Evaluating my Peace Corps Service (PC style)

This blog was started in 2011 to document and share our experience with Peace Corps.  Our time as Peace Corps volunteers has come to an end.  I am struggling with wrapping my head around this fact.  While I plan and dream about our lives as grad students and full time employees again, I am struggline to grasp the fact that we are not returning to Costa Rica.  We have spent more time as a married couple and college graduates as Volunteers living in Costa Rica than in the States.

Officially Peace Corps Volunteers

The Hubs and I have discussed what we miss about our site, Santa Cruz.  Claro que sí, we miss the Ticos and Volunteers we have bonded with the past two years.  But thank goodness for technology because we are able to stay in contact with many of them.  But we also miss walking around town, the hospitality of Ticos, and their attention to detail.  We miss speaking Spanish and having a flexible work schedule.    

They let us all in 

As we closed up our projects, my counterpart (the local who I work along side with the whole two years of service) and reflected on what was effective in the projects we led together.  I was a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Volunteer.  So my primary project was to aid local educators in improving their teaching methodology and their confidence in English.  My counterpart and I came up with different ways to achieve the TEFL goals.  We successfully implemented spelling bees that are now required for all schools to participate in.  We led 9 conversation clubs so that EVERY English teacher in my region had an opportunity to speak in English for 40 hours (and get a pay raise) that included mini workshops on teaching methodology.  

My counterpart and I 

Peace Corps also encourages volunteers to do projects that are outside of our primary project.  With my background in education, many of my secondary projects (projects outside my TEFL project) had to do with education.  I created a teaching blog aimed at TEFL teachers, privately tutored students, and co-led a (community conversation club) for young professionals.  I also led a women’s workout group for a couple of months. 

Throughout our service we were required to report our activities quarterly: who was involved in them and what was successful.  Because of this and reflecting on my service, I have evaluated my time there.  While my secondary projects are harder to evaluate, I still deem them successful. 

Our community conversation club 

The spelling bee demonstrated the importance of English and increased teachers’ and students’ confidence, vocabulary, and pronunciation. 

Interregional Spelling Bee 2013

The teachers’ conversation club allowed teachers the opportunity to learn new activities to use in their class,  to get a raise, to practice their English, and to get together as a department and share ideas.

Two of the conversation clubs

My teaching blog has allowed me to reach teachers that I don’t get an opportunity to see but once or twice a year.  It has also been a one stop shop for resources for the lessons they have to teach. 

The main student we have worked with has improved his grades and increased his confidence in speaking English.

The community conversation club has opened doors for job opportunities for some of our participants. 

The women’s workout group was a space for women to workout without feeling scrutinized.  It taught them basic exercises they can do at home. The workout group also gave them accountability partners to take care of themselves. 

While I haven’t completed a giant project or raised thousands of dollars for a project, I still believe my time in Costa Rica as a Peace Corps volunteer was extremely successful.  I believe I achieved the three goals of Peace Corps and the three of Teaching English as a Foreign Language.    

Success is not deemed by the size of the project but the effect on the person. - me

And just like that, they are letting us out