Ecuador will always be special to me because it’s where I started teaching English as a foreign language. My first job was teaching three hyperactive teenagers in a language academy in the centre of Quito. They only paid me $2 an hour, but I wasn't bothered about the money. I was living abroad and starting a new experience so the financial benefits were meaningless. It was in this job that I realized I made the right move in becoming a TEFL teacher.
The three kids: Pablo, Mila, and Diana, were a handful to start with. At first they didn’t take to me and disliked my posh British accent (as a Londoner no one had ever called me posh before). We battled and argued, I shouted and lost my temper, and they acted like spoilt brats. What had I got myself into?
A senior teacher told me to learn some Spanish swear words. So I did. I asked other teachers, researched on the internet, and boosted my vocabulary. The change in their attitude was amazing. When Mila stormed in the class slagging off the director I told her to wait outside. When they found out that I knew what they were saying the bad language cut down (not completely) and they began to respect me.
After a couple of weeks the director told us that they had to do a written and oral presentation to pass their course. At times it was hard motivating them but we had fun. I enjoyed correcting their mistakes and perfecting their pronunciation. When the big day arrived we were all nervous.
They made special graduation hats and gave me one. Watching them perform in front of the director and other teachers was great and presenting them with their certificates was a proud moment. That was my first buzz as a teacher, and when I knew I’d made the right decision to enter the world of TEFL.
Check out my blog for similar posts http://teachingenglishinaforeignland.blogspot.com/
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Yeah, when I was in Thailand I only had 23 in my class, other mates had over 50, mental, it took them half the lesson to do the register.
I'd love to go back to Ecuador, but mainly to see the Galapagos Islands, not to teach. I'm settled in Seville now, can't see my wife letting me jet off to Ecuador without her...
haha! the little devils eh? I still think we had it lucky in a lot of ways... I take my hat off to those in China with 60-80 students in a class. How do you bond with them?
I was in Loja, a small city in the south, about 2,600 m altitude and near the Via Panamericana. Felt remote though, as the road remains pretty difficult south of Riobamba so it takes ages to go anywhere.
I love Quito, I sometimes think I might go there again... we'll see what the next year brings. Do you ever think of returning?
Lovely story, good to hear that you got to know them in the end. I remember being interogated about Ecuadorian women and sex too, I thought it was quite funny so I played along with it, bunch of horny students. Where about were you?
Familiar story - Ecuadorian teenagers are very unpredictable! I had one class - I was convinced they hated me! The previous teacher had used Spanish alot and I didn't know much back then, so that was the first problem. Second problem - they mostly only came because their parents made them - they were 15/16 and interested in anything else but English lessons after school.
They talked through the class - they cheated at tests.... what was I to do? Then I went away for a few days and when I got back, to my surprise, their eyes lit up and they told how much they'd missed me! The other teacher had been so strict they'd barely dared to breath... I was starting to see my way. We started having little parties on their birthdays and talking only about what interested them. I knew they were testing me with talk about girls and sex but if the grammar and pronunciation was ok.... I let it pass.
In the end it was emotional leaving them, tears and presents.. They still weren't the best class in the school but they now cared about their results and showed a bit of respect.
Like you I started to realise that I could teach and how rewarding it could be. These classes are a challenge but bringing them round is much more of a buzz than a class that was easy from the start.
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