Teaching - BOLIVIA Project Information for Teaching in Bolivia

Our voluntary teaching placements in Bolivia

Universidad mayor de san simon
The Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) is our main teaching placement in Cochabamba. It is an ideal placement due to its location, size and demand for volunteer assistance. Located only 10 minutes from the city centre is the main campus where volunteers assist professors. Founded in 1832, UMSS now has 9 Faculties.

As Cochabamba is not considered to be a tourist location, there is a lack of native speakers with whom locals can practice English. This is where volunteers come in.

A bit of history.

The UMSS was founded in 1832, with its first School of Law. Now, after over 170 years, there are 9 Faculties.

As Cochabamba is not considered to be a tourist location, there is a lack of native speakers to practice English. That is where volunteers come in.

Our role at UMSS

In August 2002, Projects Abroad signed a 3 year agreement, allowing volunteers to participate in academic activities of the Department of Linguistics. Since then, a new agreement has been drawn up and we continue to support the professors and students of the UMSS, with a much stronger link between partners. What began as only support to the Department of Linguistics has now moved on to assisting professors in other departments such as Tourism, Administration, Computer Science, Medicine and others.

Volunteers are assigned to work alongside one or two professors during their placement. These professors also work as direct supervisors. The first week or two consist of assisting regular classes with the professors, getting to know the students, the facilities offered and your way around campus. Then, additional "tutorial" hours are set up with the help of the supervisor, which will continue throughout your placement. Volunteers are advised to continue assisting the regular classes with the students and professor in order to keep up with what is being advanced in class. It is also a time for volunteer and supervisor to meet, since supervisors are sometimes quite hard to track down due to their own busy schedules.

The students of UMSS are all above the age of 17 and the university also attracts a number of mature students, which creates a more diverse and interesting environment. A volunteer can expect to work at least 4 hours per day, but obviously the preparation of lessons is very important and time should be set aside for this. Volunteers find that basic conversational activities, games, or debating topics are successful in their classes. They also find that taking students out of the classroom and into a more 'informal' setting such as plazas, parks or cafés, encourages students to speak more freely. They find students to be more sociable and eager to communicate when they are under less pressure and this way they can learn more.

Projects Abroad have also set up Summer and Winter English classes which are run entirely by our staff and volunteers. Although available to everyone, it is proving to be popular with students who are very eager to learn and thoroughly enjoy the classes given by volunteers.