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UPCOMING FREE ACTIVITIES
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Spanish courses in Bilbao
October 08, 2015
Rocio Tejedor Rubio

Conversation assistant to a teacher of Spanish in India

Firstly, I would like to say that I loved the course and I think that it is really useful for anybody thinking of dedicating themselves to the teaching of ELE (Spanish as a foreign language). In the last few years I have been fortunate enough to go to France and to Britain, with a Spanish conversation assistant scholarship.

I have given conversation classes to high school students in a secondary school. At that time I had ended my studies in translation and interpretation and I did not have any experience of giving classes in Spanish, however, I had experience giving classes in English, therefore, it was not too difficult. Most of the time I could transfer the exercises that we had done in English classes to the Spanish classes. In the end it was a very rewarding experience, and one that I would recommend to everyone. In addition to getting experience in teaching and getting to know the culture of Brittany, I have had the opportunity to get to know the cultures of conversation assistants from other countries. Living in other countries is an extremely valuable experience in many ways.

I live in India, a country which possesses an incredible culture that until recently was totally unknown for me. I have a student that is learning Spanish. She is 65 year old woman that is passionate about this language. She has studied Spanish on her own for the last 2 years with an online course and had never before had the opportunity to practice with a Spanish-speaking person. She speaks both Hindi and English. Also, she taught me hindi, so, during our classes we use English, Spanish and Hindi. She is a beginner, but when she speaks slowly it is easy to understand.

The biggest challenge that I have been confronted with is giving English classes to underprivileged students who's first language is Hindi. This has meant doing volunteer work in an Indian school without many resources. When I say limited resources, I am referring to the fact that they did not have a photocopier, for example, only chalk and a blackboard. The classes consisted of 30 children between the ages of 9 and 13. Their socio-economic condition was very low. It was important to bear in mind that the majority of these children had not attained the same intellectual capabilities as other children their age, meaning I had to make the activities more accessible for them. Often the parents of these children had very little money to invest in their children. They were children of cleaners, rickshaw drivers, fruit sellers etc. These factors meant that there was a language barrier between us. The children understood English, having studied it academically, but struggled to speak it. I tried to explain all that I could in English, sometimes calling on the help of a Hindi speaking teacher.

Teaching any language is stimulating and rewarding when you see the progress of your students. I encourage all to undertake this challenging endeavour!

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