SUNDAY 9 SEPTEMBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
11
AN ENGAGED STUDENT
What comes to mind when you think of Colombia?
Undeniably, the first things that rush to my mind are the
Andes mountains, breathtakingly beautiful landscapes,
the Transmilenio, Empanadas and Arepas, good
customer service, vast lands, rich colonial architecture
and pigeons! Before embarking on this unforgettable
journey of becoming an English Language Assistant in
Colombia, my main intention was to just take a year off
and travel.
The opportunity to teach English in a LatinAmerican
country inevitably resulted inmany changed perceptions,
improvedmy foreign language capabilities, improvedmy
teaching and public speaking skills, gave me a great sense
of independence and personal growth and introduced
me to a completely different culture which, in my strong
opinion, can all come with the experience of a study
exchange or being an English Language Assistant in a
foreign land.
I completed my UWI degree with a special in
International Relations and a minor in Spanish. At first, I
thought that the English Language Assistant programme
was limited to students with aMajor in Spanish. It turned
out that students pursuing a minor in Spanish could also
apply.
The native Spanish Lecturers and their excellent
course plans at the Centre for Language Learning (CLL),
set the general foundation, but the learning experience
you get from living in an actual Spanish-speaking country
can never be gained in a classroom setting.
I was forced to speak the language every single day
since most people did not know English. I was able to
speak more fluently after a fewmonths. Bearing in mind
that conversational Spanishwas not so easy for me before,
I can now confidently tell anyone to take advantage of
opportunities like these and live in a country for a year
if you really want to fully learn a language or improve
your fluency!
Teaching was the last thing on my mind as a
profession. Leading up to the training sessions andmock
classes at CLL in preparing us for the trip, I did not feel
confident at all in the way that I presented topics and
I clearly remembered questioning myself if this was
B Y B A L I N D A R A M L O C H A N
something that I was capable of doing. More anxiety
came when I learned that Language ‘Assistants’ would
be individually assigned classes at the university, that is,
no supervisor, no head of the language department, just
you and the University students.
When I got to the University in Bogota I found that
three language assistants from the United States and
England would be there too. The teamwork, the creation
of lesson plans, presentations and even a workbook for
students to follow definitely made our work much easier
and enjoyable. Without those three, life at the University
would not have been the same and I must say that dancing
to the Black Eyed Peas’ songs in our planning sessions
was memorable!
So what were the students like in Colombia? I taught
at a private university and found they were very respectful
and willing to collaborate.Their English levels were really
low and most times I found myself teaching English
by speaking Spanish for them to fully understand the
explanations. We used technology in class, the television,
did PowerPoint presentations and played games. I often
foundmyself Googling various in-class activities in order
to make learning more fun.
Sharing the culture of our island was perhaps the
best part where I often showed music videos and even
did cultural presentations. I was amazed at the interest
they had in our culture, even though most did not know
where Trinidad and Tobago was located. The expressions
on their faces were priceless and many were astonished
at the fact that such a tiny island can comprise such
diversity and yet exist in harmony. I had never felt this
much patriotic in my life.
Even after 2 years I can vividly remember every single
detail of my time in Colombia. I only worked 18 hours
for the week which therefore meant a lot of free time
to explore and learn! I took advantage of almost all the
long weekends and holidays and attempted to travel to
every inch of Colombia. This was to my disappointment
impossible but I did get to do a substantial amount of
trips while I was there. I mostly found myself hiking on
the mountains, getting lost at times, learning about the
history of various sites andmastering the art of travelling
on the Transmilenio.
The English Language Assistants at the University
(Gracie, Balinda, Megan and Chris)
The Transmilenio bus
My Passion for Travel
