Just ten days until departure marks my inaugural blog
entry…as December 16 approaches, I’m getting more anxious and excited about my
teaching English program in Guatemala. As much preparing as I’ve done for this
trip, at the same time, I feel very under-prepared... it reminds me very much
of preparing to go to Strasbourg, France when I studied abroad.
When I got on my flight to Paris, I had eight years of
formal French language classes under my belt and I had been to Europe before,
so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of the “lay of the land” and the
general feeling of being there. When I think of Guatemala, I have no idea what
to expect. The most similar place to Guatemala that I’ve been is to the capital
city of Costa Rica, San Jose (or so I imagine). Even finding information on
Guatemala is tough… the history is so complex that it could take years and
years to learn everything. My knowledge of the Mayans is pretty solid, but
other than that, I’ve been giving myself a self-taught crash course in Latin
American & Guatemalan history.
Speaking of crash courses, I’ve also been giving myself one
in Spanish. A few people have asked me how I am going to teach English in a Spanish-speaking
country if I can’t speak Spanish fluently… that is the beauty of teaching English.
It helps to know the local language, but it’s not necessary to be 100% fluent in it. When students are learning a language, they are encouraged to speak only in that language… if you were learning Russian in Moscow and there was a student from Egypt learning Russian and a student from Argentina learning Russian, you would need to use one common language to communicate, and it would be Russian. Same thing in this case. The Spanish will come in handy in everyday life though… fortunately, I have an aptitude for picking up languages quickly and am not afraid to use them with the locals. The one thing I have working against me is that I still (more times than not) cannot break the habit of using a French accent in any other language I attempt to speak (when I learn how to speak basic phrases in Greek, German, etc, just for the fun of it, I sound like I'm a French speaker attempting to pronounce things).
It helps to know the local language, but it’s not necessary to be 100% fluent in it. When students are learning a language, they are encouraged to speak only in that language… if you were learning Russian in Moscow and there was a student from Egypt learning Russian and a student from Argentina learning Russian, you would need to use one common language to communicate, and it would be Russian. Same thing in this case. The Spanish will come in handy in everyday life though… fortunately, I have an aptitude for picking up languages quickly and am not afraid to use them with the locals. The one thing I have working against me is that I still (more times than not) cannot break the habit of using a French accent in any other language I attempt to speak (when I learn how to speak basic phrases in Greek, German, etc, just for the fun of it, I sound like I'm a French speaker attempting to pronounce things).
This about wraps it up for now… stay tuned for the next
installment!
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