Changes

My last entry was nearly two months ago. In the weeks that have passed since I last wrote, I have finished the first semester of classes, returned to the United States for a two-week trip home and moved into a new house in Cuenca. I have been in my new home for two weeks. It's great. Often we don't know how uncomfortable a situation we're in is until we're out of it.

There were things I really liked about my first home in Cuenca. The lady who runs the house is great. I got along well with my fellow residents and the location could hardly have been more convenient. On the other hand, I didn't have much privacy and peace and quiet was in short supply. A younger person who loves to stay up late at night and party often would do much better than I did in the boarding house. Two nights before I returned to Minneapolis for my winter break the house hosted a party that lasted until dawn. Although I left the party to go to my room at around midnight, there is no protection from the music blasting away on the lower level. I can't blame the revelers, I was the one who wasn't fit for that house.

I'll miss the lady who ran the house. Sure, I have and will continue to stop by now and then but I won't be able to eat her wonderful Ecuadorian food at every meal and I won't have as many opportunities to sit and chat with her in the kitchen or venture out with her to the market to buy a week's worth of produce for a house of ten hungry residents.

I left Ecuador on a warm and sunny day. It was a Friday so I went to the pool, walked outside under the sun so high in the sky. I met with the knitters and enjoyed their company. I got on a plane that night and three flights later, arrived in Minneapolis the following morning. I exited the airport and the sky was bright blue and there were few clouds in the sky. The temperature was 13 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly sixty degrees difference from Cuenca. I noted how low the sun sat in the sky at noon! It seemed barely above the horizon. After that first day the sun hid behind clouds for practically the entire remainder of my trip.

Seeing family and friends was wonderful. The first couple of days was like a dream, perhaps because of my lack of sleep. Eating my dad and Julie's Christmas cookies at their dining room table was a surreal experience, less than 24 hours before that I'd been in Cuenca. I don't believe I had much time to experience what some people call reverse culture shock. I was thrown back into life in Minnesota. I lived in my dad's house for the first time in 17 years, I drove their SUV to Costco and to the mall. That was odd. I caught a terrible cold and was sick for most of my trip. I tried my best to not hold me back but I knew it would take the Ecuadorian sun (yes, the same sun as in Minnesota, but allow me this device) to bake the cold out of my system.

The first few days were a big rush of Christmas gatherings and celebrations. I saw dozens of family members and friends in just a few days. I shared little snippets of stories from Ecuador, I saw my cat. I shopped or scavenged for things I wanted to bring back to Ecuador and set aside the silly things I brought on my first packing that I would not need upon my return to Ecuador (Coach purse, makeup, flat iron, etc.).

A blizzard in Montreal kept me from seeing my boyfriend for two days. That left me with only 35 hours to be with him. We had a nice time together and were able to work out where we are and what we want. The important thing is that we both still have strong feelings for the other and we're going to remember that. We'll see each other again in six months and in the mean time we're remaining in touch through email and video chats.

In the end, my trip back home was extremely valuable. I was ready to return to the sun, tropical fruit and my adventures by January 5th.

It took three flights and a night in the smallest hotel room I've ever been in (exactly one foot wider than a twin sized bed and not an inch longer). I had to move the suitcase back and forth from the bed to the bathroom depending on which I wanted to use.

Upon arrival in Cuenca I took a taxi to my new home in La Ciudadela Ingenieros Electricos at the corner of Telemaco and Ben-Hur. Every morning I eat oatmeal and drink coffee out on the patio. My bedroom is bright and filled with sunlight and I can smell the night-blooming jasmine growing in the garden. Right on the other side of the wall surrounding the house are pink hibiscus trees where giant hummingbirds fight for territory.

There is a zoo close by and it's a good hike from the house. By good I mean it makes you feel like you accomplished something after climbing the steep hill to the zoo. I went for the first time yesterday morning and a tiny monkey tried to bite a mole on my arm. I told Mom about it, she thinks it was grooming me. I think it was hungry.

The family that lives in the house is generous and friendly. I like living with them. We occupy our own spaces in the house but come together at meals and other times. I'm going to enjoy living here, despite the tarantulas. Yes, there are tarantulas outside in the garden. Sometimes the cat kills them and brings her prizes to the house but yesterday we saw a live one on the patio. I don't think the family has seen me move so fast as when I jumped out of that chair.

I go to Mexico tomorrow for a five-day Fulbright enrichment conference. I'll tell you how it goes!

A teacher's impact on the class

I am in my ninth week of teaching. Because I teach in three-week cycles, I am coming to the end of my third cycle and my third lesson with students. As I have surely mentioned in past postings, I meet with 39 different classes. Perhaps an outsider will say "duh" to this, but it is becoming more clear to me with each class I teach that who is teaching the class really makes a significant difference.

The students have only been in class for about three months so on the one hand, I think, how much difference can their teacher make when these students are coming from all different backgrounds, have different majors, varying past experiences with the English language but I can tell you that each of my 39 classes has its own personality and that more than anything I have to say that their teacher plays a really important role in shaping this class personality or classroom culture.

I teach the same lesson to the 39 classes over the three week period. I start with a week of level 3 students, then a week of level 2 students and finally a long week with the level 1 students. The last week is long because I have the most classes - about four per day - during my week with the level 1 students. It's exhausting (but still fun)! While in general the 3's are better than the 2's and the 2's are better than the 1's, there are plenty of overlap with the students and their individual abilities. I'm not completely sure how they end up in these levels, if it's through testing or simply by taking a year of each level. Anyway, this is not the point I'm trying to make. I bring it up because I've observed that despite the level of class I'm teaching, the differences in abilities, willingness to participate and performance in activities is subtle between the three levels.

What I notice more is kind of the overall attitude of the class, I called it "personality" before. For instance, yesterday I was with a class that got into their groups quickly and quietly and worked almost in silence for the 20 minutes they had for group work. The teacher has them work in groups often, she tells me, and she herself seems to be a quiet and diligent teacher. Another teacher is controlling and is the only one who really pushes me to adjust my lesson plans to conform to what she feels is appropriate. None of the other teachers do that. She's also the one that from the beginning asked me to "follow the book," meaning the text book the students use day to day. Basically that would just make me like a once-in-awhile substitute teacher for her. Lucky for me my faculty adviser does not support this and so I can teach my own lessons. I do make adjustments for this teacher because I want to cooperate and I want her to see me as an asset in the classroom. What I have noticed in this teacher's classroom is dramatically different from other classrooms. These students struggle the most with my lessons. In the last cycle, the students weren't able to answer a question asking the students opinion - even in Spanish! What?

There are teachers who support me in my lessons and encourage the students to participate. The best teachers, in my opinion, are working with groups on one side of the room as I work with groups on the other. These classes tend be noisy (in a good way!!) and active during group work. Their presentations are interesting, fun to listen to, and show a lot of thought. There are other teachers who are more hands-off during my lessons and they stay in the room, usually grading papers or doing other work while I teach. These students work pretty well. Maybe it's that they've been taught to be independent.

There's one teacher that I like, but she kind of barks out orders to her students when they seem shy. I ask for volunteers and she yells threats that if someone doesn't volunteer she's going to start calling out names. These students are like children whose parents say, "I'm going to count to five and if you don't..." and the child doesn't do what the parent wants until they reach number 4 in their count.

If I were to have the same classes everyday I would not be able to observe this. I am really grateful to have the chance to observe how much a teacher's style affects a class of students. It makes me think a lot about what I want from my classes. I want them to be active, independent thinkers who work well with others, who aren't afraid to give wrong answers and who, most of all, aren't hesitant to ask questions. So far that is my favorite thing as a teacher: answering questions! To me it shows a level of trust and interest on the part of the students and it's far too rare for my taste. There is one night class, I think it's in my level 3 group, that asks questions. The teacher for that class is one of my favorites. She's open, relaxed, approachable and happy. No wonder her class feels comfortable asking questions. There's one student who tries to ask provoking questions like after I talked about the origins of Thanksgiving he asked if it wasn't true that the Europeans later slaughtered the American Indians and stole their lands. Great question! Seriously, I get so few questions that I'll take what I can get, even the provoking one. And it really is a good question.

This is not meant to be a criticism of the teachers I work with at the University. I admit that my experience is limited since I've only been with the classes of each teacher a handful of times. I am only aware on the surface of the conditions under which the teachers work. I only write about my impressions and I know in general teaching is a really hard job. We do what we know to do and how we teach is based on our past experiences. I truly think that the teachers are doing what they think is best for their students. My observations are leading me to look more closely at who I am as a teacher and think more deeply about who I want to become as a teacher to do the best job I possibly can to teach my students.

I have only two classes today, both of these teachers are more of the "hands off" variety. It should be a relatively easy afternoon. Chao for now!

Riding the bus

I took the bus alone for the first time today. I rode it twice and I took a taxi by myself. Taxis in Cuenca are a piece of cake compared to buses and I've ridden in them alone before since I've been here.

My first solo bus ride. Is this a sign I'm growing up?

I am a big proponent of public transportation in the developed world. Subway and Metro systems are great and I ride them anytime I'm in a city that's lucky enough to have one. Back at home I am a regular on the bus and I would almost move back to south Minneapolis just to be able to ride the light rail around again. Buses and subways make sense to me in the United States. They run on schedules, their routes are easily viewed in schedules available on the bus, online and in conveniently located transit stores where you can buy bus passes. You know all this, right?

Like everything in Ecuador, the buses here follow unwritten rules that seem subject to change. After two months of observing buses and going on a few rides accompanied with my friends in Ecuador I have come up with a few points that help me make some sense of the bus system in Cuenca. We'll start with the easy ones first:

• The bus costs $0.25. Correct change required. You can pay more and have subsequent riders give you their fare to make change but personally I'd rather just make sure I always have a couple quarters on me.
• Bus drivers want to crush and kill you. Period. That's all. Watch out for buses when crossing on the street, even when standing on a corner fully on the sidewalk at times. They don't slow down, they don't wait for you. They probably get some kind of bonus for hitting foreigners by the way some of them drive. 
• Bus schedules are practically nonexistant. If you ask anyone they will tell you the information center on the Plaza Calderon has copies of the little booklet that has maps for the 20-some bus routes in the city. The truth is the information center has been out of schedules forever. They have one but they don't let it leave the premises. I personally know of only two bus schedule books other than the one at the information center. I have one. I am the third Fulbright grantee to possess this rare booklet and I intend on passing it down to my successor. Buses do not have schedules and there is no transit store as far as I know. 
• Even if you manage to get your hands on a bus schedule booklet, good luck to you. The maps in the book are tiny and streets aren't labeled. Like most things in Ecuador, it is meant for someone who is already familiar with the city. Hand the book to someone who's never been to Cuenca and it'll be useless. I guess now that I've been here for two months I might know my way around enough to get a some use out of it. 
• To Cuenca's credit they do have a transit website that has been the most useful tool for me. The maps are decent. They show the routes if not the stops. Yes, the bus stops only at certain places but you have to either look for the blue bus sign on the street or just look to see where people are standing around flagging down buses. Good luck. 
• I have found that the bus route maps don't fully capture the subtleties of the actual routes the buses follow. Sometimes the line on the map goes straight but the bus makes several turns. Also, I find a map for route 1 online and in my booklet but today the bus I caught was a "1B". What does the B mean? Where does the "A" go? Is there a "1A"? Are there more iterations of the 1 route? So many questions and so few answers. 
• Buses don't run all that late - only until about 7:00 on weekends and not much later during the week. The bus route booklet has the start and end times but I don't believe the website does. How do people know this? There is no schedule, so you can't go down to the corner and pick up the 4:13 bus that'll take you to where you need to go. However, most buses run every 5 - 10 minutes. That information is also in the bus booklet but not on the website. Again, good luck.
• During peak hours buses are packed and the drivers drive more like maniacs than they usually do. Hold on tight and be prepared to get tossed around with the rest of the riders. 
• Getting off the bus takes determination and skill. If the bus is busy, start squeezing yourself towards the back of the bus early. Stand close to the back door, you always enter at the front and exit through the rear door. When the bus is nearing a stop the driver will open the door. He doesn't slow down, mind you, and he doesn't take any more care when careening around corners so keep holding on tight. When the bus does finally come to a stop you have about half a second to alight before it takes off again.

If you have survived the bus ride, congratulations. It's not easy.

Rosita's house (AKA home) is located about 10 minutes from downtown and an easy 25 minute walk to the University. I haven't had to take the bus. Walking is much more pleasant, I get a little exercise and as long as I make time for it, I prefer walking. From now until the end of the month I am house sitting for a family that is visiting relatives in the States. Their house is located too far away for me to walk - at least on a regular basis. I think it would probably take me an hour or so, maybe more to even reach Rosita's house from here. There are two buses whose routes more or less make sense to me and pass by the places I need to go: the university, Rosita's house, and the coffee shop where the knitters meet on Fridays that has the really good chocolate cake. There are many other buses close to this neighborhood but for now I don't care to explore them. I know people who are brave and just jump on any bus to see where it goes. That's direct but not my style. I like to know where I'm going before I embark on my journey. That's why my brother and I have so many problems travelling together. He's more of the "hop on any bus" type. I'm the older one, it makes sense, doesn't it?

I feel I have wasted enough of your time writing about buses. If you come to Cuenca, ride the bus but be on your toes.

Afloat

How long have I sat in front of this screen trying to decide how to start?

We have reached the end of a week that has had periods of fun, sleeplessness, happiness, exhaustion, surprise, sadness, worry, regret, searching, restlessness and finally a little peace.

It was all a bit too much for me to take and while I'm happy to be over it, life goes on and I can only imagine what the future holds.

Last weekend was the Fiestas de Cuenca celebrating Cuenca's independence. I'm unclear on the history and what exactly Cuenca gained its independence from. What I do know is that Cuencanos party like it's 1999 for a good four days straight. Four friends visited me for the celebration. I should say that three are other Fulbright ETAs whom I met when we arrived and the fourth is a new friend that they brought along for the festivities. We spent out days walking from one end of town to the other visiting cathedrals, listening to music and shopping in extensive international markets featuring artisans throughout South America. At night the others went out and danced and I declined invitations to join. I still stayed up far past my normal bedtime although I was waking up at my normal time each morning. On Saturday night the city partied with loud music within a half block of my house until 2:15 in the morning. In my top floor bedroom it sounded like the band was performing on the roof.

My friends returned to their home cities and life began returning to normal. My body revolted against the weekend's change in schedule and I got sick again for a few days. It was miserable. I'm feeling better now that I'm back on a regular schedule. I taught classes to my level one students. They did pretty well and I finally wrapped up the lessons on elections in the United States and Ecuador. I have explained the electoral college system more than a dozen times and know it better than I ever have.

Two days ago without anything tangible changing, I was overcome by an unexpected change. I hope to spare this poor blog and its readers drama and proceed with dignity. I have been released from what has helped ground me for the last four years. The funny thing is that wandering down here around the equator for the past two months, my relationship was held together by infrequent video chats and phone calls. Everyday I thought about the connection I had to the one I love only to be made aware that while I wasn't looking the connection has been severed. It feels like I'm in a little lifeboat tethered to shore on a long rope. I'm bobbing along, looking at the waves, the sun, the clouds, drifting off to nap and then all of a sudden I find the frayed end of the rope floating alongside the boat and I'm in the middle of the sea, no shore in sight.

Oops, too much drama. Sorry about that.

I went for a swim for the first time this week. Between having guests, getting sick and recovering my strength, I haven't been able to go to the pool since last Thursday. In the pool I found my peace and I realize that nothing has changed in the moment and I have no control. All I can do is teach, eat, sleep, talk to friends, write, walk, swim, accept or reject invitations as I see fit, read and live my life here in Ecuador. Time continues to pass and in December I'll see my family and all the people I miss so much. That's only six weeks away and the time will pass quickly, I have no doubt.

For the next three weeks I'll be teaching a lesson on holidays and traditions in Ecuador. Or I should say, I'll be leading a lesson in which my Ecuadorian students will be teaching me about holidays and traditions in this country. I'm looking forward to learning a lot - I learned a lot about elections in Ecuador during the past three weeks.

Lesson 2: Elections

As of last Thursday I made it through my first cycle of classes. Yesterday I started the cycle again, returning to the level three students I met with my first week.

During the third week of teaching it occurred to me that I'd have to start planning the second lesson. As I explained in a previous post, I meet with a total of 39 classes (one was just added yesterday) on a rotating three week cycle. So I teach the same lesson for three weeks and then I change it and teach a new lesson for three weeks. I meet with third level students the first week, then second level students and finally in the third week of the cycle I meet with the first level students. I modify the lesson as needed based on the level of the student. We focus on conversation so it's flexible. One teacher asked me to follow the book more closely but the rest of the teachers have been amenable to letting me plan my own lessons. I agreed to email the teacher who wants me to follow the book a few days before her class to find out if there is specific verb tenses or vocabulary she wants me to work into the lesson. I can do that and she seemed satisfied.

I began planning a lesson on the fifty states. I was flipping through a book the Fulbright Commission provided called, "About the US." It has a lot of worksheets but none that fit the lesson I was working on. I found a list of questions about US elections and it dawned on me that the next few weeks is the best time to talk about elections in the United States. Ecuador has their own elections coming up in February. The night before class I changed all my plans and formulated a new lesson. The worksheet has nine questions ranging from the timing of the election to questions about the electoral college. I came up with nine questions about elections and politics in Ecuador like, "What are advantages and disadvantages of mandatory voting in Ecuador?" and "How can students become involved and influence politics in Ecuador?"

I've taught the lesson twice and I've been making a few tweaks here and there but so far I'm really happy with how it's going. I divide the class into nine groups and give them two questions - one about US elections and one about Ecuadorian elections. I make sure each group understands both the questions. I tell the group the answer to the question about US elections and describe it a little more in depth as needed. I then ask them to discuss the question about Ecuador and come up with an response to present to the group.

We work on this for about 20 minutes then it's presentation time! I call the groups up one by one. They read the US election question and answer. I provide additional background as needed, especially about the electoral college since they use a system based solely on popular votes. Then the students read their question about elections and politics in Ecuador and they give their group's answer. I was really impressed with the thought the students put into their responses yesterday! It worked so much better than just asking the students to participate in open discussion with their peers as I did in the first lesson. Now they are required to produce something to present to me and the rest of the class so they stayed on task a lot better than before.

I have class from 3:00 to 8:00 tonight. I have a minor adjustment to make but I'm basically going to repeat what I did yesterday. I'm not expecting any miracles. Every class is different and I could do the exact same thing in two classes and find it incredibly successful with one group and falling utterly flat with the next.

Teaching is hard work but I'm finding it rewarding. I know this will sound cheesy, but now that I've met all the students it's so fun to see them the second time around, smile at them and see them smile back! A few of them, the engineering students in particular, still seem a little nervous around me but I'm working to let them know they can relax around me, be themselves and have fun - as long as they're doing it in English!

Room for rent, foreigner wanted

Do you remember the foreign exchange students in your school? They were a little on the strange side, dressed differently, maybe they had a weird haircut, smelled a little funny, perhaps walked around quietly with a wide-eyed look on their face looking slightly confused?

Well, that's me. Here I am. At 5'9", or 175 cm, I tower over the people around me. My giant head, covered with my thick "blond" hair floats above crowds like a flag that shouts, "giant foreign woman here!" Sounds like fun? Not always.

In the house the young students have accepted me as their friend the gentle giant. However, I'm at least 10 years older than the rest; I could have children of my own who are the age of several of them if I were into teen pregnancy. I leave parties early (1:15 am is about as much as I can handle), I don't eat meat and I'm clumsily learning the local slang.

The kids took me to visit a nearby town on Sunday; we had a good time. I enjoy trying new things and I think they like being the ones introducing me to different foods, explaining what words on menu mean (trust me, every unfamiliar word on a menu is just another word for a form of meat). I don't have any close Ecuadorian friends yet and don't worry, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I accept this. However, I'm open to being pleasantly surprised.

Yesterday as I walked home a man struck up a friendly conversation. He was the typical Ecuadorian man who feels it's appropriate to talk to me on the street: middle aged, short and chunky. I made the mistake of politely responding to his questions of where I'm from and what am I doing here. I got extremely uncomfortable when he followed me to the door of my house and asked for my phone number. I explained that I don't give out my phone number and he insisted he only wanted "English lessons." He persisted and I squirmed and tried to tell him that I only teach at the university and that I'm very busy with classes. Suddenly the door opened to my house as one of the students was exiting. That provided the perfect distraction as I warmly greeted the student and ran inside. It wasn't exactly graceful but it was effective.

I told Rosita about the encounter just in case he comes around looking for me. She told me about persistent men who asked her about Emilie and she informed them that if Emilie were interested she would have given them her phone number and that she wasn't going to share any of Emilie's personal information. Whew!

Rosita has two vacant rooms now that Emilie has returned to the US and another resident moved out earlier this month. I asked her if other girls were moving in and she told me she is hoping to find foreign people like me to move in. I don't know any who are looking for a place to stay I was sorry to tell her. It made me feel appreciated. I really like Rosita, she uses terms of endearment like "mi reina" or "mi cielo" (my queen or my sky/heaven), she prepares special vegetarian dishes for me, she tells me my room needs dusting, she lets me use the washing machine for free while she charges the other residents (ssh, don't tell anyone!) and she lets me hang out with her in the warm kitchen while she's cooking dinner when it's cold at night.

For my part I pay rent on time, I stay out of her way when she's busy, I clear my dishes, I keep my things in my room and my room is tidy (if not dusted) and I chat with her now and then. I feel at home here and Rosita is more of a host mother than a landlady.

So, if any of you foreigners out there need a room to rent, Rosita has a couple available. :)

First weeks of teaching

I started teaching last week! I was so excited and nervous about my first class. I had all sorts of thoughts about how the class would go, I planned out a lesson and went over it in my head dozens of times.

The first day of classes didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I felt discouraged, the students seemed confused about what I was doing and I wasn't getting the level of participation that I wanted. I talked to the other ETA and she said she had a similar experience with the students when they first met her and started working with her. For the second day of classes I simplified a few things and lowered my expectations. The second day was much better.

This is what I have learned in my first two weeks of teaching:

• Speak slowly and emphasize words that I know are cognates to help the students understand.
• Ask the teacher to encourage student participation. Some teachers sit in the back of the room and work on their lessons, some leave the room when I'm teaching and others participate in my activities or push their students to join in. The latter group are my favorites. 
• Maintain a positive attitude and smile as much as possible - even if my face starts to hurt after four hours of class.
• Students often have the same schedules as other students in their major. For example, juniors studying Economics might be part of a small group of students who they have the exact same classes all day everyday. They sit together in class and are usually extremely reticent to move around and talk to other students. I have to be creative to get classes to mix more.
• Students will revert to Spanish if not under my or their teacher's direct supervision. 
• The people around here really like eating guinea pigs and potatoes.

I have been teaching the same lesson for two weeks now and will be modifying it slightly next week for the first year English students. I think the only modification I'll do is to deliver my introduction and instructions for each section in both English and Spanish. This is what I do in my lesson:

1. Introduce myself. I talk about the Minnesota and Minneapolis. I tell them about the current weather and explain that because of the often changing weather, Minnesotans are obsessed with the weather. I tell them about similarities between Minneapolis and Cuenca: rivers traverse both cities, they both are home to many beautiful parks and interesting museums. I talk about my education, my background with Spanish to explain that practice is the best way to learn a language, and a little bit about the Fulbright Program. 
2. Three questions for Rose. I allow the students to ask me any three questions. I first experienced this at a school in Minneapolis with middle school students. They all wanted to know what my favorite Justin Bieber song is. The Ecuadorian students asked me the same three questions in the first week - how old are you, are you married and do you like Cuenca? So this week I told them the answers to the top three questions right off the bat and asked them to come up with new questions. I was really happy I did this, now many of the questions are more interesting. Students have asked me about geography, politics, and why I like teaching. 
3. Question of the day: What do you like about Cuenca? Next I ask each student individually to tell me what they like about Cuenca. This helps me connect briefly with each of the students. I hope it also helps the students relax and not find me to be such a scary giant. I'm still a giant but maybe a friendly one. Cuencanos are proud of their parks, the rivers and the history and architecture of the city. This is how I learned that they also really like eating guinea pigs with potatoes. One man told me, "I like to eat the guinea pigs and I like the womans in Cuenca." Since then a few other male students have told me they like the girls around here. This morning for the first time a woman told me she likes the boys. I like the honesty! In two weeks and after asking this question to over 400 students, only two have told me they don't like Cuenca. One was a young man sitting at the back of class wearing sunglasses at 7:00 in the morning. He thinks Cuenca is boring.Oh well, to each his own.
4. Conversation activity. As a class we brainstorm questions that one asks when meeting a person for the first time. The questions the classes come up are usually the same, "what do you like to do in your free time?" "how old are you?" etc. Rarely a student will throw in a different question like, "what kind of clothes do you like to wear?" or "do you like to ride on a motorcycle?" but after teaching the same class 20 times, I love the unusual questions. Once we have a list of at least ten questions we practice them. This is the tough part - getting students to get up and talk to people outside of their little groups. I tell them to have a 3-4 minute conversation with at least five different people but that's only successful when I have teacher support. I circulate the room and try to talk to most of the students. I ask questions from our list but always try to throw in a few others. I ask about brothers and sisters and what they always struggle with is when I ask if their siblings are older or younger. I tell them that it's okay to have to ask what that means. Sometimes we're conversing in a group and I'll ask other students to help the student who is struggling. If all else fails, I tell them the words in Spanish.

So that's my class! I have one more week of teaching this lesson and as I said, it will be to level one students so I'll work in more Spanish. We'll see how it goes. For the following week I'll be back with the level threes and I'll start a new lesson. I have some ideas but I'm keeping an open mind in case it flops. 

Teaching here is a challenge and it's tiring! I have so many students and I talk from start to finish in all of the classes. Talking for four hours a day is something to get used to for me. Even though I spend only a few minutes at the start of class talking to the whole group, I spend the rest of it talking to individuals and small groups, trying to engage them in a conversation. 

Teaching is fun, though. I love hearing about the students' families, their interests and overall I'm impressed with their abilities! I met a woman who prepares breakfast early in the morning for her family, gets them off to school or work, goes to school herself, returns home to fix lunch for her family, goes to work in the afternoon, prepares dinner in the evening and then spends much of the night caring for her mother who has Parkinson's disease and often wakes up three or four times in the night. Today I talked to a woman who is married and has a daughter studying medicine at the same university! No surprise, I have a special place in my heart for these impressive multitasking "non-traditional" students.

Well, I'm done with teaching now and have a few free days until I'm back at the university at 7:00 am on Monday!