GVI MONTHLY ACHIEVEMENT REPORT

Quepos Community development Program

April 2014
SUMMARY:
GVIS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROFILING AND NEEDS ASSESMENT OF
COCAL IN FEBRAURY RESULTED IN A NUMBER OF ADULTS REQUESTING MORE
COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES, ONE OF WHICH WAS MORE ADULT LEARNING.

REPORT:
In early 2014, GVI interns and staff initiated a community needs assessment where a
small amount of Cocal residence were interviewed about life in Cocal, as well as
educational, financial and medical concerns. As part of this, the profiling of the area also
included a needs assessment whereby residents discussed what they believed the
community needed. Whilst a far cry from the main issues facing the community, one of the
aspects volunteers where able to assist with was the request for adult education. In April
2014, various volunteers got together to plan a six week adult english program that is now
currently running on Wednesday evenings at the local school. The initiative is proving a
success with more and more adults signing up throughout the course.

The course is a much slower pace then what our volunteers are used to in our Spanish
immersion lessons, but they are incredibly patient with the adult lessons and so many
volunteers were excited to get involved that most nights we have a 2-1 student teacher
ratio in the class. So far the program has covered basic greetings and leave takings, basic
conversation, days of the week, numbers and the verbs to be and to have. This week

marks the 4th week of the program and we plan to spend the next 2 weeks looking at basic
work conversation that may assist them in gaining employment in the tourist mecca of
Quepos. What is also important however, is that in teaching adults at Cocal, we hope that
they may then be able to go home and practice English with their children.
The program runs every Wednesday evening for an hour and a half and offers a free
creche service for parents with young children. Previous attempts to run Adult English
classes at Cocal have often failed due to peoples inability to commit with work and
childcare restraints. The evening classes, along with the free childcare service in the GVI
Aula has proved to be a great incentive for parents who would otherwise be unable to
attend, and we often have just as many kids come for the creche as we do the English
class. The response from the program by both the community and volunteers has been
extremely positive and we are hoping that we will be able to continue with follow up six
week programs after this, perhaps even offering various level options for the students who
may wish to continue.