journal 3

Yesterday was my last day going out to Escuela Vieau School to help teach English. It was a good feeling knowing that I was going to get my 15 hours. This day was also the birthday of the oldest person in the class, she was turning 87. Before she got to class everyone else brought some sort of food in to share with the class and celebrate her birthday. When she got to class she did not even notice all the food sitting 10 feet from her. She just sat down at the table and joined the class on the lesson for the day. Later that day we had her party. They got her balloons and a cake and she had the biggest smile on her face. This will be my most memorable memory of my time at Escuela Vieau. Later in class we went over to the computers and worked on how to use a computer. It never crossed my mind that they might not know how to use a computer or use the internet but they had no idea what to do when on it. But using the computer was just as much work for them as it was to try to learn the English language. It was eye opening to see how different two people can be that live 20 minutes from each other have very different experiences. Here’s me, a 19 year old kid that spends probably half my day using a computer for one thing or another trying to teach people in their 40’s how to speak English and use a computer. It was a complete role reversal for what my life has been like, me being taught by people older than me and now I am teaching those older than me. That has been the biggest thing with this whole experience, me trying to help those who I am not entirely comfortable with. But I will always look back at my time at Escuela and be happy about the time I spent there.