Puente Cultural Service and Teaching Abroad Grant

It’s March! Welcome, blog readers to a blog post all about the events of February.

February was a great month here in Ecuador. I worked a lot because I wanted to save for my trip to Olón, but I enjoyed getting some extra online teaching experience and in-class experience. I really enjoy my classes this cycle. I have a new intensive 201 class, which is intermediate-level students. This level is great because there is still so much English to teach them, but they still have a nice level of English that you can have a conversation with them. This class is especially fun because it’s all women! In the very beginning of class, I did a lot of icebreakers and getting to know each other, and we found out that we all have a lot in common. Therefore, I can choose fun, interesting speaking and activity topics to include in class! This class is so fun. I am also enjoying my beginner-level class. It is great practice for teaching English. It is very important to know how to talk and work with students at a very beginner’s level. I feel as though I have improved a lot on how to communicate to beginner’s. It seems as though they have been learning A LOT! :D

Volunteering has been challenging this month. The students have been quite wild and difficult to control, but this is a challenge I have almost enjoyed overcoming. At some points, I have had to be a bit mean to the students. The most difficult group is group 3, which are the older students. Their teacher is Alberto, who works so hard with the students and has been working with them for a year and a half now. There is still such a lack of respect for him, which is difficult to experience sometimes. One moment where I had to assert a student sternly occurred a couple of weeks ago. This student is the most difficult student we have at the Fundación, and he had reached his level of disrespect to us that day. I simply grabbed his hand, pulled him to the side, and said “That’s enough. Do you understand how much Alberto and the volunteers do for you every day? You cannot disrespect us like this day after day. Do you understand me?” He immediately stopped and said “yes” and everything was fine. I felt a bit bad for being stern with him so I talked to Alberto and he said that that is the way it has to be sometimes, and was thankful for my support. Overall, this month was a bit difficult at the Fundación, but Maribel is making a lot of changes so we can see improvements. We have been making more calls to families and bringing more kids to therapy, and I am hoping we will see a change in behavior. The great part about the Fundación is that Maribel is very passionate about these children and about us as employees. Every Tuesday we have a meeting to talk about everything, and Maribel becomes aware of every small detail that happened throughout the week. This makes me feel like we really have the necessary support to help these children’s lives.

At this very moment, I am writing to you from a DELICIOUS café in Olón, Ecuador. I travelled here with a friend from CEDEI, Sam because we have Monday and Tuesday off from teaching, and I thought we deserved a vacation. I had not yet been to the coast before travelling here, and BOY it’s hot when you have lived in Cuenca for 8 months! The beach here is beautiful and it feels like a different world. It never stops amazing me how small, yet incredibly diverse this country is. It’s about the size of Ohio, yet from the coast to the mountains, the language, weather, and the people change so drastically. I really enjoy the coast here, it is quite beautiful and impressive. The sunburn hurts a bit, but that was expected.

I cannot wait for what March has to offer. I am making some life changes, and I will let you all know how they go next blog! I will leave you with some photos mostly from the Fundación in the last few months! Disfrutén las fotos! Nos hablamos! :)

Noemi, a new student, with the biggest heart. "Profe!!! tome una foto!!"