Apryl Danwah
Ecuador, Spring 2023 (March 20th – May 5th)

The Decision Process
The decision to study abroad is not one that I made lightly. Before sending in my application, I needed to think through if it was possible and realistic for me to study abroad. When I was making my decision, I made sure to find out as much information about the program as I could. I read through some of the blogs made by the student teachers that went abroad and I talked with Dr. MacMillan. I also looked through the presentation that Dr. MacMillan sent to the student teachers. It was important for me to think about if studying abroad was something that I could afford to do. The price to student teach in Quito, Ecuador was actually less than I was paying for a semester to live on campus. I choose to student teach in Ecuador because of how highly Dr. MacMillan spoke of the placement school and the surrounding city. There are several great placements, but Ecuador stood out to me because I had never thought of visiting there. It does take a while to arrange everything for study abroad, so I submitted my application in the Fall during my semester in the block. By the end of Fall semester, I had confirmation that I was accepted and would be traveling to Ecuador in the Spring. There were many emails and communications happening between the study abroad office and the school placement in Ecuador throughout the semester. Something I was most excited about in Ecuador is that I would be staying with a host family and not alone or at a university. I really wanted to immerse myself in the culture and get to know the country as best as I could. Another big part of my decision was knowing that I would be able to complete all of my student teaching requirements before I left, which meant I could just focus on teaching and exploring when I got to Ecuador.

Before the Trip
When the Spring semester started, I spent my first 7 weeks student teaching at East Taunton Elementary School in Taunton, MA. I was teaching in a 4th grade classroom. I learned that I would also be teaching 4th grade at Colegio Menor in Ecuador. Within the 7 weeks, I completed all of my CAP requirements to get my initial teaching license. I did a week takeover instead of two weeks because I knew I would be doing a week takeover in Ecuador as well. During the first half of the Spring semester, I had to make sure to petition to get out of my housing agreement since I was living on campus at the time. I suggest doing this very early because Residence Life and Housing takes a very long time to approve the petitions. They still have not approved mine and I have already returned from Ecuador! I also needed to officially withdraw from housing through My Housing and check out with an RA before I moved out. The weeks leading up to my trip were definitely very busy and hectic, especially since I was essentially completing the work for 14-16 weeks in only 7 weeks. It helped me to keep a checklist of the things I needed to get done for study abroad and for my student teaching. It was a lot, but it was absolutely worth it in the end. I booked my flight only a couple weeks before I was meant to fly out because we were waiting on more information about our host families. Once I knew of my host family I contacted them to figure out when they would be able to pick me up from the airport so I could book my flight accordingly. My last day student teaching in Taunton was on a Friday, I flew out to Ecuador on Saturday, and I started my first day at Colegio Menor in Ecuador the following Monday. It took a lot of planning and preparation to make sure I was all set to student teach abroad in Ecuador. The study abroad office and Dr. MacMillan were very helpful during this time and they were always open to any questions I had.

Student Teaching/Placement Experience
On March 20th, I started my placement at Colegio Menor in Quito, Ecuador. The school is a private school that is a part of Nord Anglia, which has schools all around the world. The school campus is huge and it is broken up into the primary school, elementary school, middle school, and high school. I was student teaching in a 4th grade classroom that focused on reading,
writing, and social studies. In 4th grade, the students see one teacher for math and science and another teacher for reading, writing, and social studies. I had two different classes and 44 students in total! Most of my students were proficient in English, but I did notice that they would only know how to say certain words in Spanish, so they would need some words translated. They wrote very well in English too except for common spelling mistakes. Something I found very interesting about this school was that the students call teachers by their first names. I actually really liked this and I thought it allowed for more genuine and close relationships with students. I enjoyed getting to know the school culture and experience what a private school was like. The school seemed to have many resources available to students. The students had specials everyday and they included classes like art, music, gym, Spanish, and library. The curriculum in 4th grade at Colegio Menor was very similar to what was being taught at my previous 4th grade placement. Even though I was placed in an ELA/social studies classroom, I still went to observe math and science classes. I saw that the math curriculum was pretty much the same and that both of my placements used mystery science. A really big difference I noticed is in how the teachers plan lessons. At Colegio Menor, there is team planning in 4th grade, which means that within the grade level team, one teacher would plan the lessons for each subject. For example, my teacher planned for writing. Another teacher would plan social studies and another teacher would plan reading. There were definitely benefits and challenges to this type of planning. I think it is a great advantage for a teacher candidate to experience different types of schools and teaching practices. I really enjoyed learning from my host teacher and getting to know all 44 of my students. My students were so interested in getting to know me and where I was from. Many of my students had visited the United States before and had so much they wanted to share with me. I had the pleasure of attending different events, assemblies, and field trips with my classes. I spent some time providing extra help to students after school and I introduced my classes to reading groups/book clubs. I learned so much from my students and about Ecuadorian culture. Near the end of my student teaching, my host teacher and the elementary school principal observed my teaching and gave me feedback. They were very positive and reassured me that I was “teaching material.” All the school staff were so welcoming and I had a great experience at the school.

Living and Traveling in Ecuador
I couldn’t have asked for a better host family. They were very welcoming and so willing to take me around to get to know the city. My host mom has a 15 year old son and they also have
a dog and two cats. My host mom’s mom would make me breakfast every morning and do my laundry. She didn’t speak a lot of English, so we would communicate with a mix of Spanish and English. My host mom is a 4th grade teacher at Colegio Menor, so I would ride to school with her every morning. She lived about 30-40 minutes away from the school. Some days she tutored after school and I would get a ride home with one of the other teachers at the school. My host family really treated me like a part of the family. They were very protective over me and would also advise me on what was safe to do in Quito. I was told that it is best not to walk outside alone and to not take too many valuable things with me whenever I went on weekend trips. I never felt unsafe, but I know that my host family was just taking precautions. They introduced me to so many new places and new foods. I had a lot of fried eggs, rice, empanadas, and potatoes. Some traditional dishes that I tried are locro, churrasco, tigrillo, and bizcochos. On the weekends, my host mom would often take me out or offer to drive me to wherever I wanted to go. I saw so many of Ecuador’s most famous tourist attractions. I visited waterfalls, went on hikes, went paragliding and ziplining, and visited the equator line. I am so grateful to my host family and for
everything they have done for me. I had so much fun staying with them and learning about their traditions.

Final Thoughts
I am very happy that I took advantage of the opportunity to student teach abroad. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. I had some amazing experiences and made many new friends. I loved being able to explore a new culture. Additionally, I know that teaching in another country has taught me so much that I can take and adapt to teaching in the United States. Due to this experience, I know I have improved as an educator and become a more open-minded person. I am excited to share with my future students all about Ecuadorian culture. I hope to stay in contact with my host teacher and my host family. They have already made me promise to send them photos of my graduation. After graduation, I plan on working as a substitute teacher for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year. I am currently working on applying to long term sub positions around my hometown for the Fall. Overall, I had an amazing experience student teaching abroad and I am so grateful to the study abroad office and Dr. MacMillan for all the help and guidance during this process. I encourage anyone thinking about studying abroad to reach out to the study abroad office and to take advantage of the opportunity