ESL Teacher

Posted date: 2011-May-18

Location: Belem,Brazil

ESL Teacher

The Amazon Valley Academy is located 3 km. outside the city of Belem, Para, Brazil, in the suburb of Ananindeau. Belem is on the South shore of the Amazon River and about 50 km from the Atlantic at the point where the river's tidal basin is more than 250 miles wide. Located only 1.5 degrees south of the equator, the evenings and mornings are cool (high 70's) and the afternoons are very hot, until the afternoon showers arrive. The campus is part of a walled school/housing complex of about 25 acres and consists of five school buildings, two athletic fields, a pool, 8 houses, and 8 apartments.

Belem is more than 500 years old, a Portuguese speaking city with about 1.3 million people. Belem has a rich cultural past as a Portuguese colony and amassed great wealth as the rubber capitol of the world in the early 1900's. Today, the area has mineral, oil, and lumber industries and is the center of research on the rain forest of the world. The city has excellent bus service, and the campus is only about 300 yards off the main Belem-Brasilia highway, which is the major bus route for the city.

The student body consists of international students, expatriate kids and students from Brazilian families interested in an international education. A majority of the students continue to be the children of evangelical missionaries. This core parent group provides a strong support group for the emphases on campus.

The school's outreach effort is conducted through the daily Bible classes, a Chapel Program for the k-12 students, an EFL outreach to students and adults who do not attend AVA, and a Sunday Afternoon Church Service followed by EFL Bible Study Groups.

AVA gives a clear presentation of the gospel to all students via the Bible classes and the weekly Chapel programs. The children's and adult's EFL classes integrate a presentation of the gospel into each of the levels on a weekly basis, and our free Church Service and small group EFL Bible study provide us an unusual opportunity to talk with the college age adults about the gospel.

The K - 12 school is primarily college preparatory and a vast majority of our students enroll in a university in an English speaking country. We are intensifying our Portuguese language program to accommodate our national students helping them be truly bi-lingual enabling them to enroll in a Brazilian university if they desire.

AVA operates on a 180 day school year calendar that starts in August and ends in early June.

AVA is a small school with very close relationships between parents, students, and teachers. The small classes and close parental support makes AVA the ideal teaching situation. The inclusion of business and Brazilian students in the school population provides a daily opportunity to share the gospel. Most of our teachers also participate in the EFL program and/or the Sunday Service and EFL Bible study, which bring them into contact with many young Brazilian adults who are eager to learn English and in many cases eager to know more about our Lord.

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