Description of Peace Corps Volunteer Service by Jonathan Kohl
Description of Peace Corps Volunteer Service by Jonathan Kohl
United States Peace Corps in Costa Rica
Description of Peace Corps Volunteer Service
Jonathan Kohl
Jonathan Kohl entered training on 30 June 1993 at the Center for Human Potential in El Coyol, Alajuela, Costa Rica. He completed an intensive 12-week training program which included 200 hours of Spanish training, 50 hours of cross-cultural training about adaptation and the role of the volunteer in development, 20 hours on information transfer methodologies involving the understanding and implementation of non-formal teaching theories and techniques, and 100 hours of environmental education technical training stressing the training of elementary school teachers in non-formal teaching techniques of environmental education.
Mr. Kohl swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on 22 September 1993. As an environmental education volunteer, Peace Corps assigned him to work as an environmental educator at the Simon Bolivar National Zoo and Botanical Garden to help in its development from a neglected zoo to a modern environmental education institution in the heart of the capital city of San José.
National Zoo
At the Simon Bolivar National Zoo and Botanical Garden Mr. Kohl was one of two educators (the other being Costa Rican). He was directly in charge of
•Attending school groups, grades 1–6 (giving presentations, talks, activities, etc. to over 6,000 children during his 2 years)
•Production of the Zoo's bulletin
•Curation of the collections (slides, natural history objects, photographs)
•Photography for the Education Department, taking the bulk of the current collection
•Designing and coordinating the development of the solid waste campaign
Solid Waste Campaign: "Monstruo de LEJOS" (Monster from AWAY)
Slogan: "Mezclar Desechos es Torpeza — Aprovecharlos es Riqueza" (Mixing Wastes is Laziness — Taking Advantage of Them is Wealth)
Working with the environmental education sector of the Ministry of Public Education, Mr. Kohl wrote a 150-page teacher's guide (containing 42 activities) for teachers of grades 1–6 in urban schools. The guide is accompanied by 17 full-color posters relating a semi-fantasy story written by Kohl in Spanish that takes place in the capital city. Costa Rica's most famous nature artist painted the posters, which are designed to motivate and carry interest throughout all the lessons on solids wastes. At the time of his departure financing was being sought to the sum of $20,000 and plans were being made to distribute the guides and posters to all urban schools throughout the greater metropolitan area (ask for post-service results).
The materials will also be used in the Zoo along with various exhibition materials including a recycling program (in part designed by Mr. Kohl), compost pile, wide variety of didactic materials for teachers using the guide, art made from solid wastes, a series of outdoor signs to accompany the fantasy story. Additional plans call for the materials to be recycled into a comic book format, placed on the internet, World Wide Web, and possible production in CD-ROM format.
On many occasions Kohl acted as interim director of the department, especially during his first eight months of service before the second educator was hired. He also served as "official" English translator of the Zoo. Upon his departure, a new position for a second Costa Rican educator was created and filled in order to continue his work.
In addition to his five primary functions, Mr. Kohl participated in most of the zoo's workshops both for children and international audiences such as IUCN's Captive Breeding Specialist Group workshop on the conservation of the endemic squirrel monkey of Costa Rica (Saimiri oesterdii citrinellus) and a Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) Workshop for Costa Rican endemics. He traveled as a part of the Costa Rican delegation to Guadalajara, Mexico to attend the First Meeting of Latin American Zoo Educators. There he presented a paper in Spanish entitled, "Extending the Range of Environmental Education in the Zoo." On his own accord, he also attended the International Conference on Ecological Economics in October, 1994 and the International Wildlife Management Conference in September, 1993.
He participated in the design and implementation of a wide variety of Zoo projects including the Master Plan for Environmental Education, educational materials for a new herpentarium designed by the National Aquarium at Baltimore, Children's Discovery Area, and smaller projects. He organized an "intercultural" tree planting workshop in the zoo financed by high school students in Massachusetts and to be carried out by Costa Rican high school counterparts during the August after his departure.
Outside the Zoo
Mr. Kohl taught environmental education classes in a local school and established a small tree nursery there with the children. He acquired a donation from the United States sufficient to buy a new typewriter for the school.
Occasionally Mr. Kohl made a variety of appearances in university classes, cultural orientation sessions for new Peace Corps trainees or other Americans newly arrived in Costa Rica. He worked with a team of Peace Corps Volunteers and staff to develop the new project plan for the Environmental Education Program of Peace Corps/Costa Rica.
Upon leaving Costa Rica, Mr. Kohl, by judgment of a Peace Corps-certified language examiner, improved his ETS/ACTFL rating to 3+, (advanced [high]).
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