Update the Resume!

I am now an official graduate of the Bridge Linguatec TEFL training course, with a pass excellent, I might add, so now I've got to update the resume and start finding some Porteños to instruct! (Wow, I just realized that on this keyboard the ñ is its own key. Cool!) Anyway yesterday was fun, we had a little party and some of our students came back to hang out, then we headed out early and I went to my very first set of classes! I am going to be teaching Fridays at the New England School in Belgrano from 5-8. I have three 1 hour classes in a row with teens from age 14 - 16, I think. They were all really fun, and the classes get progressively more advanced, so that´s a really nice setup. The hard thing is that it's on a Friday, so they are really ready to go by the end, but they are really interesting and fun to talk to, and I get to be a bit more conversational that I do with the little guys. They are roughly intermediate to high intermediate, but they really need help with pronunciation. That is SO hard for them. I made them do the "d" sound, and say "world" a bunch of times, so that I could hear the r and l and d when they were saying it, and that was really hard for them. However, they challenge me with questions like "What you just said, was that in the past perfect and is that verb an irregular?" And I usually yesterday would just say "Um, yup!" So it should be fun. I make 36 pesos per week doing that, so I need more work and am looking this week. I tried emailing but almost none of the emails went through, so I am going to have to call, and of course, as it always happens, I have lost my voice! Not much good for making calls! So I am trying to rest it for a couple of days and make the calls Monday. And today Ian and I are moving into our new place, so that should be great. I will put up the pictures of the last day and of our new place soon, but until then I will leave you with my reflection/testimonial about my time at Bridge. (Totally corny, but it's what they want for the website and all that...)

I took this course to build my skills in working with language learners. As a teacher, every year I see an increasing number of people come to the U.S. speaking English as a second language. I believe there is a need to understand the challenges they face both with the language and with the culture. By educating ourselves about the needs of these learners we can better reach them and teach them the skills they will need to be successful in school, but more importantly, in their everyday lives. I have come to Buenos Aires to experience the culture, immerse myself in the language, and learn how to work with the people who want to learn English. I have taken the course to obtain a certificate, but I will of course walk away with much more. I have made friends, improved my teaching, and gained new understandings about this part of South America. Bridge was the catalyst that inspired me to save, plan for and undergo a year of adventure. At first it was an excuse to come down, and now it’s the reason to stay.