Teaching Challenges

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Nearly a year ago when I first set my sights on teaching English in Colombia, I knew it wouldn’t be the easiest of roads. I would not only need to adjust to life in a foreign country, but also figure out how to do a job that I had little experience performing; teaching. Sitting comfortably at home in the States, this sounded perfectly fine—I wanted and welcomed the challenge.

But there’s a big difference between talking about wanting a challenge and actually facing it.

Every morning as I head up the comically steep, ramshackle road to Nueva Esperanza, I contemplate what hurdles the day will hurl my way. Arriving at the school, I say “Buenos días” to the guards as they let me in. En route to my first class, loitering students yell “Teacher Mike!” and a few courageous ones come up to shake my hand. Every now and then, a few giggly 10th grade girls come up to say “Hi” then dart away in embarrassment.

That’s pretty much where the cutesy stuff ends.



Read the rest at my TravelBlog

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