Maybe it’s that I sense my time here is running short—the finish line effect—but during these last two weeks I’ve had a renewed energy and excitement about living here in Colombia.
The start of this semester has been completely different from the last one. In August, I arrived in Barranquilla on a Friday, was given my teaching assignment on Monday, and began work on Tuesday—without knowing anything about the class, the students, or the text! This time around, I was ready before UniAtlántico was; classes didn’t really start till a week after they were scheduled to begin.
The first day of class felt like going back to high school after summer break—reunions in the hallways and cafeteria! It’s been such a joy to see my students from last semester and to be able to maintain friendships with them through eating lunch together or them participating in my English club or VPU group.
And my new students are adorable. As a means to evaluate their progress at the end of the semester, I had them take a written diagnostic test as well as record themselves speaking for two minutes. My favorite comments:
“I like the teacher, because she is a native speaker. I…um…I..heard her and I want to speak like her! I know that I…that I…that I can speak English very well, like her.”
“Well, I’m here because I’m studying foreign languages, I want to speak more than four languages. Well, I’m going to talk about the class. I’m a little bit scared of you, well, because you’re a native speaker and sometimes I don’t understand you…but I’m going to do my best.”
“I like English, I hate French. Maybe you tell me, ‘Why are you study foreign languages if you hate French?’ I don’t know…I just hate it and that’s it. Um, let’s see…let me look at the time [picks up the stopwatch, laughs]. Oh $#%@, I don’t believe it, this is amazing! [Holds clock up to video camera; it shows 0:00] Do you see this? I forgot to start the time].” [This was at the 1:30 mark…then he proceeds to start over!]
So I seem to have my work cut out for me: the beginner student who wants to speak like a native, the advanced student who is afraid of me, and the class clown. This is what I love about teaching college students, though. They’re unique, they’re motivated and they’re honest.
