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Teach at our School & Gain a TEFL Certificate (Optional)

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(94 reviews)94

The experience

Trailer (2024):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ssWXqHEZH4
Trailer (2023):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZCGImgB8jk
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/escolacasadomar/
Pedro (2024):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFI4YWp0IEs

Se você não fala inglês, envie uma mensagem para nós, estamos abertos a suas ideias sobre workshops. Recebemos cientistas, planejadores financeiros e acadêmicos que lideraram atividades.

What you offer

12 hours of help per week

Social Work: Help with volunteer work in local projects and communities.

Teaching Sports: Teaching or assisting the host, guests, or local communities in practicing sports or physical activities.

Teaching Languages: Teaching a language to the host, guests, or local communities.

Additional fee required

Amount: R$ 75 Per day

Fee pays for: Benefits for travelers, Materials for volunteer activities, and Donation to project

Description: A volunteering rather than work experience with no admin/prep responsibilities & plenty of time to explore the city in vacation-mode. Classes are free and only for favela residents. Santa Teresa: 4 volunteers/room; with daily housekeeping, weekly pool cleaning, and Ubers to and from all projects: 110BRL ($18usd/night). The nightly price for a 4-bunk room in a hostel in Santa Teresa. Vidigal: 75 BRL/night (12.50usd/night).

What you get

3 days off per week

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

Team Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other people.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Free Tours: We’ll take you on tours and rides around town. For free!

Free Hiking Tours: We’ll take you on excursions and hikes around town. For free!

Get free drinks or beverages.: Drink up! Get free and tasty drinks for yourself.

Free Parties: Get free entrance for the best parties in town.

Free Events: Get free entrance for the best events in town.

Pub Crawls: Be a part of our pub crawls at local bars!

Surfboards: You can use our surfboards as much as you want.

Yoga classes: Take free yoga classes at our place.

Surf lessons: Take free surf classes at the local beaches.

Dance classes: Take free dance classes at our place.

Language lessons: Take free language classes at our place.

Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.

Certificate: Get a certificate of completion after you finish your experience.

Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely

Dedicated Workspace: Specific space for you to work remotely

Requirements

Beginner English or Beginner Portuguese

Over 18 years old

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

The Escola Casa do Mar (ECDM) hosts 10-15 volunteer English teachers at houses in Santa Teresa and Vidigal, teaching 120 students, free of charge, at 4 sites across the city.

Please read the full program description here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PvaA07wlfPokQf6zOpDD6YLWCXMk3JW1OOl1xR3_T4Y/edit?usp=sharing

You will make a meaningful contribution in three low-income favelas, and appreciate the great sense of community. “Tamo Junto!"

Sharing a beautiful house with a dozen of your fellow volunteers, you’ll live in community, united in a shared mission, and eager to enjoy the beach, go out to dance, and embrace life in Rio.
Live at our charming villa in Santa Teresa, Rio's bohemian, hilltop neighbourhood. Or live inside Vidigal, Rio’s safest favela, at Casa do Mar, a glass-fronted house opening out directory onto the rainforest, and uninterrupted ocean views.

Activities & Shift

This is truly a volunteering experience, as opposed to a working experience, with plenty of time to explore the city and shift into vacation-mode. You will not be expected to do any class prep or admin work outside of class hours. We employ two long-term teachers (including a now-fluent former student), who know all our students well, providing much needed continuity to our classes. By teaching in our classes, you allow us to bring down student:teacher ratios (1:3 is our goal), speeding up our students' progress by making the lesson more student-focused. While there is no pressure to design classes yourself, we greatly value the ideas that come from the 10-15 volunteers who stay with us each month from all over the world, and we are always excited to improve our curriculum. Our classes are 100% free for all favela residents.

Rules

Outside of the school, we have wine & cheese nights, churrascos, movie nights on the outdoor projector, weekly trips into nature (Parque Nacional do Tijuca; surfing at the beach; hikes, and much more), alongside trips to the opera, samba and baile funks (favela parties). Everyone is invited to everything, there are no cliques. And just being you is enough.
An important component to our Teaching Director’s job is to determine how each volunteer can be best used in the classroom, depending on their language proficiency and teaching experience. She also plays an important mentorship role, facilitating conversations between volunteers after class as they discuss what went well and what could be improved for next time. Many of our volunteers have extensive experience working or volunteering in theatre, art, music, and sport. But others have never before taught in a formal setting.