First off, thanks Rob for the recent guest series on various volunteer and development opportunities. Your experiences and incites were concise and objective, great advice to the budding idealist in Latin America. While reading your entries and others on the site lately, I have been deeply considering whether my job belongs on the site. I was inspired by your posts to copy (if the editors keep it this way) your format, and I just wanted to make sure we didn’t leave out another breed of idealist; the international teacher!

1) What it’s Like and What is was Like for Me

I am an English literature teacher in Quito, Ecuador. Being an international teacher in Latin America is filled with options  and great benefits. If you are an experienced teacher in the states looking for a change, or a new teacher looking to experience a new culture, seriously consider this option.  After attending a job fair in Atlanta last year for international schools in Latin America, I became newly fascinated with the career. The caliber of some of the tops schools is really impressive and the opportunity for advancement in the field is abundant. Considering that most international teachers stay at a school for an average of 2-3 years, if you invest some time, and stay longer than that, you will be rewarded with more responsibilities and pay.

Although I have only been to one country so far, Ecuador, I think international teaching offers a comfortable way to get to know another culture and country. Depending on your position, you will have the option to meet and make lasting friendships with a great group of like minded teachers from all over the world, and locals as well.

2) Level of Freedom or Structure

This depends heavily on the individual school. In my first position in Guayaquil, the school gave me a great deal of freedom as a teacher, and as long as the kids or parents didn’t complain too much, I was free to do basically what I chose. Here in Quito, with norms like scheduled “walk throughs” and formal observations from my superiors, setting smart goals, uploading unit and lesson plans; it’s a bit more formal.

When looking for a position, sorting through the myrid of opportunities and finding real schools  can be overwhelming. So, if you are interested in a legitimate international school rather than a language institute,  it is worth it to pay for a subscription to one of the recruiting sites like  TIE online, www.tieonline.com; search associates, http://www.searchassociates.com/; or International School Services, http://www.iss.edu/

3) Was I Useful? Did I make a ‘Difference’?

This is the where I think my experience differs from some of the options Rob detailed. As an international teacher, you usually work with upper class students. The families have money, they can afford to send their kids to bilingual, international caliber, IB diploma school; so they do.

So these are the questions my conscience has been wrestling with: do I need to work with kids in poverty to make a difference? Can I teach privledged Ecuadoriadian kids and get paid almost 10 times the amount of minimum wage here and still be considered an idealist? I certainly see the allure of working with less privileged students, they need the English instruction more than the rich kids do to raise themselves out of poverty, and I have done some fun volunteer projects during my summer breaks here.

But this is my chosen profession, so I am forced to defend it. I am encouraged (and sometimes scared) to think about how many of my students will undoubtedly become leaders in the business or political community here in Quito and Ecuador. So perhaps my influence can make a difference. If I can teach an ounce of humility, I think it could go a long way.

David Whyte, a poet who writes on teaching and imagination,explains it best; “There is a lovely root to the word humiliation – from the latin word humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in effect returning to the ground of our being.”

If I can help my students understand themselves and the complex world around them a little better, I feel like I have done my job.

Also, I currently enjoy an ideal situation in which to accomplish the goal above. I have one class of 19 students and 4 classes of 10-13 students each. Small classes are a dream come true for me as a teacher, as (despite what the research says) small classes allow for deeper conversation and appreciation of the material. Not to mention, more one on one attention for each student goes a long way in their development.

4) Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all

The pay is usually enough to live comfortably and save a little. You can easily save 2-3 times as much as I do teaching in China or the middle east, but if you’re on this site  I don’t need to explain the attractiveness of Latin culture!

Other benefits can include professional development opportunities. I am currently pursuing a distance learning masters degree through a university in New York state, and my school here in Quito is subsidizing the program heavily, so I am getting a masters degree as well as experience working and living abroad

5) Was it Worth it?

My favorite professor in university used the phrase “Journey of Self” in all her classes. It served not only as a theme to investigate the literature we read, but also as a reflective tool to evaluate our own development.

For me it is worth it. Teaching is a profession that requires commitment to long term goals and not always instant gratification. If I can force my students into some reflective moments and guide them through their “Journey of Self” during adolescence, I am happy.

For more tips on volunteering abroad, check out the aforementioned guest series by Rob Gradoville (parts the three, two, and one), “Can English Really Open Doors?” by Meredith Price, ”How Much Difference Did I Really Make After 5 Months of Teaching English?” by Jon Clarke, or “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and “Ready to Teach Abroad? Be Ready for Anything,” by Kent Green. Philip Dixon is an English literature teacher in Ecuador, who has just relocated from Guayaquil to Quito, and a devoted mountain biker. For more information on his experiences, check out his blog.

At a weather station atop Guatemala's Agua volcano

Today I left Guatemala the same way I entered: exhausted, preoccupied and smelling of cheap wine, thanks to an airport rendezvous aimed at loosing the lingering effects of my despedida and banking some last minute memories at the overpriced travel bar.

But instead of focusing on the road ahead, I will reflect on the brilliant path taken, which, despite all bumps, detours, and delays, was an absolutely enlightening journey.

Work

It is difficult to express the impact of trading my perfectly normal, upper-middle class, white, North American blood relatives for a family of 25 Guatemalans with transformative personal experiences in violence, poverty and tragedy. Joining the efforts of a grassroots disability organization shed light on one of the most marginalized populations in world – something my coworker would quickly point out as an unmet international public health crisis – because their battle is fought by people of every nationality, ethnicity, religion, and economic background. Transitions Foundation also validated the ideology of readers like you, because these kinds of organizations survive with the help of idealists like us. So when called a dreamer, wear it with pride. It is the work we do that makes this world a smaller, safer, and healthier place to call home.

Life

In a previous entry, Location, Location, Location, I wrote about the Collage of Living, a mechanism I devised to ensure that the most was made of time abroad. It was a testament to my array of highs and lows, as well as personal growth. Peeling the cards off the wall as I packed to leave Guatemala, I realized a lot of life was lived in seven short months. Some highlights included:

• Reaching two volcano summits
• Racing a half marathon, and setting a new personal record
• Watching a Los Cremas soccer match en vivo
• Surviving parasites, amoebas, food poisoning, liver failure and staph infection
• Driving, hitchhiking and busing around Guatemala
• Chaperoning three class field trips
• Cliff jumping in Semuc Champey
• Napping in the shadow of the Grand Jaguar at Tikal
• Flying kites in Santiago
• Swimming with the baby turtles in Monterrico
• Forging friendships in a foreign language
• Dancing my way to salsa proficiency
• Drinking with a general, dining with the deaf and rapping with the best
• Developing a filthy Spanish mouth
• Feeling at home with a family and friends

People

Josie paced me for success while Carlos taught the importance of slowing down. Transitions’ patients displayed life’s unfair dealings while coworkers proved the spirit’s ability to overcome. La mala gente showed that not all are good while children in the special education class reminded that everyone is born pure. I taught myself how to take advantage of strengths and supplement weaknesses, how to hold myself up, and how to be honestly happy.

As my plane destined for the States peaks above the cloud line, having departed from one life and traveling rapidly toward the next, I think of all those in the world who simply see today as a Tuesday, like the people on this plane who will fly on from Miami International to continue their lives. But not me. I will walk out of the airport a new person, just as I was my first day in Guatemala – a guy with everything ahead of him and a groggy confidence that makes him just crazy enough to take on the world.

Andrew recently finished his contract as the Communications Director at Transitions Foundation. His wonderful experience in Guatemala would not have been possible without his Guatemalan family, friends, penpal, amazing Transitions guys, and short-list support staff in the States. A special thanks to Carlos’ family who rode the bus five hours each way to say goodbye with huge servings of food and hugs. ¡Salud!

I have been in Nicaragua for a little over two weeks, after a 10-day stint in Mexico, floating down the traditional travelers path around the country with an old friend. It has been a great time but I am ready to refocus myself on the ultimate goal: value. Valuable work or valuable experience, it is all here waiting for me to find it. Along the way I have realized that the experience of international travel, particularly in this region so near and dear to my heart, is valuable in its own right.

With this blog I hope to offer a number of things. First, to provide general travel tips and suggestions both on and off the traditional backpackers path. Second, to share my experiences in navigating the various nonprofit organizations including how to communicate with them and choose the best one. Finally, to discuss my decision as a quarter-life idealist to leave the U.S. and do something different.

I would like to inspire conversation to discuss the options, challenges, and obstacles we encounter in our mid-twenties. What is important? What experiences have the most value personally and/or professionally? And the big one: Who am I and what do I want? Or, do I even need to know that now?

This is Whitney Devin’s first post on La Vida Idealist.

Love at your doorstep. Latin America, you will be missed.

Dear Latin America,

Thank you for teaching me how to feign a command over salsa steps and for putting people in my path who will happily sway me to the beat of your music.

Thank you for feeding me fruit that ostensibly appeared downright poisonous, ominous or otherwise inedible and for showing me the beauty that lies behind spikes and inside sharp seeds.

Thank you for making princesa (princess), amorcito (my little love), preciosa (precious) and querida (dear) my middle names and for the affection that drips into all your words.

Thank you for teaching me that development and a commitment to peace can crop up right next to coffee and conflict. Thank you for exposing me to your people–ex-combatants, victims of conflict, sufferers and perpetrators–whose thirst to learn and reconcile with history is a lesson in living.

Thank you for showing me the beauty of cloud forests, volcanoes, and thunderstorms – and for highlighting the kindness and benevolence of strangers who come together when these natural phenomena go awry.

Thank you for making it impossible to sleep without the sound of a bus exhaust, the ice-cream bell jingle, or a woman selling tamales. Your aromas will follow me home.

Thank you for aggressively overflowing with passion. For your vivid gesturing, your poetic harpings of love in the face of Garcia Marquez, Neruda or Benedetti, your feverish addiction to soccer.

Thank you for diminishing the distances, for poking into my personal, private space, for forcing the conversations on love, religion, family, marriage, children, poverty, war, and opportunity, and for coloring everything with a hug.

Finally, thank you for teaching us or reminding us or encouraging us to feel, and learn, and serve, and give of ourselves, and lead, and follow, and love, and dare, and appreciate beauty – and for carving such a space for yourself in our memory that we are just bound to return.

Roxanne has just completed a cycle of post-conflict development projects benefiting women in war zones worldwide and, most recently, in Latin America. To read about Roxanne’s journey, visit her blog.

The cracks begin to show...

However, these moments of self-indulgence are really only that: split-seconds. The moments actually only ever hit me when I’ve spent less time than I’d hoped for with the students i.e. when classes have been canceled or other school events take priority. When such thoughts do cross my mind, something always seems to happen to make me totally ashamed of having them, like when two of my students presented me with the most delicious homemade bread that had my name baked into it for example. But I’ve quickly learned to recognize the warning signs (or cracks!) and usually, as old and decrepit as it makes me sound, what I need is to just lie down and rest my mind for a bit.

Besides, it’s these tougher times that are so much a part of what volunteers do and strengthen us as individuals. As much as we work to open doors and help makes things better for organizations and individuals, we also feed off the energy we receive in return and that gives us the impetus to keep going. Our experiences can have highs and they can have lows but forums like this also show how similar, but equally unique, the journey is for all of us.

Just last week I met another La Vida Idealist blogger. The opportunity to chat and share our thoughts and experiences was such an incredible boost, and a great reminder of all the reasons why we do this.

Amanda Patterson is currently teaching English and public speaking as a volunteer with Corporation for the Development of Learning (CDA) in Santiago, Chile

But it’s important to cast your desire to add to the world in a reasonable frame, otherwise you’ll never be happy with what you’re doing.

The sun sets behind the high school in Puerto Jimenez

Example: Right when I left for Costa Rica, the earthquake hit Haiti, and I thought, “I should be there.” Then Chile gets rocked, and I thought, “I should be there.” Now, I see Guatemala getting doused by massive floods, and I think, “I should be there.”

Teaching English is important. However, after reading about those disasters, it seems meager. Then, I look at what the other La Vida Idealisters are doing, and I’m blown away. Conflict management after a civil war. Working at an orphange. Sustainable energy and microfinance. I discuss when to put “-ing” on the end of words.

This relativistic approach hasn’t been limited to my time in Puerto Jimenez. In Chicago, I volunteered for 826 CHI, a creative writing and tutoring center. No matter how much I did, I always felt like there was more I could have done.

I doubt this mindset exists only in me. Everyone with the desire to do service work, whether on the weekends or as a career path, must think about it from time to time. The key is not to focus on what you should have done, but on what you have done.

Which, naturally, is easier said than done.

Kent Green is currently teaching English in Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica through Costa Rican English for Sustainable Tourism, a project of ALIARSE. For more on his experiences,  check out his blog or follow him on Twitter.

Wanchaq Pool

Twelve girls from Casa Mantay attend the excursion. All are teenagers and have babies who are the result of rape, and in many cases family members were the aggressors. The girls come pregnant to Mantay to escape the violence and stigma that would accompany staying in their communities, and here they learn to cook, clean, and care for their babies. At 18 they must leave the safe-home to live independently.

The girls enter the pool’s dressing room and begin changing into borrowed swimsuits. Eli shoves the bundle she’s been carrying into my hands and it starts wiggling. It’s her baby. None of the girls know how to swim, and I’m the only supervisor. “Don’t go into the deep pool!” I shout in a futile attempt at control as the girls scuttle out. I change into my own suit and walk gingerly across the slippery floor, baby in hand. Every one of the girls is in the deep pool.

Discipline is always difficult, but this case is especially tricky. Authoritative figures derive their legitimacy from knowledge and experience, but it’s not clear that I possess these here. Sure, I’m their sports profe, but the girls will be encumbered with life’s burdens sooner than I, facing reality as single mothers and fully supporting themselves without ever having finished high school. I, in contrast, know no such pressures. A recent college graduate, I have the luxury to live abroad without any real income or commitments, and enjoy the support of a stable family at home.

While teenagers often need boundaries and discipline, I can’t ignore the fact that these are not your average 16-year-olds. As their supervisor, how do I effectively enforce rules while simultaneously acknowledging their imminent autonomy? They’re caught in a strange limbo between adolescence and adulthood, and it’s often hard to gauge the teacher/peer balance I should strike. Mostly I just wing it.

Kimberly is currently serving as Program Manager for GirlSportWorks, a US-based NGO that seeks to enhance the lives of Peruvian girls through athletics.

My Puerto Jimenez intermediate class working in pairs to solve the mystery of phrasal verbs

Not because it’s a one-of-a-kind Kent Green blog. The skill of understanding English is something people from countries like the United States, England and Australia simply grow up with. Most are oblivious that it’s something billions of people around the world are craving to learn.

It’s possible things will change in our lifetimes—Mandarin, anyone?—but for now, English is where it’s at. Every language has maddening quirks, but we overcome those of English simply by being raised in it. Here, then, are Seven Things You Should Be Thankful You Understand Without a Second Thought.

Irregular adjective forms: It’s “good, better, best,” not “good, gooder, goodest,” like almost every other one-syllable adjective (cold, hot, cute). Why did we have to invent a whole new word? Because it’s better, I guess.

Phrasal verbs: “Pick” means to choose. “Up” means moving to a more elevated position. Put them together, and you get pick up, which, somehow means: lift something from a surface, understand a concept, answer the phone, or score a date at a bar. That’s just one example.

The three “ed” endings in past simple. Say ‘em all: “Danced.” “Played.” “Wanted.” Only “wanted’s” ending sounds like “ed;” the other two are “danct” and “playd.” Never noticed that, did you? Now, figure out when you use each sound, and have fun with t and d. (While we’re at it, ever catch the three “oo” sounds: “wood,” “blood,” and “food”?) Maybe this is why we want 10 kinds of every product at the grocery store.

The apostrophe. The apostrophe’s used when it signals a contraction, like it’s doing now. But it’s rules also say it indicates possession, like this sentence’s apostrophes. You know what would’ve made people’s lives easier? Another punctuation mark.

Speaking of, how about another and other? First person to say what the difference is in the comments (no looking it up!), gets a bag of Costa Rican coffee, on me.

The helping verb “do.” Most languages don’t need a helper for yes/no questions. So when students finally understand the purpose, then there’s the chore of explaining that you don’t need it in most declarative sentences besides “yes, I do” and “no, I don’t.” Causes more confusion than a trick candle in a four-year old’s birthday cake.

Non-phonetic spelling: Lissen. Y? Becuz.

This is not a bad Tom Waits song. This was teaching past simple in my class.

Three intermediate students try to teach the phrasal verb "break out" to their classmates - all in English!

Here’s how it went: We practiced asking questions about the past: “Where did you go?” “What did you do?” And so on. I brought props, dressed the students up, and stood them in front of class. I explained they’d each gotten back from a fun weekend, and their classmates had to tell me what they did.

Girl with the booze, they decided, had been to a party with her boyfriend. Another girl who I dolled up in a soccer jersey had traveled to South Africa. A third got my daypack, sun hat, and a map; she’d gone on a tour in Jurassic Park.

This was something I’d tried before, and it was a hit (sadly, neither class permitted pictures). I’ve learned that if something works in one class, do it again. And again, and again, and again.

I’ve turned classes into restaurants and hotels for tourist-based dialogues. I’ve had groups lead me around the school grounds by giving directions, one doing it while I kept my eyes closed. I’ve asked students to teach the meaning of a phrasal verb (e.g. “drop off” or “pick up”) to their classmates without using Spanish.

(The last one was fun because I played an exaggerated version of a confused student. “Oh, I get it: ‘Off!’ ” I’d say. Then I’d turn off the lights. They’d cry “no!” and struggle to figure out another way to explain. Welcome to my world!)

Teaching English abroad is fun—and daunting—because you can’t rely on verbal explanation. You have to use a variety of ways to get concepts across. Luckily, the TEFL world draws in creative people, and not one of the above ideas was totally original; all were inspired by a suggestion on one of many TEFL resource websites.

You need to lecture occasionally, sure. But with all the flexibility, that should be just a small component of teaching.

How excellent would traditional classes in the States be if more teachers had the freedom to adopt these strategies? We’ll probably never know. At home, I’d probably be fired for half of my shenanigans.

Oh, man: Imagine the fun we could have teaching that word.

Rachel swings in a hammock at a jungle lodge we discovered outside of Puerto Jimenez.

My friend count in Puerto Jimenez has dropped by one.

Rachel, a youth-focused Peace Corps volunteer, finished her two-year stint this week. She’s off to travel and to eventually head back to the States. (We’ll stay friends on Facebook, so the number that matters will stay the same.) I’m gonna miss her, and not just for her smoothie-making skills.

She’s introduced me to other people and places, but more than that, she knows what I’m facing. Every confounding moment with the lifestyle, every frustrating class with students, she’s been there and ensures me that I’ll get through.

Often, though, I feel like I’m cheating on the experience when I hang out with her. Other Americans who have worked out of the country may know this feeling. If you embark on a journey like this, you likely will meet at least one other person from the homeland, or at least someone who speaks English. Chances are, when you do spend time with your fellow expat, you’ll feel guilty.

After all, this is supposed to be a New Experience. You’re supposed to break away from your old culture. Speak only the new language and talk to only the natives.

Nuts to that. You need a Rachel or two. You might not speak again after you part ways but while they’re there, they’re essential. You have to keep yourself mentally healthy in a situation like this, and having a sympathetic ear (especially one that knows your own language) goes a long way in doing that. No one understands the madness of explaining the concept of “on time” to Ticos like another American who has tried to do it.

I will be fine in the last weeks I have here without Rachel. But, if this blog gets a whole lot crankier, well, you know who to blame.

Kent Green is currently teaching English in Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica through Costa Rican English for Sustainable Tourism, a project of ALIARSE. For more on his experiences,  check out his blog or follow him on Twitter.  For more insights that might make you gasp, check out Lizzie LaCroix’s “Confessions of an Urban Volunteer.“