And the Work Begins

Monday morning I met the English team at the la Unidad de Apoyo a la Educación Básica y Normal. It’s the organization that is in charge of education in the state of Mexico for grades preschool through what is the equivalent of high school and teacher education college programs. For the next 9 months, I’ll be working with the English department. The director of the department held a meeting in which I was able to meet the teachers I’ll be working with this year. Some of the teachers treated me to lunch, which was sweet of them. I received my weekly schedule and I’ll have Fridays off and I don’t work until 4 on Mondays! They did this so that I could take weekend trips around Mexico. I can’t imagine how hard it’ll be to adjust to a regular work week once I return to the states.

Tuesday was a crazy day. I started by going to immigration to get my visa card. They told me I have to go back to the airport in Mexico City because customs never stamped the visa in my passport. Then I have to finish the rest of the paperwork there. Once I got to the office, I met everyone in the building and invited them to take a basic English class that I’ll be offering twice a week. I think I’ll have about 30 students total. My mentor, Gabby, took me to Escuela Normal 3. Escuelas normales are school for teacher preparation. Students attend them after they finish high school. The highlight of my week was when I was observing a class and the students were playing a game in which they had to group themselves in the number of students that the teacher said. The teacher said two and a pregnant girl was left by herself because there was an odd number of students. She pointed to her stomach and said, “two” referring to her baby. Everyone started laughing. Later in the day I helped administer an English proficiency test at the Centro de Ingles Toluca. I think I intimidated the students. After the work day was over I was finally able to move into the apartment we checked out on Saturday! Gabby took me to a Walmart 3 blocks away for some groceries. I wish the Walmarts in the states had panaderías (bread stores) like the ones here in Mexico.

On Wednesday, I spent many an hour on a bus to Metepec, a nearby town where I will be giving English lessons to practicing teachers. It took about 1.5 hours on the bus. Thankfully, one of the interns at the office escorted me and showed me where to go. We’ll see if I can do it by myself next Wednesday. The English department held a welcoming lunch for me at a nearby restaurant. The English department came as well as Jess and her mentor and the director of the whole organization and some of the people he works with, too. We were served 4 courses (see pictures) and the event took about 4 hours. At orientation, they told us that if we are invited for a meal to clear our calendars for the rest of the day. They weren’t kidding. It was a lot of fun though and I was able to get to know people on a more personal level.

Thursday was my first day teaching! I held an English class for the office workers about greetings and introductions. They seemed to learn a good amount. I hope they come back next week! Next Tuesday and Thursday I’ll be presenting at a conference for high school teachers so I worked on my presentation for most of the day. In the afternoon I helped with the English test again at the English Center of Toluca. It’s interesting to see that even though the people taking the test are English teachers, they don’t speak much English. They teach their English classes in Spanish, focusing more on reading and writing.

Friday was my first day off since arriving in Mexico. Jess and I discovered the running track at the end of the street. We were both pretty winded after our workout because the elevation is about 9,000 feet. We relaxed during the day then went to Walmart (3 blocks away) to buy ingredients for the tostadas we made! It’s our goal to master three Mexican dishes by the time we leave.

 

I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the historic part of Toluca. There’s an outdoor cultural performance center that had a band playing. On Sundays, the town closes one of the main streets and there are performers and craft tents. The weather was beautiful (besides the occasional drizzle). It was nice to have a relaxing weekend.