Villahermosa

This past weekend was a 4 day weekend for us English teachers because of Mexican Independence Day. I took a trip way down south to Chiapas, Mexico with 6 other teachers. We left from Tehuacan on Friday night at 9:30pm and arrived in Tabasco (a state next to Chiapas) the next day after a little set back. That set back being getting off the ADO charter bus at the wrong stop -_- With all the travelling I've done you'd think I would know to ask if we're at the right stop! I think it was because we were all very excited to get off the bus and be at our destination. So after this set back we got on the bus for 1 more our and arrived in Villahermosa. One of the teachers lives with a host family in Tehuacan and this family has a sister named Isa who picked us up from the airport and showed us around all day. Isa and her husband were so nice, driving us around all day to the see the beautiful and exciting things in Villahermosa.

The first thing we did was eat! Then we went to the Parque Museo La Venta. It has animals and artifacts from the Olmecs. After this everyone was hungry so we ate lunch, went to see a church and ate ice cream in the center of town. They had seats up and ready for El Grito on Monday, the 15th. After this there was a long ride to their house because of traffic. We got ready at their house and then took off again to see a light show and eat pizza for dinner. It was such a nice day, especially because Isa and her husband were so accommodating to us! This was only the first night! It gets better from here...

Here are some pictures::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We couldn't figure out what kind of animal this was. We asked a man and he said a name but we didn't know what the English equivalent was! Then we read a sign that said it is a badger. 

I fed the badger. They like tortillas!

This is a tomb.

Everything was green.

Crocodile!

There was a bird sanctuary.

The outside of the church.

Light show! There are crocodiles in that water o_o

And So the Search Begins

By the search I mean job search. And okay, so it started a while ago...but I'm finally writing about it. Right now, Dave's ESL Cafe is my best friend. So if you're looking to teach English abroad Dave's ESL Cafe is a great way to start. If you're looking to teach in South Korea get a recruiter because there are soooo many positions on Dave's ESL Cafe that it can get overwhelming. I applied to teach in a little town in Puebla, Mexico a few weeks ago and I had my Skype interview two Thursdays ago. During the interview they had an earthquake in Mexico! After the interview I thought, "Hey! Maybe that'll make me more memorable!" I got the acceptance this Monday and let me tell you, I was so happy! If I choose to teach with this school I will be paid half of what I'm getting at my current job, but hey...I'll be in a new country! I'll most likely be teaching English to the young learners. I think that'll be very fun! Difficult...but fun. I'll have to keep the kids in control and entertained for the whole 50 minutes or however long I have them.

I also applied to a job in Japan and I had the interview last Thursday. I'll know by this Friday if I got that job or not. I'm glad I applied to this job but I'm having second thoughts about it because of the conditions of working with this school. I also applied with Berlitz to teach in Colombia. I'll be making more money than in Mexico but I'll have to pay for my own accommodations and utilities, which might end up being more or less the same pay as living in Mexico. But I'll be able to have my own apartment! :) Which is exciting to me! I reaaaalllyyy want to go to Colombia so I hope I get this job. I've learned a lot from my TEFL course - I should be getting my certificate in a few weeks :)))))) - and I hope this helps with the interview. Whatever happens, I should be out of the country by July at the earliest. AHHHHHH ^_^

Observe and Report

It's been a few weeks since I started my TEFL course and this week I began my observation hours. To complete the TEFL course you have to do a practicum of 20 hours in an ESL classroom (observing, teaching and/or tutoring). Luckily there is an ESL program at the Univ. of La Verne which is less than 10 minutes away from where I work. On Wednesday I woke up at 7 (that was so difficult to do!) and ventured onto the university campus. The campus is next to a residential area SIDE NOTE: I found a small house with a porch that looks like something from the south (which is what I want)!! Most of the buildings are brick but of course the newer buildings aren't. I observed 3 classes starting at 8am. 

The first class was small, 10 people, and it was at an advanced level. Everyone understood what the teacher was saying and the people who spoke up in the class had a great grasp of the language. I sat next to a guy who did not speak up a lot in the class but when he was writing for the assignments he understood everything perfectly. I can see how even though these people are in the same class they are at different levels. Some people might find speaking the language really simple and others might find speaking difficult but writing much easier. I understand them!! When I was at school learning German I found speaking easy (even though I knew I was making mistakes) and I found writing a little harder. I learned to not be afraid of speaking the language because the native speakers would correct me if I butchered a word or sentence. But when I wrote I was thinking in English a little too much. 

The second class I observed was a lower level and I immediately saw the difference between the two classes because everyone except two students were so quiet. The whole class lecture that day was about noun clauses. Most of the students did really well on the in class assignment but none of the students (except for two) willingly spoke up. Of the two that spoke up one of them had great vocabulary but I understood why he was in this level of class. He made sense when he spoke but he would get words in the sentence mixed up. 

Finally I observed an advanced class that wasn't specifically about grammar or the English language. I think this is a class to help them with their reading because they analyzed an essay and then had a debate about a current online article. I was in a group with half of the class and noticed that they spoke freely and most of them spoke with confidence. Once in a while some of them would resort to speaking their own language together but I expect that to happen because a majority of the students were from the same country. 

By the end observing I felt like I had been the one in class all day! I really liked getting involved with the students and helping them out when they needed it. Most of all I realized that I NEED to learn more about English grammar. As a native English speaker it's so easy to speak and write but it's difficult to explain why we speak and write this way. Why do we pronounce something a certain way? Why does this word go in front of this word? Can this word also be an adverb/adjective? I'm going to need to be able to explain these things and right now I can't. That's what I'm nervous about :///// I guess I'll get to studying right now.