I'll admit that assessing my own contributions is something I've always found difficult. As I mentioned in “about me” my goal is to always look for what I could do better, which sometimes makes it hard to recognize what I've done well. I do believe that I have helped the students improve their English by helping them become more comfortable practicing with me. Many students were hesitant to speak with me at first, until they got to know me a little, and, now, the seem to feel at ease when speaking with me which results in them wanting to practice their English more with me. I have had the opportunity to plan lessons and activities to help the students understand concepts and ideas in various classes and have offered different ways of explain these concepts to facilitate their understanding without needing a peer to translate for them. Through individual and small-group work I have seen their confidence in using English to express themselves grow. And I have tried to expose them to different teaching styles in order to help them find a learning method that works best for them.
In addition, I have helped to promote, and encourage students to participate in, school or course-wide activities. I have helped on class field trips and encouraged the students to use English outside of the classroom. Finally, I have encouraged students to talk with me outside of our classes to practice everyday conversation and have been pleased to watch them become more comfortable with this, and even be the ones to initiate such conversations.
Highlights of this programme
As always for me, the best part of this experience has been the children: watching their confidence using and understanding English improve; seeing that moment when they finally understand some concept after having changed how I explained it to them; and having rim become more comfortable speaking with me and practice their English on various subjects. The second best part of this opportunity has been the learning/growth I have seen in myself: from learning different ways to express myself (due to improving Spanish as my own second language) to experiencing different ideas and cultures. This part involves learning more about teaching in a classroom setting, but also through opportunities out of school such as being able to travel and learn to use Spanish a second language. And I hope I have been able to pass some of that learning and interest on to the students.
What I know for sure is that I came here unsure if I wanted to be a teacher. I had enjoyed teaching swimming, but thought that this would be very different. But I truly believe that what I learned teaching swimming helped me in a classroom setting as well, I just had to learn to adapt it to being a teacher out of water. I believe that this experience has helped me to define and clarify my future goals; for the first time, I feel like I have a goal/direction in life, I can actually see myself being a teacher.
