Colombia

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Projects in Colombia

Community Economic Development

The Community Economic Development (CED) program collaborates with a wide array of stakeholders, including community leaders, Economic and Social Development Government staff, women’s and youth groups, teachers and students, local businesses, and community-based organizations on locally defined priorities to increase their economic development opportunities, including:

  • Entrepreneurship – Facilitating entrepreneurship sessions to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in youth and adults.
  • Business Advising – Advising rural small businesses on basic management practices.
  • Personal money management – Promoting management of personal finances through Community Savings Groups (CSGs) and financial literacy training.

Leveraging their own unique skills and interests, Volunteers may also work with local community members to organize youth leadership groups, teach Information Communication Technology (ICT) practices applied to entrepreneurship and business management, facilitate environmental awareness workshops and school gardening projects, coach sports, teach English classes, or implement community-wide recycling projects.

Education

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The Peace Corps Colombia Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program is a collaboration with national and local partners, schools, teachers, students and community organizations on locally-prioritized projects related to bilingualism, with the ultimate goal that public school teachers and students and community members develop communications skills in English necessary to access academic, professional and/or personal development opportunities.

Volunteers collaborate with local teachers and other counterparts to:

  • Facilitate teacher communities of practice to share strategies and tips for effective teaching.
  • Co-plan and co-teach high school English classes with Colombian teachers.
  • Facilitate workshops on strategies for English teaching and technology in the classroom.
  • Promote gender equity in the classroom.
  • Conduct virtual and in-person English conversation sessions with teachers.
  • Organize and facilitate extracurricular English clubs, tutoring groups or other activities for students.
  • Teach community English classes.

The communities where our partner schools are located have diverse priorities. Serving as a Colombia TEFL Volunteer is a unique professional opportunity to draw upon your knowledge, skills and interests to support your community. Teaching English can be incorporated into many activities, such as sports or art activities, summer camps, environmental or health projects, technology, and more. Volunteers do not replace Colombian teachers in the classroom, rather collaborate with them and enhance their skills through promoting didactic English teaching techniques. The curriculum, lesson plans and materials primarily used are aligned with the individual school and Ministry of Education’s priorities, and are intended to strengthen English as a means to enrich students’ lives.