Since arriving at me casa with my host family, the language
barrier has gone from infinite, to slowly being broken away. The very first day, my host father spoke a
little bit of English on the ride home and then upon arrival, went into his room
and left me with my host mother who speaks no English at all. I have not seen my host father again until
tonight. The first night, my host mother
and I tried to communicate through my “caveman” Spanish, a pen and paper, and
my Spanish dictionary. Finally she went
and got my host sister to translate. The
second night, my host sister ate dinner with me and was able to help translate,
which was an answered prayer! Tonight,
my host father joined us for dinner, and told me the Spanish words for about
ten items in the kitchen and told me he would test me tomorrow. I will add those words to my homework for
tonight. Breakfast is always just me and
my host mother, and today, I felt like I knew a little bit more than
yesterday. Small steps.
Today was our second day of Spanish classes which last for
four hours every day. I do not feel as
though I am learning anything, however, I am seemingly able to understand more
and more Spanish that I hear spoken, therefore I must be retaining
something.
Learning to do anything new is a process. Yesterday, we reflected on something we have
learned that was new to us and the process that helped us learn it. I reflected on becoming a mom, and how I used
advice from doctors, family, friends, and books, and how I also relied on trial
and error and the crucial step of being able to admit my mistakes and not
expect me to do everything perfect.
Being a mom is not a single skill, but yet a lifelong skill where there
are new things to learn every day and at every stage of my children’s’
growth. Learning a new language is a
process as well and being thrown fully into the culture and language is
extremely hard, overwhelming, exhausting, and honestly, surprisingly
exciting.
Today, we got to go into our first primary school. Upon arriving in Costa Rica on Friday, we
were informed that the teachers in this country are on strike and the schools
are not in session. Being the primary
reason we came here, this was very disheartening news. We since learned that the reason for the
strike was because the teachers have not received paychecks since January. We were still planning on visiting the
schools even without students, but we were surprised by a small group of
students being in the school. Some of the
teachers have returned to work, therefore only their students get to return to
school. I have been trying to think
about if I would join the strike or try to continue to teach. My instinct is that I would continue to teach
because I am not becoming a teacher for the money. Also, our family has survived on only my
husband’s paycheck for our entire existence as a family, therefore, the
paycheck would not be necessary for cost of living. I would like to think I would continue to
teach for the sole reason of the children.
The sole reason of me becoming a teacher is to make a difference in the
lives of the children that I teach. I
would like to believe that I would continue with my passion for teaching
children even if my work conditions were bad, or if I was not getting
paid. But in all reality, I cannot know
what I would do unless it happens to me.
We were teaching in an English class. We worked with both 3rd and 5th
grades. We were instructed to only speak
English with the students. The students
are learning English but they know very little and some know hardly any at all,
if not none. I can honestly say, even
after being here for less than a week, because of this experience, I know exactly
how they felt! They were being asked to
communicate in a language that they cannot speak, just as I am. The first student I worked with was a fifth
grader. The class was writing pen pal
letters in English. My student’s name was Oscar and he was adorable. But yet, he was frustrated, with both me and
himself. He was nervous and was trying
so very hard but yet the words would just not come to him. Oh Oscar, do I know how you feel! Not being able to talk to him in Spanish (if
I was actually able to) was the hardest part, but yet it forced me to come up
with creative ways to communicate. I
tried writing things down, using gestures, and everything that I could think
of, and everything that my host mother has been trying to use with me. And just as it has happened with me and my
host mother, it slowly began to work with me and Oscar.
Our second group was 3rd graders and we worked
with small groups, playing games to help the students learn and review their
English words, because they will soon be competing in an English spelling
bee. Our group was made up of three
students, who are very advanced. They
were very attentive and had high ability of spelling and reading English
words. One of the three students was not
quite as advanced as the other two and was starting to get discouraged, so we
tried to differentiate the instruction by both process (how we taught it) and the
product (the expected outcome). We also
helped encourage him along the way, as did his two group mates. Both teaching experiences today were so much
fun and very meaningful! I cannot wait
to get more involved with more students here in Costa Rica.
The amount of empathy I have gained for English Language
Learners (ELL) and English as Second Language (ESL) students, in just 3 days is
so immense that it pushes all of my fears, homesickness, and feelings of
inadequacy aside. I knew in my heart
from the very beginning of hearing about this opportunity, that I needed to
come to Costa Rica and it is already starting to prove its importance in my
heart, in my self-growth and in my growth as a future teacher. At the beginning I was unsure why I felt such
a strong pull to get involved with this study away program, being nothing I
would ever dream of doing and way out of my comfort zone, but after just one
day of working with the students here, I am starting to see myself change in
ways that will help me become a better teacher, and truly a better person.
Poco a poco (little by little) is all we can ask of ourselves, and little by little I am breaking down the language barrier, growing stronger everyday, and overcoming many obstacles.
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