Bright Futures Peru Helps Kids Succeed in School
Bright Futures Peru is a non-profit charity organization that is recruiting intermediate to high-level Spanish-speaking volunteers to work with economically disadvantaged and at-risk children at the Indoamerica public elementary school and Niños del Oro (Golden Children) Community Center located in the La Esperanza district of Trujillo, Peru.
The volunteer work will primarily consist of being a teacher assistant in the classroom during school hours and tutoring kids one-on-one and in small groups after school. Volunteers will also do fun non-academic activities with the kids like painting, arts and crafts, singing, and group sports.
The type of volunteer Bright Futures Peru is looking for is someone who is mature, caring, and willing to teach in an environment that may be different than what the volunteer is normally accustomed to. The benefits to the volunteer include being able to practice their Spanish speaking skills, learning about another country, and helping some really fantastic kids succeed in school.
Classroom Teaching Assistants
Peruvian public schools are usually overcrowded with little help available for kids who are falling behind or enrichment activities for kids who are more advanced. It is extremely difficult for one teacher to teach to all the different levels of academic performance in the class.
By volunteering as a teaching assistant with Bright Futures Peru, a volunteer can be a valuable asset in the classroom by helping the kids who need extra attention in reading, writing, and math.
If there is an older student who is far behind the kids of their own age group, volunteers can give extra support to that student so they can catch up with the kids of their own age. Sometimes kids cannot attend school for extended periods of time due to needing to work to support their families. When these children return to school, they may be placed in a class of younger children because they are so far behind kids of their own age group. Unfortunately, sometimes these kids are embarrassed to the point that they stop attending school. Bright Futures Peru volunteers can give these children extra help to get them caught up with their peers and possibly prevent them from dropping out of school.
English lessons are part of the curriculum in Peru, but the training the local teachers have in English is very limited. Bright Futures Peru volunteers can lead classes in English and help identify talented students that enjoy the subject and can benefit from extra English lessons
Niños del Oro Community Center
Niños del Oro (Golden Children) is a non-profit organization that was started by four teachers from the Indoamerica elementary school to help kids outside of school hours. The teachers renovated an abandoned community-owned building across the street from their elementary school and turned it into a community learning center where kids can go to get extra academic help.
The teachers volunteer their time at Niños del Oro to tutor struggling students. Bright Futures Peru volunteers will be able to expand the hours available and programs available to the kids that come to the Niños del Oro community center including offering extra academic help for struggling students and also enrichment activities like painting, music, sports, and computer and English classes.
Volunteers may also collaborate with the teachers and parents in the area to offer early childhood education classes to pre-kindergarten students as well as healthy baby classes for new mothers.
See The La Esperanza District Using Google Maps
Click the links below too see Google street view images of the area Bright Futures Peru works in.
Click 'Show Satellite Imagery' on the bottom left and then zoom in to see the location of the Indoamerica elementary school.
Learn more about the families who live in the La Esperanza district.
Click the link to learn more about the families who live in the low-income neighborhoods of La Esperanza and what Bright Futures Peru is doing to help the kids from this area succeed. ‘The La Esperanza District‘
