At the start of May I was asked to move into the colegio (school) in Ushpa-Ushpa to help out in the classes of English. Initially I was a little hesitant given I’m trying to speak as little English as possible and quite frankly, school-age kids kind of scare me! I still remember (with an evil smirk on my face) how horrible I was at age 13 to that new science teacher at my school - I managed convinced the entire class to start ‘crying’ and the teacher that we were all orphans! Kids can be cruel and surely as soon as the kids here know how limited my Spanish is they will have a field day.
So I turned up on my first day determined to be the opposite of what I had been in the guarderia; without smiles, without patience and ready to be stern. This was all thrown out the window when I met the English profesora that I would be helping and she welcomed me with open arms and a big contagious smile! I was introduced to each class and the kids were allowed to ask me anything they wanted as long as it was in English. Phew, this at least cut down the topics significantly and only one of the classes plucked up the courage to ask if I had a boyfriend!
The classes have continued to go well and each day I help out with pronunciation and then assist individual students with their work, I’ve been surprised at how much I can actually help the kids understand with simple probing questions and my level of Spanish. I’ve also spent a lot of time singing as many English songs as I know, who would have thought that ¨Heads, shoulders, knees and toes¨ would be such a hit!
Being in the school has turned out to be really good for my Spanish because I can understand what the students are saying and when they are learning the basics of English it reinforces the basics in my Spanish. The biblioteca (library) also has some cool kids picture books which are great reading practice for my Spanish!
So after my initial hesitancies, no one has been cruel or even close to it. Yes, the younger classes can get pretty loud but kids get told to be quiet enough times in their lives so I won’t be starting that any time soon. It’s been great feeling part of the school community and it never fails to make me smile when I hear the students speaking English with a Kiwi accent!
To contact me directly on my experience so far, and for any further information I could help with, please send an email to sarah.sinnott@gmail.com
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