Our Work

Through education we nurture responsible citizens who stay in Guatemala to make their community a better place. These future parents, teachers, and workers will be empowered to instill positive values where they live and work.

We are an independent, accredited, non-profit school based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, that serves children from pre-primary through high school.

The Academy has adapted Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s Popular Education model to offer a student-centered learning environment. The system encourages all students and teachers to think of themselves as learners, teachers, and ultimately world transformers.

As opposed to an educational system filled with indigestible facts, Popular Education uses themes that directly confront the students' lives. The process of bringing core curriculum to life by making it relevant to students’ experiences helps them to retain the academic material.

Lessons are organized around monthly themes such as gender, ecology, human rights and independence. During the theme of gender, students learn about fractions by looking at the ratio of boys to girls in their classes and then calculating the number of indigenous versus non-indigenous students.

In addition, the Asturias Academy provides opportunities for students to gain skills in areas such as carpentry, computers, and sewing so they can utilize these skills to support their continuing education.