English Teacher Trainer - Volunteer Position - Onsite in Costa Rica • North America - 12 months

About The Project

Are you a seasoned English teacher who wishes to strengthen language learning overseas? Costa Rica has a meaningful opportunity for you!

For decades, many students in Costa Rica’s public education system were not reaching the necessary level of English proficiency even after 11 or 12 years of instruction. In 2017, the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) developed a new multi-year English curriculum to reflect the knowledge, skills, and abilities that Costa Rican students need to succeed as global citizens today. Each year, new lessons and guides are released for different grade levels. However, students continue to struggle to learn English. As MEP updates the national English curriculum to incorporate more action-oriented, communicative approaches, they seek support from skilled, bilingual educators who can share language-learning best practices.

Activities

• Produce educational materials and resources, such as audios, videos, teacher toolkits, dialogue scripts, and student resource kits, that support various proficiency levels and learning styles.
• Revise documents and organize resource creation workshops.
• Design and facilitate teacher workshops on topics related to English language teaching and learning.
• Participate in field trips to high schools to follow up on previously facilitated trainings.
• Support the regional English advisors with daily departmental operations.
• Work on additional projects that meet the community’s interests and priorities, such as facilitating an English club or coaching after-school youth sports.

Required Skills

• Bachelor's or master's degree in education, preferably with a focus in curriculum or instruction.
• Teaching certification or license with two or more years of relevant experience, including teaching and curriculum development.
• Language: Spanish
• Completed 4 years of high school Spanish coursework in the past 8 years.
• Completed college-level Elementary II Spanish semester (Elementary III in quarter system) within the past 6 years.
• Score between 50-62 on the Spanish College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam in the past 6 years.
• Score Novice-High or Intermediate-Low on official American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in Spanish within the past 6 years.

Key dates

• APPLY BY : July 15, 2026
• KNOW BY : September 1, 2026
• DEPART ON : February 2, 2027
• DURATION : 12 months