On day one of my internship I found out I would be teaching not at one school but four. I start my day at 8:20 in the morning at the millennial school in Urcuqui. This complex consists of two schools about a block apart. Looking at my daily schedule, I Inevitably guess incorrectly which of these schools holds my morning class. This is fine since I always end up having a good conversation with the principle of the other school before he points me in the right direction.
I enter the class to a chorus of “Good Morning Teacher”. To test the students, my Co-Teacher asks me to give a presentation in english about myself. I spend the next five minutes talking to a room of blank stares and increasingly anxious faces. Then my teacher explains what I just said in Spanish, and I am hit with a tidal wave of questions.
After my first english class I travel to the park in Urcuqui. I have an hour off before my next teaching mission. So naturally I am working the first volume of “Harry Potter Y La Piedra Filosofal.” My next teaching assignment for the day is at the Yachay Center For Infants. Yes thats right, I teach english to one and two year olds. This week my classes have consisted of variations on the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands.” I have witnessed a great increase in my ability to sing awkwardly in almost any situation.
My personal driver, yes that’s right for the last two days in my internship I have had a personal driver, is named Orlando. He brings me to and from the infant center in Yachay. He is a hardworking busy guy, and fun to talk to.
After my class at the infant center he brings me to “The Centro Cultural La Voladora” in Yachay. There I will be teaching dance classes in Ballet and Hip Hop. However, because the schedule was still in the works, this last week I spent all my time hanging around the Circus and Capoeira classroom.
I would hang out and chat with the two teachers: Jiro and Stalin. Then I would go ahead and start practicing some capoeira or handstands. Inevitably this would trigger Jiro’s teaching impulse and he would start critiquing my handstands or teaching me new Capoeira routines
(<—Use this one simple trick to get free lessons in Capoeira and Gymnastics!).
At around four o’clock in the afternoon I return to the Millennial School to co-teach a final lesson in english. Done! Time to relax and play with my super cute host siblings!
