So just a general discloser: I'm noticing that my posts are pretty hastily written and not edited... so they aren't turning out as well as I had hoped :( My writing is suffering. Maybe after a month or two of getting settled that will change, but I'm not sure.
Also, the reason I have been posting very, very little is because these past 2 weeks have been pretty awful for me. I won't go into the sad details, but honestly the adjustment was so hard, and everything that was going on with work, missing people, etc, all I was doing was crying, feeling miserable, and wanting to come home. Nothing was going right, and the people I was talking to on the phone were thankfully people who are close enough to me to know that I just needed to vent and complain and cry. But I didn't want to taint my blog with that, or be a debbie downer to everyone who was excited to read about my adventures. With that in mind, this post will be a little that way. People asked how my first week went, so here it is, pretty honest. At least there's a good ending!
So, my first week of classes. AHHHHH. The first 3 days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) were ROUGH. I felt like the first day I was just thrown off the deep end into the world of teaching. I have a TEFL certifcation, and we went to orientation, but no one told us how to lesson plan, what to expect, what the students are allowed to do and say or not do and say, and if someone did tell us that, someone else would contradict them. So my first day of class was awful. I didn't know much English my students knew (I have 4 English 101 classes, and 1 English 201 class), and it turned out to be a mix. At least when I went to Iowa, they did a language test before I entered the university to see what level I should go into. Here, if it's your first year taking English at Duoc, you're in 101. Even if you've taken 7 years of it in high school or something.
My lesson plans for Monday went awful and I confided in my mentor, Jenni. Jenni is a 24 year old from Texas who did this exact program last year. Duoc is very strict on their policy of not rehiring us TIPs (those who come for a year through a teaching english program), but Jenni pushed and persisted, reapplied and got the job. She helps answer a lot of my questions, and basically she offered to have me come sit in on 2 of her classes. Once I did that, everything started to turn around.
I had an idea for a lesson plan, and a structure to use as a base. I went through my Tuesday classes with a little more ease, but found that it was still difficult and didn't quite have the hang of it. I felt like I hated teaching, that I wasn't good at it, and maybe in this capacity it wasn't for me
Then Wednesday came. I only have one class on Wednesday. I was at the school, hanging out hours before the class was supposed to start. I was sitting on a computer in the teachers lounge and the watching the clock on the computer. When it said I had 30 min to class, I walked downstairs to Duoc's little chapel to have a pray and a breather before going to teach. The next thing I know, one of the school administrators is calling my Chilean cell phone and asks me to come to the office. Two of my students are there and I'm like, what's going on? They said I missed my class. I was so confused and upset. I had been watching the time, I had the whole lesson planned. The whole class showed up and then they all left before I didn't come. The computer clocks were an hour off. I was on the verge of tears, I felt so awful. I found an empty classroom and taught my lesson to the two girls that stayed, and went to talk to my boss about it afterwards. He told me it was fine and not to worry, but it still felt pretty bad. I'm worried now for the students because they're now a week behind the rest of my classes and the first exam is in 3 weeks.
I woke up Thursday and had 3 classes to teach that day. Since it was the exact lesson I had prepared for Wednesday, I felt comfortable. The students were attentive and they asked a lot of questions. By the end of the day I felt like I might really like being a teacher. My last class of the day is at 7 pm. It's a class of about 15 boys and 1 girl. They all have jobs and come after work to learn English. They're so dedicated and interested and I love it. One older man came in an hour late and miss the whole first 2/3 of the lesson. I stayed with him after class and taught the whole thing again. But I didn't even care! I loved it. I love the look on people's faces when they finally understand something and I get to help them get there.
Today (Friday) I had one class at 11 am. It was my English 201 class. It went really well, but I know I could've planned more creative stuff into the lesson. Gotta learn how to do that. Some of the girls in the class were talking almost the entire way through, but finally I told them to shut up, in a stern, respectful way of course, and I think it helped get them to respect me as well.
I'm really more hopeful about teaching and life here. School doesn't eat my whole life (and it shouldn't, I only work around 20 hours a week), I have plans to travel, meet people, try new things, look for a yoga studio, and a gym. FIND SOMEWHERE TO LIVE (ahhhh please keep praying about that for me), and much more. Things are looking up.
In about an hour, Lizzi, Natalie, Hannah, and I are going to Viña!!!! I am so excited, I've heard amazing things about this place, and it's originally where I wanted to live here in Chile. Kylie and Dana will be there so hopefully we'll get to hang out with them as well. I need a weekend of some beach time, relaxation, and hopefully a bit of wine to get me rejuvenated for next week!
Miss you all!
Besos,
Ally
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