What a surprise!

One thing I was not expecting was how attached I have become to this beautiful place.  I knew that this would be the trip of a life time and that I would love ever minute.  But, I never expected to be this ready to move down and teach for a year or two.  I never expected to be able to learn Spanish the way I have.  Heading back to the states, I want to be able to continue my Spanish education so that one day I can go back and I will be able to understand the locals and communicate well with them. 

                I’ve always been terrified of what I would do if I ended up with an ELL student in my class, although I guess that’s more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if.’  This has been one of my greatest concerns heading into teaching, but now I feel much more capable of handling this.  Although I’ve always prided myself on being a rather patient person, I feel like I will now have the patience I need to help those students who don’t speak English.  I think I will be able to guide their learning and thinking to help them achieve everything their classmates can.  In some ways this realization seems surprising to me, but in others this is exactly what I was hoping for going on this trip.