GVI Costa Rica Quepos Community Programs

April 2011 April 2012

GVI Costa Rica Quepos Community Development and Education programs

Quarterly Reports 112-113-114-121-122

Submitted in its entirety to: Global Vision International Produced by: Nuri Moreno (Program Manager) and Christina Harnois (Costa Rica Logistics Manager) Stephen Meyer (Costa Rica Country Director)

GVI Costa Rica, Quepos Base e-mail: quepos@gviworld.com webpage: www.gvi.co.uk and www.gviusa.com

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Executive Summary
GVI began working with El Cocal in April 2011. This report will outline the development of the program over the first year of operations. GVIs main bases in the community are in the local primary school, offering educational support to the teachers; and in our community centre, a space provided to us by the local church. GVI runs 3 main programs: Teaching English, Childcare, and Sports. Complimentary projects have been established, including a kindergarten and one-on-one English lessons for children and adults. Due to the programs location in the bio diverse area of Quepos/Manuel Antonio, GVI is looking at ways of implementing an environmental education program. Over the past year in Quepos, GVI Costa Ricas main efforts have been focused on the following: El Cocal Educational support to El Cocal primary school A sports enrichment program Teaching English to both children and adults A Kindergarten group Environmental Education

Neighbouring community of Boca Vieja English teaching support Sports enrichment program

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ iii 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1 1.1 El Cocal ..............................................................................................................................1 1.2 Boca Vieja .........................................................................................................................1 2. The Programs ............................................................................................................................3 2.1 Education ..........................................................................................................................3 2.1.1 Teaching English ................................................................................................................. 3 2.1.2 English Education for Children ........................................................................................... 3 2.1.3 English Education for Adults ............................................................................................... 4 2.1.4 School Support ................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Childcare Program ............................................................................................................7 2.3 Sports Program .................................................................................................................8 2.4 Environmental Education Program...................................................................................9 3. 4. Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................10 Appendix .................................................................................................................................11 Appendix A. Contributing GVI Quepos staff and volunteers April 2011-April 2012 .............11

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1. Introduction

1.1 El Cocal
A number of social and economic factors within the community of El Cocal motivated GVI to establish a Community Development and Education program in the community. After the first full year of working in El Cocal, GVI remains committed to the community and its program goals. El Cocal is a settlement community on an island/peninsula on the outskirts of Quepos. Although geographically close to the port town of Quepos and the thriving tourist destination on Manuel Antonio, El Cocal is a very isolated and insular community. The main source of income for families is subsistence fishing, wherein fishermen are required to leave home for months at a time in dangerous and unreliable conditions. Income from fishing is inconsistent, making it difficult to support a family. There is also a vast amount of immigrants from other Central American countries, mainly from Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Guatemala and Honduras, as Costa Rica is an appealing option for Central Americans due to its political and economic stability compared to other countries in the region. Furthermore due to the highly successful tourism industries in Costa Rica, there are many more job opportunities and prospects. However these opportunities are not available to many of the people who settle in El Cocal, who arrive with little savings and resources. With limited skills, and lacking basic education and the ability to speak English, it is very difficult for them to find employment. Due to these difficult socioeconomic circumstances many social problems such as alcoholism and drug abuse have arisen, further contributing to the instability of the community in El Cocal. GVI Costa Rica is aiming to support the community in a number of ways. Its primary role is to support the teachers to reinforce the importance of getting a solid education. The hope is that a well rounded and positive educational experience at primary school level will help these students to form goals for themselves beyond the confines of El Cocal, thus diverting their attention from the social issues that surround them. GVIs work in the Community Centre compliments the support we offer in the school by offering children a safe, fun and educational environment to be during their free time. Due to a lack of teachers and space the school day is split into 2 sections, meaning that each child attends school for approximately 3-4 hours per day; that, combined with many days of cancelled classes, the children have a significant amount of free time. Costa Ricas economy is based heavily around tourism and a solid basis in spoken conversational English has the potential to open many doors in the future offering the community choices and opportunities.

1.2 Boca Vieja

At the beginning of 2012 GVI began forging a relationship with the neighbouring community of Boca Vieja. As our efforts in El Cocal have proved successful, we are now also aiming to focus on different parts of the community. As there is need for more work in the Quepos area, GVI has decided to expand and grow the programs within the Quepos area.

Additionally, the capacity of volunteers has been increased from 10 to 14, with currently only sufficient work for about 8 volunteers in El Cocal; enabling expansion of the program into other communities. Boca Vieja is a less developed area on the outskirts of Quepos. The Maria Luisa primary school in Boca Vieja is bigger than the primary school in El Cocal; some of the school children there actually live in El Cocal. In contrast to the primary school in El Cocal the school has a good infrastructure and is run very professionally. It has approximately 300 students in attendance, who are all taught during a morning session between 7am-2pm. The principal is a tough and focused lady that knows how she wants her school to be run. She demands a lot of respect from the students and we hope to develop our working relationship with her further.

2. The Programs
The following section outlines the 3 programs which run simultaneously. Over the course of the past year there has been positive, rapid and organic development, particularly in the areas of teaching English and our work within the El Cocal school itself.

2.1 Education

2.1.1 Teaching English Due to the importance of the tourism industry in Costa Rica, learning English is imperative for finding a well paid and stable job. GVI saw this as an opportunity to use native English speaking volunteers to provide conversational English lessons both in a one-on-one setting and directly in the school. These skills are imperative for the community to expand its socio economic horizons. In the last 12 months GVI has worked in a number of different ways in order to achieve this, including one-on-one lessons for both children and adults, teaching small group lessons with the more advanced English students. 2.1.2 English Education for Children El Cocal In the early stages of the program our efforts were focused on doing one-on-one reading with the children during their English class. This allowed volunteers to give personalised attention focusing on pronunciation and reading skills. This was a highly successful program, which was encouraged heavily by the local teachers and director. The children enjoyed the individual attention and being selected by the teacher to read with a volunteer was seen as a reward. In November we began to track the students progress in order to assess their development and abilities. In the beginning on 2012 GVI began having a more active role within the school, assisting the English teacher in the classroom and often leading full classes. In addition to the reading program, English activities in the community centre were put into place to reinforce the topics covered in the national curriculum. Individual classes were also offered to children with a keen 3

interest in learning English. Teaching was done one-on-one with around 10 children in the community centre. This individual attention has a made a huge difference to their English ability and a notable difference can be seen in the classroom between the children who had received classes and those who had not. The main problem encountered was the irregular attendance of children in the classes offered at the community centre throughout this year. After a year of GVI classes, a notable improvement of the English skills both within and outside of the school has been noticed by staff in the daily interaction with the children and adults. Boca Vieja During the early stages of our involvement in Boca Vieja, the community has shown great interest in English lessons for the children. In the summer holidays in January 2012 we ran a very successful summer school in Boca Vieja, having about 10-15 children in daily attendance. Children and young adults came for English lessons in the Polideportivo Bocense sports centre, which is located close to the school. The association proBocense is a local community initiative to improve the quality of life in Boca Vieja. The president of the association, Ronald has been very supportive of GVI and welcomes our participation in the community. The children of the teachers from El Cocal came to the summer school, it has been noted that parents in Boca Vieja generally show more interest in their childrens education. Having support from the community in this way will allow GVI to work more efficiently and have greater influence on the education of the students. The next stage of developing our work in Boca Vieja is through la Escuela Primaria Maria Luisa. After discussions with the principal Roxanna it was decided that we should work closely with the English teacher Randal. He has proved very receptive to our assistance. He has selected the 45 best English students in each grade and they are taught the full English curriculum by the volunteers in the school library. This allows the most promising English students to progress more quickly via tailored lessons focusing on conversation and pronunciation. GVI is following the national curriculum provided to us by the school. This is a great beginning for GVI in Boca Vieja. 2.1.3 English Education for Adults The English for adults program focuses on teaching adults English with the aim of opening up job opportunities within the tourism industry as well as improving communication options. As well as offering general basics of the language, the main focus is on vocational vocabulary and on vocabulary based around the tourism industry (such as hotels, restaurants, tour-guide related work and customer service). Over the course of the year various groups of adults have attended tri-weekly English classes. A course and a curriculum were set up, which was worked on a weekly basis. The main stumbling block has once again been erratic attendance, meaning that the group quickly advanced to different levels, making group teaching difficult. Due to low volunteer numbers in December, it 4

was decided to test run the idea of offering individual classes to adults for two or three hours a week. Five adults signed up for individual classes, which ran very smoothly and which the students highly enjoyed. Due to the successful test run, from January onwards individually tailored one-on-one classes became the norm. This allowed volunteers to tailor each lesson to the individuals interests and ability level; the curriculum was based on Headways: Beginner English language, with particular focus placed on conversation and pronunciation. Attendance has continued to be a problem, although a number of regulars have started to make great progress with their English language skills. Example profiles of our adult students: Carolina, age 28: moved here from Nicaragua in January 2012. She is the wife of a fisherman and needs to find a job in order to secure her visa. She is very focused and keen to learn and has progressed fantastically over the past 3 months. Franco, age 40: A local fisherman looking to widen his job prospects. Due to his job he is only able to attend when he is not on fishing trips, which last 2 to 3 weeks at a time. Raquel, age 21: She wants to spend the year improving her English in order to get into a university in the capital, San Jose. Students progress is tracked and monitored via a profile sheet which is filled out after each unit of work has been finished. In the next 6 months we hope to improve regular attendance, increase the amount of students attending and build a more detailed curriculum for the adult English classes. 2.1.4 School Support Aside from teaching English initiatives, an important aspect to GVIs role is to give support to the principal and the teachers in the schools we work in. This allows GVI to tailor its efforts to the needs of the local community in a way that supports the programs integration into the community. El Cocal GVI Costa Ricas top priority in El Cocal has always been supporting and assisting the local primary school in their educational efforts. El Cocal primary school has 140 registered students across grades 1 to 6, as well as a kindergarten. There are 3 class teachers, Yeanette, Roger, and Nubia as well as an additional part time P.E. teacher Walter, and an English teacher, Oscar. Due to the high student-to-teacher ratio the children are organized into two groups. The morning to mid-day group consists of students from grades 1, 2 & 3 and the afternoon group consists of students from grades 4, 5 & 6. Unfortunately this split means the children only receive 2.5-3 hours of class time per day. In addition to this, teachers attendance can be very inconsistent due to teacher training days, meetings, and public holidays. 5

A very important part of GVIs work in La Escuela El Cocal is our role as teaching assistants. At the start of the school year in 2012, there were a few staff changes in the school, which allowed GVI to get more involved with other classes. A good working relationship had already been established with Teacher Yeanettes second grade class. This expanded to the kindergarten, grade 1, grade 3, grade 4 and grade 5, having a volunteer permanently placed in each grade to assist the teacher. The volunteers main role as classroom assistants is focused primarily on helping the teacher to manage the class. As well as assisting children who are falling behind and giving one-on-one attention to children, which the teacher is unable to do when the average class size is around 30 students. Our consistent presence in the classrooms has made a significant difference to our relationship with the school and the community. Not only has it meant better quality education in the classroom, but also has helped to build more of a trusting relationship with the children and the teachers. This development and acceptance of our presence in the classroom by the teachers has proved to be a great stepping stone to establishing the GVI program within the school. The director and teachers have become more and more open and vocal about their needs. By the end of our first year the GVI group was being referred to by the school as part of the team The current development priority is the new classroom that GVI has been given within the school grounds. GVI has contributed to the renovation of this school room by purchasing the paint, painting the room and refurbishing the chairs and paying for two tables to be built. We hope to be in the classroom by mid 2012. The rough plan for this classroom is to build a library using funds from the GVI Charitable Trust. The space will also be used to run support classes for students that are falling behind. This initiative will be lead by the principal and teachers allowing GVI to use the space as best serves the needs of the school. Boca Vieja Alongside GVIs work with the English curriculum in la Escuela Maria Luisa in Boca Vieja, GVI is able to support the school further by keeping the library open all day every day of the school week. Previously the library was only open a few hours per day due to the librarian only working part time. During break times the students come to the library to play games and read, the volunteers are there to manage their time, facilitate interaction and encourage them to read. This allows volunteers to have a presence in the school and form a close bond with the students.

2.2 Childcare Program

The GVI childcare program is primarily based in the community centre in El Cocal. The GVI community centre has proven to be a key part of the program, based in the courtyard of the local church in El Cocal Due to the short hours children spend actually in the classroom GVIs efforts in the Community Centre are based around creating a safe, fun and educational environment for the children of the community to spend their free time. The main challenge is the irregular number of children attending, which has ranged from 1-25. The average attendance has been around 5 children. Education does not have a high priority in the community and it has also been challenging to keep the children focused and run educational activities with varied age groups. Towards the end of 2011 a kinder program was established in the community centre running for 3 hours every morning. The children attending were between 3-5 years old. A core group of 4-5 children from the community attended regularly. The aim of these sessions was to prepare these children for entering kindergarten in the school. The focuses were on basic skills to help a child enter into a structured classroom setting, such as sharing and understanding rules, following instruction during a structured activity. Emphasis was also placed on learning the fundamentals, such as colours, numbers, shapes, hand eye coordination etc.

2.3 Sports Program

The GVI sports program has been one of our greatest challenges so far. Its objective is simple, to enrich the lives of the communitys inhabitants. On a simple level it aims to ensure children get enough exercise and gain the skills learnt in physical education classes. However, it also aims to offer children and young adults a productive, healthy and skill building activity to help prevent them from getting involved in drugs and other dangerous activities which are only too common in the community. However, despite this clear objective, a consistent sports program has been hindered by a number of factors, mainly the heat and the communitys lack of infrastructure. Due to the heat sports activities are only offered during the very early hours of the morning due to the risk of too much sun exposure and the sand getting too hot to run on bare footed. As many of the children have class in the mornings, and the ones that do not are not awake that early, it has been difficult to organize something substantial and long lasting. Set to run from 9 to 10am, the sports group meets at the community centre and heads to the nearby field on the beach for their activities. The main challenge was that children would turn up late, leading to a late start with hotter temperatures which had everybody get exhausted much faster. The most consistent and reliable contributor to the sports program has been Walter, the P.E. teacher in the local school. He attends El Cocal school on Fridays to do sports with each of the grades. Volunteers on the sports program assist him in the games and activities making it possible for him to do more varied and stimulating activities. We hope to further our relationship with him to be able to support him even more consistently in the future, we are looking into the possibility of working with in when he teaches at the Escuela Maria Luisa in Boca Vieja. Numbers of students in the sports program averaged about 5, with some days having as many as 20 children in attendance.

2.4 Environmental Education Program

In a country which prides its self on its biodiversity, nature and caring for the environment, it is surprising how little the average child or even adult know about caring for the environment and protecting the nature around them. This motivated GVI to start an environmental education activity for the children. In a weekly program during the month of October, 2 volunteers would take 4 children from the El Cocal School to the Manuel Antonio National Park to teach them about the local wildlife, flora and fauna and how to protect it. Volunteers would undergo a day of training before hand in order to prepare the activities and be able to act as the role of a guide for the children in the national park. This activity was also guided by a local guide, to bring in additional local knowledge and follow park regulations. A total of 20 children were able to take part in this activity. The response was immense, having them compete over who was to be able to join the group for the next week. Unfortunately, in December, we were forced to put this activity on hold due to communication problems between GVI and the park, caused by organizational and policy problems of the national park. However we do hope to start it again once a more concrete agreement is made with the National Park.

3. Conclusion
This first year of the GVI community programs in Quepos have been a success. The program has established a good working relationship with the primary school in El Cocal, and managed to set up a community centre in El Cocal. Furthermore, the foundation for involvement in the primary school in Boca Vieja was laid and the work there has commenced both in the library and in teaching English language. Keeping attendance stable continues to be a challenge, but should improve steadily with our ongoing presence in the two communities. It is very exciting to see the new involvement in Boca Vieja off to a good start and we are pleased that our upcoming volunteer numbers are high enough to allow the program to take on an increased workload.

Thank you very much, GVI Quepos team and volunteers.

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4. Appendix
Appendix A. Contributing GVI Quepos staff and volunteers April 2011-April 2012

Stephanie Nuria Patrick Dennis Makaleigh Katie Arran Jessica Jenna Marek A. James Caitlin Sarah Julia Sarah Teal Charlotte Emily Francesca Jenny Anna Sara Michael Sheri Alexander Kevin Marlyce Leon Claire Amelia Elke Isabel

Clark Moreno Regan Caleb Joy CampbellDownes Caddy Ward Johnson Laco Viscio Connolly Callahan Feiss Jacobvitz Hewlett Stevens Dinunzio Needham Schroder Moriarty Hickey Benefiel Friedman Lycouris Roberts Shangreaux Mayr McCall Parrett Vanheyste McCarron

Helena Michelle Brian Oscar Berendina Megan Catherine Emily Sam Brooke Amina Sofi Lore Felicia Lydia Sean Astrid JessicaJean Gemmeke Christina Courtney Cassandra Miriam Emily Alison Meghan Hannah Daniel Nathali Caitlin Jemma Tai Laura

Woolland Ward Swift Radevsky McQuistin Culp Castle Rainbow Beattie Dunlap Brger Tuytens Lindelw Persson Clancy Vanderhoydonck Collinge De Jongh Heye Davison Clements Fisher Porter Harrower Griffith Kern Nikula Williamsdotter Keogh Park MacPherson Martino

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