I am so glad to be part of an effort to guide these amazing kids in the right direction.
I have been working with the K-6 students at I. E. Antonio Torres Araujo in Trujillo for the past two and a half weeks through Vive Peru’s English teaching program. With Lauren, the other English Teaching volunteer, I teach weekly lessons on the English language to each class at the school.
So far, it has been a challenging experience. Some of the challenges spring from cultural differences and from a lack of resources at the school. The teaching styles here seem to be quite different from what I’m used to in the US, so I have to adjust the way I teach so that I can reach the kids. Additionally, the school lacks some of the resources that would make my job as a teacher easier. The classrooms do not have computers or projectors for presenting lessons, not to mention that some of the kids don’t even have their own set of colored pencils.
Even so, the challenges I face as I teach English at Torres Araujo are made worthwhile by the excitement of on the children’s faces when they see Lauren and I. They greet us yelling, “¡Inglés! ¡Inglés!” Many of the kids are so eager to learn that they bombard us with questions at recess about how to say certain words in English. Although many of the younger kids will likely forget how to say the names of vegetables and professions in English, I hope that they will retain their desire to broaden their knowledge of the world. I am so glad to be part of an effort to guide these amazing kids in that direction.