First experience as a teacher in Cocachimba and La Coca

Hola!

A little later than expected but here is my follow up blog post on what I’m actually doing in Peru. I have been living in Cocachimba since the 21st of June and I can say that it has been an adventure. I first spent a few days in Lima to have a look at a school there to get an idea how to teach English to Spanish children. This was very useful and gave me a bit more courage for what was coming. After this I flew to Jaen which is a mini ‚airport” in the middle of nowhere and with quite some delay I made it to Jaen safe and sound. Coming out of the plane was an experience, everywhere you see green and I don’t think I can really call it an airport as it is literally just a open air area to pick up your luggage nothing more. From there we had to drive 3-4 hours to Cocachimba, but 15 minutes before getting there we got stuck on the road due to the weather. The rain had covered the whole road with mud and rocks so we had to wait for 3 hours in the dark. This was tough but eventually I made it to Cocachimba and was able to get some sleep.

The next day I woke up early to find out that I had an amazing view on the waterfall from the couch I was sleeping on so I enjoyed that while the sun was coming up, it was amazing. After this I transported myself and my belongings to my temporary room a bit more in town (it is really small, literally a big piece of grass surrounded by houses not much more). My room had not been finished yet so I had to stay somewhere else, which was really nice as I lived next to one of my adult students so I was able to make some useful connections while living there.

Eventually my more permanent room was ‚finished’, well that said there was running water and there was a bed, the first layer of paint had just been applied the day before and it still had the concreet floor. They told me the warm water would be installed later that day but this ended up taking around 5 days (very typical). The space was big, and it did not really feel very homey with only a bed and a little table in it. So I decided to go to the nearest town to buy some basic things like a shower curtain, bin, simple carpet, hooks and a mirror (this was a challenge!!. After that the room was a lot better!

After the first weekend the first working week started with mainly lessons at the schools in the morning and a private class in the afternoon. It all was a bit scary at first, but I just went there and did it. I got a note book from one of the kids to see what they had been practicing so far and started to repeat that, as they had not had classes for a while, so I could see what they remembered and what needed more practise. This made structuring the classes a lot easier and I’m actually sad that I’m not here for a bit longer to really make some progress with the kids. I really have been enjoying helping the kids with English and teaching on its own.

The two schools are for the ages 6 till 12 years old and both only have only two classes. This makes teaching a challenge as there are a lot of different ages/levels in the classes from 6 till 9 and 9 till 12. On the other hand the classes only have around 5 to 10 kids so you can have more personal approach. It is really an adventure! They are all really eager to learn another language and want to go fast, but learning a language takes time and practice. I have to come up with other activities to really use the language instead of just copying new material.

I hope you all enjoyed this little insight of being a teacher here! The next blog will probably be of life in Cocachimba besides teaching! Let me know what you think!

Have a great morning/day/evening!

Lara