Volunteer in Costa Rica with Maximo Nivel - Best Rated Projects

As a first time volunteer, I wasn't sure what to expect coming to Costa Rica. However my experience teaching English here with Maximo for the past 2 months has been nothing less than amazing and I have thoroughly enjoyed staying with a host family and getting fully immersed in the city and culture. The host family have truly welcomed me as one of their own and I've been able to see so many places and meet locals that I never would have otherwise as well as trying out Tico food!

I was sent to a project that focuses on teaching English to Venezuelan and Nicaraguan refugees with a class of around 8-10 students for 3 hours each day and whilst it was challenging, the team at Maximo have consistently been supportive and listened to any feedback I had aswell as assisted me with the materials for the classes. The project manager ensures you have an introduction at your project before you start as well as an orientation meeting and walking tour when you first arrive in Costa Rica, so there's no surprises - thankfully!

The San Jose institute is also well located so that you can travel to all parts of the country easily by bus /shuttle/car rental, I have travelled to several areas of the country by bus and although it takes several hours, the tickets are super affordable. There are also plenty of activities/trips that you can plan with the in house travel agent at Maximo and they are more than happy to help with your travel plans.

Maximo has such a diverse range of people from around the world doing volunteering/internships and its easy to make a lot of new friends here. The free salsa classes and cooking classes and occasional karaoke/movie night are also really great additions to the programs and being able to meet with Costa Rican students and have tandem conversations is a huge bonus too.

Overall, I would love to do another project with Maximo in the future and highly recommend coming here.

I had a great experience as I completed the internship through Maximo Nivel. I learned a lot throughout the whole experience, and the internship program helped me improve my Spanish speaking skills, which was one of my main goals. Another one of my goals was to help people, and the internship provided me with the opportunity to work with a variety of people, both from Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Besides working with new people there, I also met a lot of great people from the institute while participating in the Maximo Nivel activities.

The coffee farm with the LIFE organisation in Monteverde, Costa Rica, that Maximo Nivel arranged for me during this 2 week project far exceeded my expectations. The LIFE vision that cares for the planet and its inhabitants, human and otherwise, and the practical implementation of sustainable systems are both admirable. If you want to learn about how a co-operative can succeed this program is for you. My personal highlights were: the sense of community and social sustainability that means everyone works as a team and is aware of the impact; the organic garden and eating the naturally-grown produce every lunch time; the focus on education and the pervasive sense that we are all humble learners and custodians of our precious ecosystems; the support that both Maximo Nivel and the LIFE staff give generously.

Overall awesome program would highly recommend to anyone who wants detox from society and to spend lots of time in nature. would recommend to go directly through the local project "Verdiazul" as its way cheaper than maximo nivel or IVHQ, only 35 usd per night. Junquillal is a very quite small town which is where my program took place, all the locals are very friendly and happy, including the program leaders Valerie and Danny. Really nice opportunity to get a taste of real pura vida in costa rica so come with an open mind and be ready to be uncomfortable at times. Good luck.

The medical program was very unique. It was a humbling experience helping out with patient care and having limited resources compared to what we have in the United States. I loved the experience of working with doctors and nurses that have limited tools to work with but still deliver great healthcare with passion. Voluntary wrk is a great form of giving credit to what we have in life and not to take things for granted. Maximo gave great support from beggining to end and made sure I was enjoying the program.

Maximo Nivel has an awesome program in San Jose where you can teach English to refugees at Fundacion Mujer. I had a great time. My students were awesome and I gained teaching experience. I started the volunteer program in the beginning of August. My third day into it, I learned that I loved teaching English and I decided to get my TEFL certification through Maximo Nivel in Manuel Antonio. My first time volunteering in San Jose was for three weeks. Then I had to leave and get my TEFL certification then I came back for a week after my TEFL certification to volunteer teach and gain more experience.

The experience was awesome. My last day volunteering was September 27th. I am going to return again about a month to volunteer some more. I got a job teaching English. I was training and tomorrow I will be starting my new job so I cannot volunteer just yet. I think Maximo Nivel really helps you get ready for your volunteer project and you have a field manager that will take you to your project and guide you along the way.

Here is an example of what I teach in the classroom. This was this past Friday's lesson:

Friday’s Lessons at Fundacion Mujer September 27, 2019

This past Friday at Fundacion Mujer during my volunteer duty teaching English, my students learned about describing different processes in passive voice. Then we worked on some worksheets that I copied from my business English book. The worksheet was about how to inform clients using the present continuous tense. Then we learned about perfect progressive. I had copied a page from one of the English books I had gotten during my TEFL course. Afterward, we worked on present perfect progressive exercises.

We then worked on more exercises from the business English book. Afterward, we looked at the different verb tenses. I copied the pages from my Maximo Nivel TEFL book, which had the different verb forms. We learned about regular and irregular verbs.

I highly suggest this volunteer program. If you give it a try I know you will end up wanting your TEFL certificate so you can teach English for a living.

I spent 5 weeks in Manuel Antonio volunteering with Maximo Nivel. I did both the Teaching English project and the childcare project and found them both an amazing and rewarding experience. Getting to know the locals in this way opened my eyes to a new culture and feeling like I was helping the lives of these kids was my reason for coming. With the English teaching, you are set up in a classroom with support from other volunteers that ran the class with you, it was an awesome way to bond with the other volunteers because we researched and planned the lessons together. Similar with the childcare, there were three volunteers and we would often split up with the kids and do different activities. The girls at Maximo Nivel were super helpful and accommodating with any query or concern I had and getting to know them was a highlight of the trip.

Volunteering with children for 5 weeks in the beautiful Costa Rica has got to be one of the best things I've ever done. I made lifelong friends through Maximo Nivel and will never forget the amazing memories I made in such a beautiful tropical rainforest with a vibrant, unique culture. Travelling from Zimbabwe, I had never spoken Spanish, so was completely thrown in the deep end but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Being fully immersed in a culture has to be the best way of exploring and learning a new language. I was so lucky to have a lovely, kind - hearted family looking after me (who I know I will continue to stay in contact with) and a house full of volunteers & Spanish students from all corners of the world whom I can call best friends. I was so lucky to work with special children from all walks of life, making saying goodbye to them very hard. If anyone is thinking of doing this, I whole - heartedly recommend stepping outs of your comfort zone and embracing a different way of life.