers ESL classes to students of all ages in Heredia, (smaller city outside of San Jose.) It offers contracts from overseas and gives teachers free access to an excellent Spanish Language Program that is run along side the English program.