Our Partner School supports various foundations and offers well-structured volunteer programs to our students. These programs have found great acceptance with our students, and in the majority of cases, have been the ideal complement to their Spanish classes and homestay, in order to learn Spanish faster than they ever imagined.

We offer opportunities for volunteer work in the following fields:

º Street Children Organizations

º Practice in Travel Agencies

º Ecological Organizations / Communities

º English and German Classes

Street Children Organizations

These foundations have been working and helping Street Children in Ecuador for some years.
They have their own homes where children live and take regular classes every day. These foundations are the temporary home for these children, and their principal objective is "to reintegrate Street Children into society."

Volunteers can participate in different activities such as:

Training in travel agencies
The school’s in-house travel agency allows tourism students to work as volunteers and get more practical experience for their future activities. Many other reliable travel agencies and tour operators permit students to work as volunteers for practice.

Ecological organizations/communities
Ecuador has many impressive ecological areas related to environmental projects, including the following volunteer opportunities:

Live and work with a family in one of three diverse areas of Ecuador. You will experience daily life within the communities, help with family and community work, learn their culture and customs, and, of course, improve your Spanish. There is a one-week preparatory course at an agro-ecologically managed hacienda where you will learn about subjects such as organic horticulture, forestation and animal management (from bees to cows!).

The community volunteer programs are managed with the following objectives:

1) To stimulate the exchange of culture and knowledge between campesinos and volunteers, through agricultural and environmental conservation work with the campesino families.

2) To enable campesino families and communities to profit from income brought by the volunteer program, and additionally, the benefit of the volunteers' work.

3) To acquaint the volunteers with and to help them learn agricultural practices with an agro-ecological focus: organic horticulture, agro-forestry, animal management and forestation.

4) To provide a favourable atmosphere in which volunteers practice and improve their Spanish language through daily conversations with their host family and community members.

Volunteers can select a community in one of three areas:

º Pedro Moncayo, Pichincha
This county is in the province of Pichincha, 60 km to the north of Quito, one- and- a-half hours by bus. Hacienda Picalquí is 1.5 km to the south of Tabacundo, its principal town.

The climate of this zone is mild, with sunny days that reach around 20ºC, and that can drop to 8ºC during the night. From October to May is the rainy season, and from June to September is the dry season.

This is a rural zone inhabited by campesino and indigenous families situated next to Cerro Mojanda, between 2600 and 3200 metres above sea level. In general, the communities are linked by dirt roads along which various forms of transport occasionally run.

The campesinos have small plots of land on which they cultivate cereal crops, maize, potatoes, beans and other vegetables; and fruits such as tomate de árbol, blackberries, goldenberries and various passion fruits. They also have a few cattle, pigs, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

From June to August, the communities celebrate Inti Raymi, or the harvest festival. Each community participates in processions in traditional costume, after which the dancing continues. The festival can last for some days!

º Intag, Imbabura
In the province of Imbabura, west of Cotacachi county, is Intag, around two-and-a-half hours by bus from the cities of Otavalo and Cotacachi. It is a predominantly mountainous zone, where various dispersed communities form part of the fringes bordering the Ecological Reserve of Cotacachi - Cayapas.

This is a sub-tropical zone, with a semi-warm and humid climate. This area experiences periods of frequent rain that last from January to May. The temperature has an agreeable average of 21ºC.

As a part of the Choco bio-region, the area contains a great diversity of flora and fauna. The hilly countryside, the rivers and the forests create an attractive and outstanding location that conveys the character of the relaxed and affable campesinos.

It is a transitional zone between the Andean and tropical forests, where campesino land is covered with pasture and crops like sugar cane, coffee and beans, and in kitchen gardens next to their wooden houses grow yucca, banana, platano and fruits.

The people of this zone are known for their tenacious struggle in defense of their natural resources and for their efforts to create an ecological county. One of their most important actions in defense of the communities and the conservation of the forests was their opposition to the mineral extraction companies.

º Columbe, Chimborazo
Columbe is in the province of Chimborazo, an hour from the city of Riobamba, where many Quichua-Puruhá indigenous communities live. In this zone, almost the entire population is indigenous. The majority are bi-lingual, but the main language spoken is Quichua.

These communities occupy the highlands that flank the interior of the western mountain range, between 3200 and 3600 metres above sea level, next to the Andean paramos.

Due to the high altitude, the climate is cold, with average temperatures of 11ºC and rainy spells typical of the Ecuadorian sierra.

The Puruhá culture was established in what is currently known as the province of Chimborazo.

Despite the long period of colonial Spanish rule and their exclusion in the subsequent Republican era, these communities have fought, with incredible determination, for the defense of their culture and the maintenance of their language, clothes and customs.

After the land reform of the 1970s, the communities were given access to their own terrain. The communities are formed by numerous families fundamentally dedicated to agriculture and livestock.

On their small plots, they cultivate cereals, diverse tubers like potatoes, mellocas, ocas and mashua, as well as vegetables and pasture for livestock.

English and German Classes

Our Partner School works with different English and German institutes and private/public high schools, where our volunteers can teach English or German and practice Spanish with local students.

Please explore all the details of our immersion programs, Spanish language courses and locations using the menu located on the left of your screen, or click on the following links to navigate through our most-visited pages