Thank you Teacher

I do kind of cringe when they call me "Teacher". I am not sure whether it bothers me more because I would prefer my students to call me Laura, or because as a student in the US we never addressed "Ms. Gabriel" or "Mr. Hrabe" as "Teacher". Yes, I have another activity in progress here in Puno, Peru. I am teach English! Kind of funny, no? I have never taught English...always Spanish!

The director of the Peruvian-North American Cultural Center and I met during our chit-chat with the U.S. Ambassador a couple of weeks ago. He commented that the institute would really like to have a native speaker to teach the advanced students. Seeing as I don't have any formal TEOSL skills, I explained a bit about the types of activities we do at Concordia Language Villages. He was thrilled, and asked if I was interested in using the CLV methodology in a type of conversation class with students.

So, now I teach an interactive class every Monday and Wednesday for 1.5 hours. We play games, create skits, watch movies, etc. The idea is to present American culture in the context of interactive language participation. In general, the institute faces a challenge with a culture of very shy students. This is VERY difficult when the purpose is to learn to communicate with the English language! Most of the students grasp the grammar, reading comprehension, and I think they have a good listening comprehension. The downfall is in oral comprehension.

So far, my class has been receptive. John, the director, claims they love the style of the class (which we have titled "Free Chatroom"). A couple of the professors in the institute are my students, but I have a healthy mix of highschooler and adults. I am REALLY pushing them to be active in the room. They are not receiving any formal grading beyond class participation. But the way I have designed activities...well, they have no choice BUT to be involved (hehe).