We cannot stress enough how important Youth and Adult Leaders will be to our program. ACA Explorers cannot exist without the involvement of local youth and adults in the program.
Luckily, there is a high demand for English classes and we have received a lot of support already. In this post I will describe 1. who ACA leaders are 2. how we will recruit leaders, 3. what incentives are in it for them, 4. the future of ACA Explorers.
Who is an ACA Leader?
An ACA Leader is a person in the community either youth or adult who wants to get involved in our project. A leader does NOT need to know English to join us. Any English they do know, we aim to modify and make better with our methodology but knowing English is NOT a requirement. As with the Explorers, we will be very selective in picking Youth and Adult leaders. ACA Leaders need to be able to set a good example for the Explorers and need to have the attributes of patience, curiousity, tolerance, love of learning and flexibility to fill the role. As we are just starting this project the roles of the leaders may change a lot and we need to be working with people who are willing to be flexible with their roles and responsibilities. The ACA Leaders will be a crucial part of the project and we expect to teach them and learn from them as much as with the Explorers!!!
Recruitment Process
We will recruit Youth Leaders by going to colegios (high schools) in Jardin and giving our presentation to the school. We will ask administrators and teachers (specifically English teachers) to help us find youth who are well-behaved, able to take on leadership roles and interested in English to become leaders. These youth will also be invited to the outdoor classes to learn along with the kids and start building relationships with the kids.
We will start recruiting Adult Leaders by asking adults that we know including parents of our students and other adults who have expressed interest. The Adult Leaders are expected to have the same characteristics as the Youth Leaders. They must be tolerant, open-minded, ready to learn and have enough time to devote to ACA Explorers.
The recruitment process could be tricky because anyone in their right mind would take up the offer for THESE SWEET BENEFITS……
Incentives to be an ACA Leader
Free English classes! This is the most valuable incentive we could possible provide for our leaders! They will be invited to the outdoor classes and to the Exploratorium as well as frequent training sessions/English classes designed just for Leaders.
Extra Credit in English Class at School! We are planning to offer the incentive of extra credit in English class to motivate more youth to get involved. We know how hard it is to be motivated to do something “academic” or “learning-based” in those middle school/high school years!
Leadership/Community Service Positions! Being an ACA Leader will be an opportunity that will open so many other doors. Being a Leader will be like being the leader of a Scouts group- a position of much responsibility but also reward. Working with ACA will be a service to the community and we plan to recognize our Leaders with the help of the pueblo!
Classes in Other Subjects! We plan to develop lessons for Youth and Adult leaders as well in STEM and other subjects and teach them with aspects of English as well. These lessons will differ from those we give to the Explorers in the sense of how deep we dive into the subjects.
Academic Support! We plan to offer academic support to Youth and Adult leaders as well. Tutoring, computer classes and giving them a space to study and learn will be part of the benefits the Leaders enjoy.
Language Exchange/Intercambio de Idioma! We will provide the opportunity for youth and adults to have language exchange sessions with Native English speakers. This will be beneficial to the leaders as well as the Native English speakers who come to Jardin with limited knowledge of Spanish.
The Future of ACA Explorers
Our Leaders have bright futures. They will learn and grow so much with us and the idea is to eventually have Leaders have their own groups of Explorers. Obviously since the project is English-based, it will take a bit until we can create more groups and entrust them to Leaders alone but we will all be learning and developing together. Someday, when we want to expand our program to other pueblos, the idea is to be able to turn the groups over to the Leaders to continue the program here.
