Kindergarten & Preschool

 

🌐Description organization

 

As one of the first countries in the world, Costa Rica established in the Constitution of 1869 that education should be compulsory and free. Since then, everybody is obligated to go to primary school. Most kids of the lower- and middle class, go the Public school, controlled by the Ministerio de Educación Pública: www.mep.go.cr. The level of education in Costa Rica is know as the best in Central America, but also in Costa Rica there are a lot of shortages at the schools and we hear from many interns that they are sometimes shocked with how little supplies the teachers need to do their jobs and how the teaching style is pretty oldfashioned. For example a lot is built on repetition of definitions and also, in English classes, English is taught at a level higher that what the children actually can understand/need. 

The Ministerio de Educación establishes rigid lesson plans and there is a strict control on the execution of the plan. 

 

The structure of the Kindergarten & Preschool system is as follows:

Preescolar

  • Ciclo Materno Infantil; also called prekínder children from 4 years old
  • Ciclo de Transición; also called kínder, children from 5 years old

 

🏫School 2 Costa Rica; Public School with Kindergarten & Preschool (and also has a primary school)

This school is located a few streets out of the center, at Avenida 12, Barrio La Guaria. At this very moment (2023) there are about 60 children studying at this school in Kindergarten & Preschool. 

📍Location

Turrialba (Costa Rica)

🧑‍🏫Supervision

 English Teacher with teaching degree issued by the Costarrican Ministry of Education.

 

 

🏫School 3 Panama (semi-private & on main island)

This semi-private school with class sizes between 10 and 15 students, goes from preschool to middleschool 9th grade (in the Netherlands this would be age 4-15). The school is located on the Main Island of the caribean archipel Bocas del Toro, Panama. It is only a 5 minute walk away from the hostel where you would be staying.The school teaches in both Spanish and English. Spanish is the first language, but children start at the age of 4 with learning English and it is here that they can most benefit from your research and help. 

📍Location

Bocas del Toro (Panama)

🧑‍🏫Supervision

Supervisor speaks Spanish and English and has a teaching degree issued by the Panamanian Ministry of Education.

 

📚Fields of study

  • Education

 

✅Requirements

  • All school needs Spanish A2 level (min)
  • You need to wear covering clothing (no shorts, mini skirts, shirts without sleeves, flipflops)
  • Schools in Costa Rica: Summer holiday from early December till early February. First 2 weeks of July is vacation.
  • Schools in Panama: Summer holiday from early December en ends early March. Also most of July is a month of vacation.