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La Bramadora, a small town in a western province of Ecuador, was the setting for my first experience teaching EFL. For five weeks this summer, my best friend from high school and I had some of the most amazing adventures imaginable, including attempting to teach English to large groups of elementary through high school students in a private Jesuit school called Fe y Alegria.
It was this summer that I discovered in person some of the joys and frustrations of teaching English abroad. Although I love children and love teaching ESOL, it was a huge shock to have as many as 46 children in one classroom and to have to use
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their native language in instruction (which was difficult since I had only taken one Spanish class). It was also frustrating to know that the children had wonderful books for learning English that centered around Ecuadorian themes, but that the English teachers didn't know enough English to make use of them. I understand that this is not uncommon.
All in all, this was actually a very short stint in teaching EFL. Because the children were on vacation for a week during July, we only actually stayed in La Bramadora and taught English for three weeks. During the other two weeks we were in Ecuador, we spent
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every moment engaging in some sort of adventure: whale watching, horseback riding, and mountain biking to the edge of the Amazon Basin. The scenery was gorgeous, the people were very open and warm, and the children we taught and lived with in the dorms were patient enough to teach us lots of useful words like "tickle" and to dance the cumbia with us. They definitely have a place in my heart even though the time was very short.
If anyone is interested in volunteer teaching for Fe y Alegria in Ecuador or any of the dozen countries it's located in, feel free to contact me!
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