A Short Summary of Teaching English

Just in case any one is wondering exactly what we're up to here in Santiago, a brief summary of the life of an English as a foreign language teacher:

It's extremely easy to travel the world teaching English.  You just have to decide to go, buy a plane ticket, and get certified as a TEFL teacher. The last one is optional, but does make things a lot easier.  I wanted to get certified in the States, so we would have to spend time or money getting certified in Santiago.  But Jesse found a TEFL course in Santiago online, and convinced me it would be cheaper and easier.   We applied and paid our deposit and bought one-way tickets to Santiago.  Suddenly, we were going!  It was that easy.   Sorting through all your belongings and packing up your life and driving it to a storage unit is not so easy.  The cheapest unit we could find was in Fremont, so we had to keep driving my small car full of stuff out there.   Then there were the other bank, insurance, etc. issues of moving to another country to sort through.  You try and try to think of what other strings you need to sort out and what you'll need, but inevitably, it's impossible to remember everything. 

So we got to Santiago and started our course.  It was four weeks long and there was one other couple in the class with us who were from Atlanta.    It was a really tough course, and our practice teaching classes were graded a bit harshly and really stressed us all out.  Then, graduation, then job-hunting.  Because we had our TEFL, we didn't have any problems finding people who wanted to hire us.  Being a native speaker and having a TEFL is pretty valuable in foreign countries. 

We quickly filled up our week with classes.  All of mine are one-on-one classes and Jesse has two classes of 5 students.  We spend our days going from class to class on the Metro and bus.  The traveling around all day on public transit is rather tedious and annoying and tiring, but the students are all really great.  Of course, the beginners and intermediates say the funniest things.  My beginner, Jorge, was trying to look up "crab" on google because we were talking about seafood, but Spanish speakers have issues with hard vowel sounds, so what he heard was "crap" and he typed that in instead.  Sometimes I just can't help but laugh, and luckily my beginner students are all cool enough to laugh with me.  My intermediate student, Gabriela is always saying funny things, like how she had to go to a "Shopwork" this week so can't have class and how she wears "panties" when it's cold outside (by which she means panty hose).   Nelson, my super super beginner answered the question "How are you?"  with "I am Nelson" for the first 3 weeks.  I had to tell everyone I know because it was just so funny. 

The best is when Spanish speakers say "sheet" and "beach".  They come out "shit" and "bitch".  "Cheater" and "cheat" also come out as "shit".   Gabriella told me her son was a "shitter", which may be true at times, but she meant to say "cheater."   The best moment regarding these words was when Gabriella was trying to tell me that in school she used to make "cheat sheets."  She was pretending to write on her arm and said "How do you call this in English?"

I wish I could record or video the classes because the things they say and the way things unfold are just so hilarious, but I can't remember the details and I can't share in the hilarity with an English speaking person, and it just seems so criminal!  It's honestly like a movie, the level of comedy that goes on.  There is definitely a bond with the student, because it's a relationship unlike any other you've had in your life, teaching someone who doesn't speak your language.  It of course requires a lot of patience, but it makes you feel soft and supportive of this student, because you see them trying and hoping, top executives stumbling over words and saying sentences without verbs or struggling to pronounce something like "vacation" because of the v sound.  The language barrier makes you see further into this person as a person. You have to read their expressions, their energy, their body language.  So you come to know and like them, even when they are beginners and you can't have an actual conversation.  And of course, you strive for and celebrate their smile, because that means they are having fun, and the frustrations of learning another language aren't as bad when they are being taught by you.