Elementary Education Graduate |
Elementary Education Graduate |
The Value of travel and study abroadMy thoughts: Reflecting on being here in Chile in this moment is the first time I feel myself letting my guard down. I’ve been being aware of my surrounds, gripping my phone and wallet tight in my pocket where ever I walk, double checking the itinerary, checking in with family, going to meetings/class, experiencing as much as I can take in but right now I’m sharing why I choose to do all this.
My past experience: In my undergrad a representative of the IPDS program came to my class, gave a brief talk about what this program is and where you can apply to sign up. He had a hand full of colorful flyers but Santiago Chile just stood out to me so much. So I grabbed a flyer and did all the basic “googling”, places to see, what foods are popular, flights cost. I found myself feeling overwhelmed on the sticker price, it felt impossible to afford while being a full time in school working two part-time jobs and being a student athlete. So I just forgot about it. Why/Not this time: I was given a second chance to be apart of this opportunity in graduate school and I couldn’t let it go by again. Handing in an application by the due date was the only mission I had, I couldn’t let myself regret no trying to get in the program. Since being accepted not once have I felt any sense of regret while participating in IPDS Chile. Since my dream is to teach students from various languages and backgrounds how could I not put myself in the shoes of a language learner? How can being more culturally aware not help me in any life situation even outside the classroom? From this prospective it’s easy to understand how much perfect sense this opportunity means to not just a future teacher but as a person. I hope what I learn here will help me be better prepared for the classroom. If you are on the fence here is some true gathered advice/ inspiration/ things everyone and their mother’s say: “do it while your young” “ you have no real big responsibilities, travel” “you have your whole life to make money” “Travel, because money returns. Time doesn’t.” unknown “If we were meant to stay in one place we’d have roots instead of feet.” Rachel Wolchin I think if you are even questioning if you want to study aboard or go aboard just take advantage of that opportunity. I do believe I will have the rest of my life to work so I may as well gain some tools to set me apart from the competition. Traveling can be stressful, take the situations you have aboard and learn from them. Learn as much as you can about other cultures and experience them for yourself not based off what others say.
4 Comments
My expectations are completely exceeded! ECELA brings so much passion and enthusiasm to learning a new language. My teacher has from the very first day of class created an environment that is interactive and fun (Literally, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much). We are given many opportunities to participate in learning Spanish including: responding to questions, asking each other questions, and of course listening to Spanish speakers. The teacher is providing immediate feedback in the form of praise, finally have something like your pronunciation click or use that new vocabulary word.
The way the teacher I have has gotten things to click is not what you might expect but it works, for example, the teacher was trying to teach us the Chilean word for boyfriend/ girlfriend, “pololo (a)”, which has different meaning from “novio (a)” a word we learned in the past however to teach us the difference he told us to wait as he began to dig in his pockets for his phone, again telling us to wait he scrolled through the phone. He finally found the right song and he had us pretend we were out at a bar interacting with other people. He pretended to be a bachelor trying to find out if the person was single, asking common questions like what’s your name, where are you from, etc. when he noticed there wasn’t a wedding/engagement ring he then asked if there was a boyfriend or girlfriend in the picture. As a class we were engaged the whole time wondering what would happen next, we all laughed and enjoyed the moment. I know I will not forget that a “pololo(a)” is a boyfriend or girlfriend and “novio(a)” is used when someone is to be engaged to be married. It was through this role playing that the meaning clicked for the whole class. This Spanish class is forcing me in the best way to step outside that zone of comfort to become a language learner. Building this sense of ease in class is something I hope to bring to my future students. To teach a language I can feel and see how import ant it is to make students feel empowered. Our teacher shared with us his attitude towards learning, he said, “the process is like a game, have fun”. This attitude is vital for promote making mistakes and taking chances in the classroom. |