Children International, my first scholarship.

I am studying pedagogy to become an English teacher. I am in the eighth semester, but when I was in the third one, I had to start my internship program for the first time. Before that, I had yet to experience teaching children or youths. The university selected the agenda to allow students to do their internships. My whole class had to follow a program related to an institution called Children International. This institution has different locations throughout Quito city. It houses low-income children and adolescents from all over the city. My classmates and I had to go to the closest site and be their teachers for almost three months (Saturdays only) to complete 160 hours. As I live in the city center, I had to go to the “2 puentes” location. 

Once there, I had to team up with Jazmin, who, at the time, she was not my friend but a classmate only. As usual, we were nervous because it was our first day and also a bit worried because the location we had to go to was dangerous. The principal building was the library, but the institution representatives told us we had to go to the community center to teach there. On the way, Jazmin and I started questioning if we had to do that and how we could organize our classes, materials, contents, and that type of stuff. We got to the place, but there seemed to be no one. After knocking on the door several times, a boy opened the door and let us come in. Practically, it was a house, and one room was being used as a classroom. For that reason, that room was not that big. The walls were a bit damp, the tables and chairs were run-down, and the whiteboard was very stained. 

To make things worse, the family that used to live there had a dog. It had peed inside the classroom. Despite all, we had gone with a positive attitude. We decided to clean and fix the place so that the children felt at least a little comfortable. When doing that, our tutor said that we were mistaken and that it was not the place to do our internships. She took us to the new location. For the second time, it was a house, but it had a classroom. It was not the classroom of our dreams, but this one was much better compared to the previous one. In that place, there were about 16 children and adolescents from 5 to 16 and some other students from the central and ESPE university that were also going to do the internships.

Finally, we noticed some issues after interacting with our students and fellow teachers. The students from the ESPE university did not like children. It was acceptable because they were not studying anything related to teaching. Nevertheless, they could have been more empathetic and friendly with the children. They never liked playing with the children at recess, talking, or teaching them. Some of them used to be late and needed more motivation. It was something that we could notice at first glance. They preferred leaving the children alone, without supervision, and went to buy some snacks. However, only some things were terrible. The children were great and son kind. Jazmin and I always used to be with them, playing at recess, organizing activities, sharing stories, eating candies, and teaching them. We established a good relationship with the representatives because they knew we were doing excellent. And more than that, Jazmin and I became good friends. Until now, that has made me happy.

After all, that scholarship was a memorable experience because it made us leave our comfort zone, discover new realities, and develop our teaching skills and human side. This changed my life since I learned that we will not always have the best resources and possibilities to do our work, but instead, we must adapt to the environment in which we perform. However, sometimes it is not the best setting, but we can give the best of ourselves, nurture the minds of our students to our students, and motivation to move forward. Before that, I had not interacted much with children, and less had taught children, but it was something that I liked and filled me inside. This stage of life helped develop our teaching profile and vocation in this profession.

Now I know that I could have done many things better. For example, I could have talked to the other teachers to try to change their attitude, and they have given more importance to the children. Although I did not have much knowledge at the time, I could have organized my classes better and considered the individual differences and needs of the children. Also, I could have made the games we played during recess more meaningful. I recommend relating them to what the children were learning and thus consolidating their knowledge. If something like this happens again, I will finally comply with those above. Now I have a more comprehensive range of knowledge about teaching. I could apply different approaches, methodologies, techniques, and resources to make the teaching process more practical and fun. While the best material helps teachers do their jobs better, they still need to become good teachers. Being helpful, getting to know your students, and teaching with passion matters.