Estella Borgoño

Estella Borgoño (name changed) is 14 years old and is enrolled in CENIT's Adopt-a-Dream program, as well as being a student in ESTAR, CENIT's primary school. Estella was forced to leave school when she was eight to supplement her family's meagre income. She was selling fruit and candy in the streets of the Santa Maria neighbourhood. Estella spent nearly three years working up to 14 hours a day in these dangerous and polluted streets. Luckily, one of our street outreach volunteers working in the area befriended her and enrolled her in Adopt-a-Dream. She was paired with a godparent in the United States who pays for Estella's school costs, medical and dental care, and monthly groceries for her and her family. Estella was also enrolled in CENIT's Nivelaciones program, which is designed for children who have missed substantial amounts of school, to help them catch up to their appropriate grade level. Today, Estella is a full-time student in good standing at CENIT and will start her first year of high school next year. She no longer works in the streets and dreams of graduating and owning a store or working in a beauty salon one day.

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English Classes

Aim

This project aims to teach basic English to children both in CENIT's elementary and high schools.

Project Information

This project functions a few afternoons a week during the school year. Classes last between 40 and 90 minutes, and cover basic topics such as numbers, colors, greetings and so on.

Volunteer Requirements

Volunteers work in groups as the primary teachers of these classes. The volunteer must be at CENIT for four months, with a basic to intermediate level of Spanish. Volunteers are expected not only to teach classes, but also must dedicate time outside of class to lesson planning and evaluation.