English Teaching in the Peruvian Amazon

(Monday, 26 March 2012)
Note: I originally wrote this blog entry for my old Spanish school in Australia (The Spanish Cat), hence the error in the date above. 

So where can a Spanish and a TESOL course take you?

Here´s where it took me! The middle of the Amazon in Peru!

So how did I get here?

After a lengthy trip through South America in 2009 upon completion of my university studies, arriving back to Melbourne and starting a serious suit and tie career job was a bit of a shock. I knew a seed was planted that I had to follow, a passion for this language and the cultures I had come across. I found the Spanish cat website online and was enrolled within days of being back in Australia. I felt like I knew quite a bit of Spanish after my trip, but I thought it would be best to start from the beginning at level 1. I am glad I did that! The course really helped me from the first class and never felt dull or boring, in fact Spanish class was what I looked forward most to each week. Several months later and a levels 1, 2 and 3 down the drain I found what I was looking for - an opportunity to go back to South America and give something back, the TESOL course!

Deciding on the Amazon

On my previous trip my friend and I went on a 10 day trek into the Bolivian jungle, this experience was one that really stuck with me. One night back in Australia I made a rare decision to watch TV after coming home from work, seeing that there was a program about the Amazon on the TV I decided to take a look.The program was all about Jaguars in the Peruvian Amazon and it brought back memories of the time I spent in the jungle and how much I wanted to see a jaguar. So I decided I´d give it another shot, this time with my TESOL! Over the next few hours I scoured the internet for websites volunteering English teaching in the Amazon. And this is what I found - http://www.amazonconservation.org/

The closest I got to a jaguar, some very fresh claw marks in tree.

What is CICRA and what did I do there?

The CICRA biological station

English Classes

One of my students. My friend Pascual and I cooking.

Each night after dinner at CICRA was time for English class with the staff. Normally I had about 4 or 5 students being the chef, the maintenance workers and the boat drivers. Also most mornings I would help the chefs prepare lunch and speak with them in English, other times I would help the other staff with maintenance around the station and sometimes I even got to drive the boats! It was a really rewarding experience seeing the staff there getting involved with learning and improving over the two months I stayed there volunteering. I also made incredible friendships with all the staff there and it was amazing to get to know these Peruvian people on their level now I could communicate with them in Spanish.

Other cool things I got to do in the Amazon

Helping out with Reptile and Amphibian wildlife surveys.

The best thing about teaching at a Biological research station was that there were always interesting people around studying the animals there. The CICRA station has an amazing trail system through the Los Amigos conservation concession. From right on the doorstep of the station is pristine jungle, which is why it is such an attractive station for researchers to study the animals. Some of the things I got to help with while I was there include studying the frogs and reptiles, helping transport live bee colonies for research, studying the monkeys and perhaps the coolest was helping the WWF with their project studying the fragmentation of forest and the effect on animals which have a large territorial area. This involves tranquilising animals such as jaguars, pumas and wild boars and putting GPS collars on them which record data every 15 minutes about what the animal is doing! Then after 8 months the collar pops off the animal and the team has to track it down in the middle of the jungle wherever it may be and retrieve it to upload the data for the study. This is where I helped! Which took me to some completely untouched parts of the jungle.

Poison Dart Frog jumps onto my boot.

WWF team (Ruben and Marlon)
CICRA 70m radio tower

Saimiri monkey and baby

Capuchin monkey and baby

 

Saimiri Monkey

Baby anacondas in boat. Very angry!

Was it worth it?

Teaching English in the CICRA biological station has been one of the most rewarding and memorable experiences of my life. The challenges I faced and the experiences I had I am sure will last a lifetime. I feel very grateful for this opportunity and am so glad of my decisions to study TESOL and Spanish and pursue my dreams, not a day has gone by where I´ve looked back with regret at leaving my cushy office job! I hope my experiences can show people a little bit of what is possible, coming from a country like Australia we all have opportunities in every direction, all we have to do is reach out and take them!

Goodbye CICRA