About this role
District Educational Institutions across Bogotá are public educational entities that serve secondary students (grades 6–11). These institutions are currently implementing national bilingualism strategies supported by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education encourages educators to ensure classroom practices focus on the consistent implementation of institutional pedagogical strategies to ensure effective application in daily teaching. Teachers can enhance students’ communicative competence by incorporating activities such as discussions, debates, and collaborative work, while also promoting active engagement through dynamic methodologies like problem-based learning and critical questioning. It is important to integrate practices that support performance in standardized assessments such as Saber 11, including exercises that develop analysis and interpretation skills. Additionally, teachers should strengthen inferential reading abilities by encouraging students to make interpretations and draw conclusions from texts, while fostering communicative skills across all grade levels. Continuous monitoring of student progress is essential to adjust instructional strategies according to their learning needs. The bilingualism team has requested four Virtual Service Pilot Participants (VSPPs) with pedagogical experience and relevant knowledge to expand teachers’ opportunities to engage with English through the creation and co-facilitation of English conversation clubs and webinars. VSPPs will contribute with native-speaker accents, vocabulary, and speech patterns, as well as opportunities for intercultural exchange. The VSPPs will support a 12 week professional development initiative by co designing and delivering weekly one hour webinars on pedagogical strategies and effective English teaching approaches, while also co facilitating weekly conversation clubs to help teachers strengthen their communicative skills in virtual settings. Their role includes creating and adapting engaging PowerPoint presentations that enhance instructional clarity and interactivity, as well as providing feedback on instructional design and presentation materials for both classroom and online use. Throughout the engagement, VSPPs will collaborate closely to monitor progress and identify emerging best practices. Peace Corps Colombia currently does not place two-year Volunteers in Bogotá, and the small scale of this initiative makes it well-suited for virtual engagement. The organization has previously collaborated with the Peace Corps. They understand that the role of a VSPP is very different than a Peace Corps Volunteer or Peace Corps Response Volunteer.