Teaching may be one of our most accessible gap year activities, but if you’ve never done it before then it can be a little daunting. Our teachers work with children of different cultures and languages, in schools where resources can be incredibly scarce, so even qualified teachers can find it a little nerve-wracking! To help our volunteers prepare for their teaching placement, we offer a weekend TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) course, which will teach you all the basics.

By taking our TEFL course you can build the skills and confidence you need to help the children you work with, learning the specialist requirements of teaching in the developing world. You’ll cover useful topics such lesson planning and classroom management, as well as more fun aspects of teaching abroad, such as how to use singing, drama and interactive activities to engage the children.

TEFL courses are held over 2 days on selected weekends. Get in touch to find out dates and prices!

South America is an amazing continent and GapGuru has a selection of gap year programs in Chile and Ecuador that really let you see the best of it! While it’s possible to enjoy a short visit to South America without knowing any Spanish, if you’re spending any real length of time there you’re going to need to learn some of the local lingo.

Whether you studied Spanish at school or are practically fluent, it’s a great idea to get a refresher course to help you make the most of your trip. We can arrange Spanish lessons in Chile or Ecuador that provide one-on-one and small group tuition for all levels. Because you’ll be learning the language in South America itself and putting it to use at your project everyday, you’ll pick it up much quicker than you would back home!

Spanish language lessons can be arranged in both Ecuador and Chile, with courses available between 2 and 6 weeks (longer courses are available on request) that fit around your volunteering hours. For prices and further details please ask one of our gap year advisors.

Gap years are a great opportunity to build new skills and confidence, but the best way to make sure that the experience actually strengthens your CV, is to get formal recognition for your achievements. With this in mind we have teamed up with City & Guilds to create a Profile of Achievement for gap year volunteers and interns.

This provides a method of assessing, recording and reporting evidence of your progress and learning, giving you a clearly understandable record of achievement, which demonstrates the skills, aptitudes, interests and qualities you have developed on your gap year. Sounds intimidating? All you need to know is that it gives employers and universities proof of the great things you’ve achieved!

Creating a City & Guilds Profile of Achievement costs £150 and puts you in direct contact with internal (GapGuru) and external (City& Guilds) verifiers who will process the evidence of your achievements. The type of evidence required and how it is presented will depend on you and the nature of your programme, but it should show in a clear and structured way, what your achievements are and how your gap year has helped you to develop as a person. You will then: