La Mejor Despedida

This week was my last week of teaching! I can’t believe I’ve lived and taught here for 9 months. The last week was a week of celebrations! We celebrated my student’s improvement, completing the course, and my moving back to the United States.  I am so grateful to have such wonderful students. I know I’m a lot younger than some of them (because I mostly teach English instructors) but they still treated me with respect and valued what I had to say. They not only say kind words during the last classes, they unnecessarily showered me with gifts! Here’s my week in a nutshell:

On Mondays, I work with English teachers with a basic level of English at the English Center in Toluca to help them improve their grammar. It’s a small group and on any given day, there are between 4 and 6 students. I started the class by reviewing what we had covered the previous week (first conditional). Then, I shared with them a PowerPoint I made about websites they can utilize for their own English improvement or to use to teach their students. I shared this PowerPoint with all of my classes this week. I also taught them about MadLibs. We did “hall pass” ones. After, we feasted! One student brought a wide sausage called obispo. It’s made from various cow parts, raisins, and almonds. You can really put whatever you want in it. She made two versions: one spicy and one not because she knew I can’t eat anything too spicy. We also had rice, beans, my veggie dip, and coffee jello with a cream sauce. I don’t drink coffee but I loved the jello. At the end of the class, they gifted me a hand-made wooden chess set from the village of one of the students.

On Tuesdays, I’m all over the place. I start in the mornings at the English office for the state of Mexico. I give basic English classes to the employees in the building in the other departments of education (math, science, etc) and also the accountants and any other personnel. Then, I walk over to Eudoxia Calderon Elementary School downtown to work with sixth graders for an hour. At noon, I go to the teacher preparation school (called an “Escuela Normal”) to assist in a basic English class for about an hour and a half. The teacher I work with is wonderful. She’s the one who invited me to her daughter’s wedding last month. She gave me a bracelet and a Kleenex sleeve as a thank-you gift with a lovely note. She asked if I could help administer a speaking test to the students for the last class. While I assessed one student, the others were outside the room. The last student to finish the exam asked me to accompany him to another room. All the other students were in traditional Mexican dancing outfits and had prepared a performance for me. They did a great job and after, they cooked for me! We had enchiladas, tamales, rice, beans, sweets from Toluca, and fruit water. Some of them made me the most creative cards. No wonder they are studying to be preschool teachers. Everything was perfect!

In the afternoons, I work in the English Center in Toluca. I have a more advanced group on Tuesdays and I get along with them really well. We decided to have a potluck for the last class. We had half of a regular class and after we ate and ate and ate. The students brought tacos al pastor, pepperoni pizza, and fruit salad. I made my dip, too. We did a special activity at the end called silent affirmations. I think they liked it. They gave me a beautiful necklace to remember them by.

Wednesday mornings I go back to the Escuela Normal to help with another class who are farther in their career than the Tuesday group. In the afternoon, I take a bus to Metepec to teach an advanced conversation class at the English Center. After having class for a while, we had another potluck. I ate really well this week. One of my students made chilaquiles with green salsa. We had my dip and people brought desserts. We ate a couple of different jellos and a Ferrer Roche cake. They gave me a jewelry set from a nearby town and a mini Oreo cake because they know how much a love my sweets!

Thursdays are big days, too. I start at the office with a different group of employees in the education building giving an English class. As a going away present, they took me out to breakfast to my favorite place in Toluca, Lusso. It’s an adorable café with delicious food. They gave me a computer bag, a mug, and a leather notebook. After the class with the office, I go to Edoxia again to work with another group of sixth graders. I had commented how much I like the decorated binders of the teachers and my cooperating teacher ordered me a binder and notebook set with my name! It’s very cute. Then I head to Carlos Hank Gonzalez Elementary School to work with various groups of sixth graders. Each week, I usually work with two different classes. For my last class, Faby and I stopped by all the classes because they had written me the most precious notes that they wanted to give me. The group I spend the most time with gifted me a framed pencil with a poem in Spanish about education that made me tear up.

In the afternoon, I go to the English Center in Toluca. It’s within walking distance of the office as are most places I teach. We had half of a class then we went out for dinner. They decided they would rather do that then have a potluck. They were so generous and not only paid for my dinner but they gave me a tree of life, which is typical of Metepec, a painted box, a silver ring from Taxco, and a necklace with a mini tree of life. This group has the biggest hearts. The things they said during dinner were very thoughtful. They said that even though I was young, they respected me for my spirit and my optimism.

The people from my office also took me out to eat as a despedida. We went to a restaurant in downtown Toluca. I ordered the biggest torta of my life. I ate a fourth of it. This past year, I made so many strong relationships with the people in my office. I went to the office to lesson plan more than other assistants in the past and because of that, I was able to get to know them very well. It’s a diverse but awesome group of people. They are always smiling and make working in the office fun. They treated me to dinner and they bought me rebozo and a doll. I’m exited to be working with them next year, too!

I was so blessed to have such a variety of groups and people to teach this year. I’m truly thankful but the amazing experience I had here in Mexico. I know most of my blogs were about traveling but teaching was just as an important part of my life here. Thank you for reading and for those of you who were a part of my experience!