Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Catch up post: the job

Ever since class started here I've been sure to make it clear to both my instructor and the General Manager (one of the owners) here that I was interested in a position at Maximo in Costa Rica. I quickly found out that the CR Maximo is MUCHMUCH smaller than Cusco. I was kinda bummed, but was confident that I would find a teaching job somewhere as there are plenty of language schools in CR.

Right around the first of the month I sent my resume to the GM here to forward on to CR. The next day our instructor tells me that the GM in CR (another owner) called asking about TEFL students because they need a teacher. I was super pumped! So a couple days go by and I don't hear anything so I decide to send my resume and an email directly to the GM in CR to express interest in the job. I receive a reply, almost immediately asking if I can do a skype interview that day.

Later that evening I get the call on skype. I'm expecting a 20-30 minute conversation focusing primarily on how my TEFL class is going and if I have any other teaching experience. 30 minutes into the call we're still talking about my last job, and teaching hasn't even come up. He's also asked me about my Spanish skills and had me talk to him in Spanish for a few minutes.... even though Spanish is strictly forbidden in the classroom. Finally he asks, "So, are you looking for a teaching job, where you will have weekends free and can just kind of relax and enjoy CR? Or would you be interested in something more demanding." A bit taken a back, I reply, "well, I guess that would depend on the job." He then sends me a PDF with the job description for the Director of the National Program and Academics. After picking my jaw up off the ground I tell him that I would definitely be interested in this position.

We continue to speak for about another hour. He emphasizes that the hours are looooong and weekends are often involved. He expresses concern about how my family in CR will handle me working the long hours, asks about my family back home and the likelihood that in a few months I'll be home sick and ready to leave, asks about what happens if my house doesn't and all kinds of other things that he could never ask in the states. Finally, he says that he thinks this is all good and he would like me to talk to the GM here in Peru. I said that was fine and he replied, "You know where his office is right? He's ready for you now." YIKES!

So I hop up and head down for another 30-40 minute interview that seemed to go quite well. I had been told that there would be a 3rd interview with the GM from CR's wife (the 3rd owner) and that it would be in Spanish, and obviously via Skype or the phone. My Spanish is decent, but I HATE Spanish conversations on the phone, so I was pretty nervous.

The next week, I had my interview and actually thought I did alright. And then the waiting started. When I heard from the GM in CR I was told that they were going to check my references, but also send me an offer letter. The next day we talked again and I officially accepted the job. The offer letter spelled out some benefits that hadn't even been mentioned, like a cell phone and service, and reimbursement for my return trip to CR.

He also had me switch my ticket to a couple days later so that I could stay here and train with the directors here for a bit. So I started training this morning and will continue to the end of the week, flying home on Saturday. Today went well and I'm really excited about the job. Many other things have happened in the past week or so as well.... but those will need to wait for another post.

BIG GIRL JOB IN COSTA RICA!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Teaching.... not so bad.

So, yesterday was my second mini lesson. It was way better than the first one. This was a vocabulary lesson, and we got to pick the topic. I decided it was time for my Peruvian friends to learn about football.... American style. I only had 20 minutes, so I was limited to about 4-5 words. I assumed they knew NOTHING about football, so we went super simple: helmet, shoulder pads, field, football and the possibility of also needing to teach "to protect" (but it turned out they knew that one already - which was what I was hoping for).

I was the last one in our group to go and since we observe everyone else, I had heard one of the students mention that he liked to play soccer. This was the perfect lead in for me. As we've been taught, I wrote my name and our objective "Football Vocabulary" on the board. Before I even finished writing "vocabulary," the same student was saying, "Wait! Football like soccer, or football like you watch in the United States?" (The student happens to be one of the security guards at the school and knows us all, so I had to give him a hard time.) "I'm talking about real football." Lots of laughing and poking fun ensued.

The lesson went great! All the stuff that I sucked at last time, I pretty much fixed this time, a couple slip ups, but HUGELY improved. Pretty much nothing but praise from the teacher this time. She, of course, still gave me a couple things to work on, but from the teaching technique aspect... I totally rocked it!!! YAY!!!!!!!! (of course, it's easy to be awesome when you're teaching football).

Today we went back to grammar! I'm living on the glory of yesterday's lesson because I'm terrified of Friday's lesson. Yes.... I have to teach grammar!! I haven't picked my subject yet, but I'm leaning towards comparative and superlative adjectives. I also have a grammar paper due on Friday, which might be more terrifying than teaching grammar. On the plus side, tomorrow is the last day we are working on grammar in class. I think after that we move on to using games to teach... MUCH better than grammar. Thursday we meet with the teacher we will be teaching for next week.

Monday starts our practical teaching week and we will be teaching real, paying, clients. We basically just take over one of the classes that is currently being taught at Maximo. So we have the same students, at the same time, everyday for one week. Our teacher will be there (not the person who usually teaches the class, but our TEFL instructor), but strictly for observation. We picked our classes today, and I'll be teaching Basico 2 (this is month 2 of the basic level, so while the ages of the students will be 16 year and up, they are all language babies.) I'm really excited. This is actually the level I wanted and the regular teacher is someone I observed last week. I thought he did a great job and I'm sure he'll be helpful in our meeting on Thursday. He just finished TEFL a couple months ago here, so he knows exactly what they will be looking for in observations.

Also, I ran into the Security Guard Student several times today and I'm slowly explaining important terms like quarterback, running back, receiver, tight end, and because he is confused about how the average person plays football - two-hand touch and flag football. He likes to give me a hard time about liking "United States Football" so while he was giving my a hard time I decided he need to learn another new word, and told him he was a "hott mess". HEHE!!! I crack myself up!!

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