American Teacher in Ecuador

The river I cross every day Teaching English in Ecuador is very different here than it was to teach at home.  Where in a public school in the US, you have to know exactly where every student is at every moment. Not so much here.  Absences and tardies are excessive.  When classes start on the hour, I usually have 3 kids.  I can't really do anything for 10 minutes until they start to wander in.  Many are absent 2-3 days a week.  If I ask, my boss, nobody seems to know if a kid has dropped.  If I get a new kid, nobody seems to realize that he's now on my roster.  So I've learned to stop asking and just deal with it. The testing process is freaky.  You have one day for written and listening, and one day for oral tests which are one on one or partners.  Evidently, you can tweak it however you want to fit your needs.  If you do partners, they just copy each other though but most teachers do it that way because it's faster t...

I have officially completed one full week teaching English at in Loja, Ecuador.  It's been interesting, and I can't say I'm thrilled at this point.  The way things are done here is so different than at home, it's hard to go with the flow. I was offered the job by the school's "international recruiter" which was interesting.  There was really no interview, just a conversation about Loja.  I was told I started Monday so I started thinking of a lesson to introduce myself and have students introduce themselves.  My questions about who and when I would be teaching remained unanswered until Monday at 3:00 when I was supposed to meet with one of the managers.  She was out that day.  So I was eventually filled in, told that I'd be teaching teens.  If anyone knows me, this was my biggest nightmare scenario. So I started Tuesday night, from 3-6, one hour each to 3 Teen classes at the same level which is supposed to be Early Intermediate since they'v...