Getting Started Teaching

One day at my language school, the Casa de Cultura, I was explaining to the teachers how I hoped to spend my time in León teaching English to children at a local school. And they were kinda like: ¨Wait, we want to learn how to speak English. Teach us too!¨








So we started some classes. I met with a group of the teachers every day in the afternoon for an hour before our activity. It´s just a few of the teachers--sometimes only two can make it, sometimes I have a group of six or so. We´ve started from the basics, and are working our way forward one at a time. I find my new students to be extremely eager and dedicated. They are young women and men in their 20s, and they live with their families. Some have children, some aren´t married. In some cases, they are the only ones in their family earning an income. In all cases, their income is essential to the survival of their family. So it is a huge asset for them if they can pick up some English.

Of course, teaching English in this way has many benefits for me as well. I am teaching an English class, but I am teaching it in Spanish. And it´s really good practice for me to stand there and figure out how to explain things in español. More importantly still, these English classes have allowed me to get closer to my students (who are also my Spanish teachers), to start to build some friendships here. That´s something I desperately want here.












We´ve been doing this for two weeks now, and we´re making some progress. I´m really enjoying it.