It is the end of my last week here and I’m so sad that time flew by so fast. I had my last day of student teaching yesterday and today was my last full day here. One of the many things I will miss about this country is the soup. The Ecuadorian soups are just so good!

One of my favorite soups- pepper soup and I love to have popcorn in it the way they do here in Ecuador.

I can honestly say I learned a lot by being here. Not just about myself but about people as a whole. Everyone we came across in our travels was happy to help us find where we were going when we got lost (and we got lost often). To all the student teachers that are thinking about doing any of the International Student Teaching programs, do it, because you will enjoy it no matter where you decide on going. Also I think you’ll regret it if don’t because you’ll be missing out on wonderful experiences.

A picture of the sunset from Montanita- the coast. Which was taken last weekend

Hello all,

The teaching styles of the two teachers I work with are similar but in different ways since they are with different grades. I do student interventions- which will either be pull outs or push-ins with Margarita in mostly third grade but second grade as well. Estefy does the same interventions but with fourth through sixth grade. I always wanted to work with the younger students since in MA, I worked as a preschool teacher for two years but now after working with student in fourth, fifth and sixth grade; I feel like I would like working with older grades too. Also as for the interventions I can do I’m excited because I get to do more planning and teaching the intervention to the student with Marga and Estefy helping if the student doesn’t understand what I mean or if it’s the other way around. Some interventions I can’t do because it is in Spanish but I did one the last week in a push in setting and I think it went well as well as the positive feedback I got from the Spanish teacher.    

Another interesting thing that happened today, is I found out one of the student’s knows American Sign Language and we talked about that. The student told me that both of her uncles are blind and deaf on her father’s side. She also knows Spanish Sign Language and taught me some signs. The alphabet is a bit different but not too far from American Sign Language. I got to sit in on an art class while the teachers I’m working with was in a meeting. In art they are allowed to talk in Spanish and the students tried to teach me some Spanish;  one of the students says I’m getting better everyday and that’s its cool that I’m trying to speak it to them and learn from them. Another good thing about sitting in on the art class is that I get to see the students strengths that I’m working with as well as helping them in their weakness and it helps me to see both so I can plan my interventions to the best of my ability.

This week was our first week back after vacation. The weeks seem to fly by here. I’m excited because this week I’ve been able to do some interventions with the students in learning support. I enjoy being a part of both Estefy and Marga’s interventions because I am able to see what the different grades are doing and variations of how to do the interventions. Some of the things that they do are similar to the United States, like for example when they do pull outs and have the child read a book and do some comprehension questions. The only different thing I have seen so far is that for a child with dyslexia; the learning support specialist write the paper or parts of the paper for the student. But in class the support is different because he writes his own words with just reminders of how to spell words.

There is something I’m looking forward to on Monday. One of the students is doing a report on Harry Potter and I’m excited to help him his report being a huge Harry Potter fan myself. I plan on working on high frequency words with him as well as the book report.

As for the other students they are working on fractions and multiplication and students in other grades are working on rhyming words and phonological awareness.

This weekend we went to the markets in Otavalo and the thermal baths in Papallacta. Otavalo was a fun time and got to see a lot of the art and jewelry that people made. The thermal baths in Papallacta was a relaxing way to end the weekend!

Can’t wait to see more of Ecuador next weekend!  

When I left for my flight my Mother and youngest sister took me to the airport. They got passes to make sure I got to the right gate, because this is my first time flying without an adult with me. The first plane ride wasn’t that bad, there was a bit a turbulence. I had a hour layover in Florida. The second plane ride was a bit more stressful. The flight was delayed for an hour. And  when I tried to email my host family to tell them that I’d be late, the wifi wasn’t working. So eventually it sent while we were landing. Customs wasn’t bad and my host family is lovely. Ariana and I love her, she is so sweet and she has a big family so it felt  like I was at home. And they make me feel at home, or like I’m staying at friend’s house.

As for Sunday, Ariana and I went around the neighborhood for a walk and meet all of our host mom’s family. They are all really sweet and spoke in Spanish so that we get more accustomed to the language. Side note I really need to brush up on my Spanish. I can understand it more than I can speak it.

On the first day of school, we got on the wrong bus and ended up in Quito instead of a 7 minute bus ride we realized we’ve been on the bus for far too long and we had gotten on a city bus instead of the yellow school bus. We were able to contact the school and someone came to get us from the bus station. The school is so beautiful and open. It is unlike any school building I have seen. I work with two different teachers/ supervising practitioners and they are both wonderful. The first teacher is Margarita and she does push in and pull outs in 3rd and 4th grade. Estefani works with 5th and 6th grade. They keep busy schedules, and when I’m not with one supervising partitioner, I’m with the other because I wanted to see how it works in both grades. And they both wanted me to get the full experience of how special education is done at the school. So far, on my third day it has been wonderful. The crazy thing that happened today, is that I was on my own and had to do push ins and observe for both teachers. I thought it was going to be hectic but it turned out not to be as hectic as I thought. I did get lost and had to ask where to find a certain classroom but as far as today went it couldn’t have gone better.

– Helana