The Ups and Downs of Teaching

Teaching has been a very interesting experience. I have become more comfortable with improvising as well as putting my own ideas into action. I have encountered moments of success as well as feelings of frustration. I am touched whenever I see my students improving and doing their best to follow our instructions. It is also a great feeling to watch them playing games with such enthusiasm that they begin to speak the English vocabulary automatically rather than with diligent encouragement on our part. I have learned that rewards have both good and bad effects as they encourage both cheating and participation.

Although many of the children already knew some of the vocabulary we planned on teaching them, I am glad to say that we never had a class where it felt like what we were doing was pointless. All of the students have improved their pronunciation and seem excited to learn more English most of the time. They are filled with curiousity and love to ask us how to say various words in English. They also greatly enjoy having us tell them the English version of their names. The only difficult part is trying to tell some students that there simply is no translation for their names.

Teaching has been such a rewarding experience and I feel grateful to have been given such an important opportunity. Although helping to build the house was also a very meaningful and rewarding experience, I feel that there is no substitute for the feeling that comes when your students cling to you and you know that you have bonded with them. I will always treasure my memories of them calling us "seño, seño."

One day we were in the plaza across from the school in San Pedro eating our lunch when one of my students came up to me. Her name was Josefina and she hung out with us while her mother did the laundry in the communal sinks. I had a nice time talking and playing with Josefina, who seemed like a normal, albeit a bit timid, child.

The next day we assigned a small project to her class to have them practice writing numbers in English. Each student was assigned a number and given an index card. They had to write the number in English and Spanish as well as draw a picture with that number of things. When I saw that Josefina's card was blank, I asked her why she wasn't doing the assignment. I was shocked to learn that she was unable to write the number "one" in English or Spanish. I was able to help her complete the assignment. However, I did feel that it seemed a bit futile to try to teach a second language to someone who isn't even literate in their native language.

--Samantha Bergman