I like most parts of the English teacher gig, mostly because it is so different from my old lifestyle as a teacher, always in one place, same schedule everyday, no time to ever go out and do anything during the day except for the occasional Friday race to order and eat a Jimmy Johns sub and be back at school in 50 minutes.
Here I have the opposite problem, sometimes I have so much time to kill in between things that I wish I could stay in one place. It's not really worth it to take the metro home in the late afternoon because that would just mean having to take it again at the busiest time of day in order to get to my night class. I usually end up with about 2-3 hours to kill depending on if it's a day that I meet with my private student at 6:30. Sometimes I'm gone for 12+ hours and realize that I've only been teaching for about 4 of them, but it really comes down to what time and how far away your classes are. I think most English teachers must be master time killers, knowing exactly what coffee shop is where, how good the wifi is, and exactly how long it will take to walk or ride from Point A to Point B.
Here are some of the ways I have been killing my time:
1. Starbucks
Pretty much the only place with soy milk, so bring on the wifi, lattes, and comfortable chairs. I'm pretty sure I've spent more money at Starbucks here than I ever did back home.
2. Journaling
I've actually filled up 2 whole notebooks since I've been here, not bad.
3. Itouch surfing
See number 1
4. Lesson Planning
Sometimes...
5. Eating lunch at 4:30
Too early to eat lunch before I leave the house and by the time I get to my next stop it´s around 4:30. I eat the lunch/dinner combo and then have a late night oatmeal with apples snack. Nothing wrong with just moving the foods around to different times of day, and grabbing lunch somewhere is a great way to kill at least an hour and have a place to sit for awhile.
6. Walking an extra couple of metro stops when it's nice out
I love walking, but when I'm weighed down with a lot of books it makes it a little less enjoyable. The best part is the people watching, I can't get enough.
7. Reading the magazines from El Mecurio
Some days I try to listen to my own teacherly advice...to keep improving at a language, spend some time reading to help learn new vocabulary.
8. Yoga
I'm lucky enough that my yoga place is within walking or biking distance from my house. Walk to class, hop on the metro for the day, and off I go, or sometimes the reverse plan is also true.
Regardless of what I'm doing, sometimes it's just better to be out and about rather then hanging out in the casita!
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Who's the teacher here?
On Friday I had my first "intercambio" with the husband of one of my business students. She had mentioned to me that has was looking for some English lessons, and since I was also in search of some language improvement myself, in the end we decided the best way to approach the situation would be with a language exchange. He completed his masters degree in the US several years ago and was looking to brush up, and I was looking for someone to help me in a more academic capacity, and who better to do that than a college professor himself.
I'm looking at several job opportunities in the US that would require me to have a formal language evaluation, and where I need to improve my skills is discussing more academic topics at length. I haven't had formal practice with this for years, and although you can often practice this naturally in social situations, I tend to be more of a listener in large groups of Spanish speakers and haven't yet reached the comfort zone where I jump in to give extended length opinions on social or political topics.
What's also important is that my partner knows "correct" Spanish, so he has already helped me a lot with little suggestions to tune a few things up, knowing that my ultimate goal isn't to learn Chilean Spanish, but to use "proper" Spanish in a more academic context.
He also gave me a lot of homework, I have to give a presentation the next time I see him, something about how we attribute archeological studies to the value of a culture. He doesn't mess around, and while I speak he writes things down in his little notebook to give me feedback.
So much for meeting at a cafe to drink coffee and chat, my teacher is strict!
I'm looking at several job opportunities in the US that would require me to have a formal language evaluation, and where I need to improve my skills is discussing more academic topics at length. I haven't had formal practice with this for years, and although you can often practice this naturally in social situations, I tend to be more of a listener in large groups of Spanish speakers and haven't yet reached the comfort zone where I jump in to give extended length opinions on social or political topics.
What's also important is that my partner knows "correct" Spanish, so he has already helped me a lot with little suggestions to tune a few things up, knowing that my ultimate goal isn't to learn Chilean Spanish, but to use "proper" Spanish in a more academic context.
He also gave me a lot of homework, I have to give a presentation the next time I see him, something about how we attribute archeological studies to the value of a culture. He doesn't mess around, and while I speak he writes things down in his little notebook to give me feedback.
So much for meeting at a cafe to drink coffee and chat, my teacher is strict!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Nothing to report
It's April 11th already and I realized that I hadn't yet posted anything this month. Forgive my lack of inspiration lately, but for now I'm back to working, and to be honest, things are still pretty slow so I'm not doing a whole lot of that either. Of 4 possible private students, only one of them materialized so maybe that means that going to a lot of yoga classes and looking for jobs in the USA is what I'm supposed to be doing right now, or sleeping!?! I'm making the most of it since my karmic payback will surely be a stressful job and I'll be able to look back and remember all of the relaxing and yoga I did while I was in Chile.
I'm fortunate that I work mostly at night and the only morning that I have to get up really early is Saturday, (weird, huh?) but it actually coincides really well with our lack of time change. The government pushed it back again another month to save energy so it's really dark in the morning. When I leave at 7:45 on Saturday morning for class it's barely light enough for me to ride my bike. The trade off is that it still feels kind of like summer since it's still pretty light at night. It's so refreshing to open weather.com and still see sun and 75 degree predictions in the 10-day forecast. I'll take it!
I'm fortunate that I work mostly at night and the only morning that I have to get up really early is Saturday, (weird, huh?) but it actually coincides really well with our lack of time change. The government pushed it back again another month to save energy so it's really dark in the morning. When I leave at 7:45 on Saturday morning for class it's barely light enough for me to ride my bike. The trade off is that it still feels kind of like summer since it's still pretty light at night. It's so refreshing to open weather.com and still see sun and 75 degree predictions in the 10-day forecast. I'll take it!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Changes and going with the flow
Do you ever stop and think about how life seems to be going perfectly in one direction and then suddenly out of nowhere something pops up to take you somewhere completely new?
It happens on a small scale, like when I leave the institute thinking that I'm going to go and do one thing, and then suddenly I bump into a friend and end up at happy hour, and it also happens with the big things, a conversation in passing that sparks an idea that takes you off to a completely new place, either physically or mentally...
A fleeting thought about the beauty and grandeur of the Great Wall of China and a week a later appears a grant opportunity for foreign language teachers. Coincidence, or destiny? The trip to China somehow leads to me living in South America, and here I am looking at the next "next step"...
That's exactly what they are, steps to something bigger and better if we allow them to be. If we knew what was ahead, would we ever take the small steps? If someone told me that this move to Chile would result in me going back to the USA to leave my old teaching job and look for another job would I just opt to skip the Chile part and make only one change instead of two? Sometimes we prefer the easiest course of action, but isn't that where we'd miss the learning?
I want to emphasize that I would classify my time here in Chile as exactly that, a learning experience. Yes, I've traveled and shared lots of photos with you here on this blog, but I can assure you that when I look back on this experience I'll remember more about all the things that I learned, both big and small. Yes, I came to Santiago to gain English teaching experience and to put my Spanish into a more practical context, and in the meantime I learned about a new culture and embarrassed myself a few times in the process. I didn't write much about my daily frustrations on this blog because I try to focus on the bigger things and frankly with everything that's going on in the world I don't think my minor setbacks would always be very well-received.
It is appropriate to share, however, that my experience here isn't about how many people cut me in line or stared at me or grinned when I opened my mouth and actual Spanish came out. I've tried to take a better look at myself and how I react in these moments and also keep in mind that there are plenty of crappy people in my own country. When you move to a different country you realize very quickly that the easiest course of action is not to try to change or be bothered by how everyone else does things. The best way to assimilate is to get with the program and quickly set your own expectations aside. At the end of the day it boils down to how we adjust, grow, and internalize these little changes that we've made and put them into practice when the next opportunity for change appears in our lives. For me, patience and acceptance are two big things that I hope to be able to take with me when I go.
It happens on a small scale, like when I leave the institute thinking that I'm going to go and do one thing, and then suddenly I bump into a friend and end up at happy hour, and it also happens with the big things, a conversation in passing that sparks an idea that takes you off to a completely new place, either physically or mentally...
A fleeting thought about the beauty and grandeur of the Great Wall of China and a week a later appears a grant opportunity for foreign language teachers. Coincidence, or destiny? The trip to China somehow leads to me living in South America, and here I am looking at the next "next step"...
That's exactly what they are, steps to something bigger and better if we allow them to be. If we knew what was ahead, would we ever take the small steps? If someone told me that this move to Chile would result in me going back to the USA to leave my old teaching job and look for another job would I just opt to skip the Chile part and make only one change instead of two? Sometimes we prefer the easiest course of action, but isn't that where we'd miss the learning?
I want to emphasize that I would classify my time here in Chile as exactly that, a learning experience. Yes, I've traveled and shared lots of photos with you here on this blog, but I can assure you that when I look back on this experience I'll remember more about all the things that I learned, both big and small. Yes, I came to Santiago to gain English teaching experience and to put my Spanish into a more practical context, and in the meantime I learned about a new culture and embarrassed myself a few times in the process. I didn't write much about my daily frustrations on this blog because I try to focus on the bigger things and frankly with everything that's going on in the world I don't think my minor setbacks would always be very well-received.
It is appropriate to share, however, that my experience here isn't about how many people cut me in line or stared at me or grinned when I opened my mouth and actual Spanish came out. I've tried to take a better look at myself and how I react in these moments and also keep in mind that there are plenty of crappy people in my own country. When you move to a different country you realize very quickly that the easiest course of action is not to try to change or be bothered by how everyone else does things. The best way to assimilate is to get with the program and quickly set your own expectations aside. At the end of the day it boils down to how we adjust, grow, and internalize these little changes that we've made and put them into practice when the next opportunity for change appears in our lives. For me, patience and acceptance are two big things that I hope to be able to take with me when I go.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
In Between Days
I'm think I'm caught in that stage of thinking that I should feel like I'm not that busy but I seem to fill every day doing something. Or maybe that's just life as an adult...Every time I look ahead and think to myself, hm, I'll have so much time when this class ends, it seems like something else always comes up to keep me busy. This includes my brilliant decision to do an online TEFL course during my busiest time at the institute and right before I had multiple sets of guests coming to visit me. Some days I feel like my blog is also a looming homework assignment. It's always on the to-do list and only get checked off if the stars are properly aligned. It can't happen when I'm uninspired or too tired, and let's face it, some days I just live here and have nothing else to say about it.
When I'm not busy with any of the aforementioned stuff, I've been pretty disciplined about keeping up with the yoga 3 times a week. I guess when you add in the 25 minutes on bike each way and a 90 minute class, that does add an extra chunk of time, and it's necessary since I'm still not exercising as much as I used to, and I'm convinced that although the temperatures outside say summer, my body still thinks it's winter. I still drink tea at night like I do all winter at home, I haven't jumped into the ice cream frenzy that is present in Santiago, and I still seem to be holding onto some extra carbs in the midsection. Sounds like a winter body to me...Confusion also sets in when I hear little kids running around and making outside late and night and wonder what the heck they're still doing up at 11:00 pm, and then I remember that they're on summer vacation and I'm in Santiago where everything happens later.
But enough about that, maybe some of you teachers are interested in how we institute teachers actually get vacation around here...???
I ended up with a class until December 30th, the closest to the holidays I have ever worked in my life! We did get the 24th and the 31st as vacation days, and because both Christmas and New Year's both fell on a weekend it seemed like we got a lot more vacation than that. This week Monday and Tuesday I had to put in some hours at the institute giving speaking evaluations to potential new students, but today I was lucky enough to escape and have a free day to wrap up some loose ends, plan some things for my Mom and Jim's visit, and start planning for my 2 summer classes that begin tomorrow.
Things work-wise are obviously pretty slow during the summer months, so I'm happy to report that I'll only be working in the mornings and I actually share my two classes with another teacher. (MWF one class and TR the other) No more running around to 3 very different sides of the city each day, and part-time summer hours are better than no summer hours at all. According to my friend R, as a teacher here in the summer months all you do is "lay around and read books and put on lotion." She is absolutely right, spray SPF 45 is my new best friend. The good news is that if you use my friend M's hair as a gauge, it's not actually as dry here as I originally thought. She straightens it every day and there was some definite wave present when she was here visiting me.
Cheers to my friends back home who are starting Semester 2 of the school year tomorrow, the same day that I'm starting summer school. :)
When I'm not busy with any of the aforementioned stuff, I've been pretty disciplined about keeping up with the yoga 3 times a week. I guess when you add in the 25 minutes on bike each way and a 90 minute class, that does add an extra chunk of time, and it's necessary since I'm still not exercising as much as I used to, and I'm convinced that although the temperatures outside say summer, my body still thinks it's winter. I still drink tea at night like I do all winter at home, I haven't jumped into the ice cream frenzy that is present in Santiago, and I still seem to be holding onto some extra carbs in the midsection. Sounds like a winter body to me...Confusion also sets in when I hear little kids running around and making outside late and night and wonder what the heck they're still doing up at 11:00 pm, and then I remember that they're on summer vacation and I'm in Santiago where everything happens later.
But enough about that, maybe some of you teachers are interested in how we institute teachers actually get vacation around here...???
I ended up with a class until December 30th, the closest to the holidays I have ever worked in my life! We did get the 24th and the 31st as vacation days, and because both Christmas and New Year's both fell on a weekend it seemed like we got a lot more vacation than that. This week Monday and Tuesday I had to put in some hours at the institute giving speaking evaluations to potential new students, but today I was lucky enough to escape and have a free day to wrap up some loose ends, plan some things for my Mom and Jim's visit, and start planning for my 2 summer classes that begin tomorrow.
Things work-wise are obviously pretty slow during the summer months, so I'm happy to report that I'll only be working in the mornings and I actually share my two classes with another teacher. (MWF one class and TR the other) No more running around to 3 very different sides of the city each day, and part-time summer hours are better than no summer hours at all. According to my friend R, as a teacher here in the summer months all you do is "lay around and read books and put on lotion." She is absolutely right, spray SPF 45 is my new best friend. The good news is that if you use my friend M's hair as a gauge, it's not actually as dry here as I originally thought. She straightens it every day and there was some definite wave present when she was here visiting me.
Cheers to my friends back home who are starting Semester 2 of the school year tomorrow, the same day that I'm starting summer school. :)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Teaching Here 'n There, Part II
Today I'm fortunate enough to begin two new classes with students that I had already taught during the last session. I feel very lucky, first because I didn't wake-up with those first day jitters from having to walk into a classroom of people that you don't know, and second because these students requested to have me continue as their teacher into the next course. I think that the level of comfort that students feel in a classroom is really relevant in their learning process, and what I enjoy most about these two classes is how much the students like and respect one another. The group dynamic is positive and fun, and I am just lucky enough to have been assigned to them in the first place.
Teaching adults is something that I'd never done before, so it's been nice not only to have adult classes, but to also to have the experience of teaching classes away from a school or from the institute. For example, I just started teaching a new class of 3 students that meets in the corporate office of a business here in Santiago. One of the negatives that I had sometimes felt about teaching in a high school was the monotony. I envied my friends who had different schedules everyday or meetings that would take them out of the office. Although commuting at the height of the day isn't my favorite thing to do, the positive side is that it gets me out and about in my new city and puts me in contact with new adults in different occupations and job settings.
Another big difference to note is the amount of class time that I spend here with my teen students. At home I was teaching them for 50 minutes a day for 180 days. Here my teen classes only meet once a week for 3 hours for about 4 months. Although I started with them in mid-August, it seems like we really only got to know one another within the last several weeks. It's a lot more difficult to establish that rapport with kids that you only see one day a week instead of 5. It's also very challenging to plan a lesson for that long of a time period. I was accustomed to doing at least 3 activities with my teenagers at home during a 50 minute time period, so having a successful 3 hour class here requires a really tight lesson plan with an even greater variety of activities. I've already become so used to teaching classes of 80-240 minutes that I think going back to the 50 minute schedule will seem way too short!
Teaching adults is something that I'd never done before, so it's been nice not only to have adult classes, but to also to have the experience of teaching classes away from a school or from the institute. For example, I just started teaching a new class of 3 students that meets in the corporate office of a business here in Santiago. One of the negatives that I had sometimes felt about teaching in a high school was the monotony. I envied my friends who had different schedules everyday or meetings that would take them out of the office. Although commuting at the height of the day isn't my favorite thing to do, the positive side is that it gets me out and about in my new city and puts me in contact with new adults in different occupations and job settings.
Another big difference to note is the amount of class time that I spend here with my teen students. At home I was teaching them for 50 minutes a day for 180 days. Here my teen classes only meet once a week for 3 hours for about 4 months. Although I started with them in mid-August, it seems like we really only got to know one another within the last several weeks. It's a lot more difficult to establish that rapport with kids that you only see one day a week instead of 5. It's also very challenging to plan a lesson for that long of a time period. I was accustomed to doing at least 3 activities with my teenagers at home during a 50 minute time period, so having a successful 3 hour class here requires a really tight lesson plan with an even greater variety of activities. I've already become so used to teaching classes of 80-240 minutes that I think going back to the 50 minute schedule will seem way too short!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Minor Issues
Earlier I wrote about the positive things that were making my adjustment to life in Chile a lot easier. Now that I've been here a little over a month, I think it's fair to mention some of the things that have made my transition here a little more difficult. Overall, I think I was more than prepared for my stay here thanks to the wealth of information made available by all of the bloggers in Chile!
1. Smog
I still do a double take some days when I gaze out at the Andes at how close they are to the city. It's a shame that they are blanketed in a cloudy layer of smog. My contact lenses and my complexion can also attest to the fact that this is no exaggeration. I'm already 2/3 of the way though a bottle of contact re-wetting drops and my skin hasn't looked this bad since I was 19.
2. Homeless animals
If you have pets or love animals, it's just difficult to get used to seeing the animals out there fending for themselves, especially when I think about my kitty back home all nice and warm cuddled up on the dog's bed.
3. Food
There will be a separate post about this, but I made the mistake of going to the supermarket hungry the first few times that I went, not realizing that I was going to have to be a lot more prepared if I wanted to survive here. No more grabbing a box of Morningstar Farm, a container of hummus, and a bag of baby carrots to have on hand. Time to start soaking those beans and scrubbing the carrots...
4. The Metro
Don't get me wrong, I wanted to live in a "modern" city with access to good public transportation, but the life of an English teacher takes you out and about a lot, and by the 4th time on the subway in the same day, both my wallet and my personal space are wishing for an alternate form of transportation, which is why I'm currently searching for a used bike.
5. Staring at the tall gringa
It takes awhile to get used to the fact that at any given time you can look up and make eye contact with 5 people who happen to be looking at you. I think every gringo/a has a feature that gives them away, and for me it's my height. It's kind of creepy sometimes, but I'm beginning to adjust to the fact that I'm pretty damn tall in this city and people are going to look at me. Remember my nickname, girafa? :)
6. Teaching resources
I'm a teacher by trade and was fortunate enough to work at a school with many great resources and excellent technology. It's been a bit more difficult planning lessons when some days it's just downright challenging to find paper to make 8 copies. Paper is really expensive here, so I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my one whiteboard marker.
7. Having to be on guard all of the time
Before I moved here I was living in a town where I could accidentally leave my garage door open overnight and wake up the next morning and say "oops, it's a good thing I live where I do!" Now I walk around like every single person on the street or on the metro is trying to get their hand into my purse. Maybe I'm a little over cautious, but better safe than sorry I guess.
Overall, I feel like each week I'm able to mark a certain milestone and feel more comfortable about my situation. It's all about putting yourself out there and learning new things!
1. Smog
I still do a double take some days when I gaze out at the Andes at how close they are to the city. It's a shame that they are blanketed in a cloudy layer of smog. My contact lenses and my complexion can also attest to the fact that this is no exaggeration. I'm already 2/3 of the way though a bottle of contact re-wetting drops and my skin hasn't looked this bad since I was 19.
2. Homeless animals
If you have pets or love animals, it's just difficult to get used to seeing the animals out there fending for themselves, especially when I think about my kitty back home all nice and warm cuddled up on the dog's bed.
3. Food
There will be a separate post about this, but I made the mistake of going to the supermarket hungry the first few times that I went, not realizing that I was going to have to be a lot more prepared if I wanted to survive here. No more grabbing a box of Morningstar Farm, a container of hummus, and a bag of baby carrots to have on hand. Time to start soaking those beans and scrubbing the carrots...
4. The Metro
Don't get me wrong, I wanted to live in a "modern" city with access to good public transportation, but the life of an English teacher takes you out and about a lot, and by the 4th time on the subway in the same day, both my wallet and my personal space are wishing for an alternate form of transportation, which is why I'm currently searching for a used bike.
5. Staring at the tall gringa
It takes awhile to get used to the fact that at any given time you can look up and make eye contact with 5 people who happen to be looking at you. I think every gringo/a has a feature that gives them away, and for me it's my height. It's kind of creepy sometimes, but I'm beginning to adjust to the fact that I'm pretty damn tall in this city and people are going to look at me. Remember my nickname, girafa? :)
6. Teaching resources
I'm a teacher by trade and was fortunate enough to work at a school with many great resources and excellent technology. It's been a bit more difficult planning lessons when some days it's just downright challenging to find paper to make 8 copies. Paper is really expensive here, so I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my one whiteboard marker.
7. Having to be on guard all of the time
Before I moved here I was living in a town where I could accidentally leave my garage door open overnight and wake up the next morning and say "oops, it's a good thing I live where I do!" Now I walk around like every single person on the street or on the metro is trying to get their hand into my purse. Maybe I'm a little over cautious, but better safe than sorry I guess.
Overall, I feel like each week I'm able to mark a certain milestone and feel more comfortable about my situation. It's all about putting yourself out there and learning new things!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
First Post from Chile
I’m sure this will be a really random post just by the nature of my activities over the first 48 hours of my time in Santiago. First, I’m at a hostel with other participants from Teaching Chile, so imagine a tiny little room with the majority of us being female and having approximately 4 bags each! Second, I had only been here one day and had to attend an orientation at my institute for my classes which begin on MONDAY! Yikes, I haven’t even had a chance to sit down and write a lesson yet for my Monday class, which thankfully isn’t until Monday evening, and I still have to make a trip down to pick up materials for my Tuesday/Thursday class, which I still won’t have time to do until Monday morning. Tomorrow, hopefully I will get the heck out of this hostel since 3 nights will definitely be my limit here. Thankfully I have met some really cool people and two of them happen to have birthdays this weekend so we plan to go out tonight to do a bit of celebrating! So far I am enjoying the city and trying to find my way around and get used to the subway lines so I don’t do something stupid and end up being really late for a class. It’s a great city, and the weather has warmed up quite a bit since my arrival. It’ll be nice to get a little clearer view of the Andes at some point and hopefully see less of the smog blanket. I’ve already eaten a great Peruvian meal and tried an empanada de choclo. Keep your fingers crossed that I move into my casita tomorrow, get unpacked, and write a good lesson plan!
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