One aspect of Estelar that I truly adore is volunteering at Club A, which is a charity that was created by Estelar in order to help impoverished children. Every week, volunteers teach young kids English and try to mentor them. I have been going to Club A weekly, and each week feels more rewarding than the last. The look of enthusiasm on the faces of the kids that attend every week, and the excitement of teaching new vocabulary and phrases to them through fun games is incredible. My favorite part, however, is measuring our impact through consistent Q and A after each session. This experience enables me to see how impactful the act of molding young minds can be. It is a great feeling to watch them improve and develop.
The kids aren’t the only ones who grow from this experience, though. Club A has given me another perspective by providing me the opportunity to see another side of Guanacaste, not just the more modern city aspects and beautiful nature sights nearby, but also the human aspect and the different ways that people of all walks of life live. It has also offered me a different side to teaching, and has been a brilliant new way for me to learn new effective ways to teach English to young learners. I can’t say enough good things about this experience, because I know that I am not only growing as a person and professional, but am really making a difference in the lives of needy children.
Blog post contributed by Carla-Anne, a teacher and volunteer at Instituto Estelar Bilingue from the island of Trinidad.