First Person: Study Abroad Experiences

 

From Karen Moss, Secondary Education, Mexico:

I am currently a senior in the BAT Teaching Spanish program.  In the Fall semester of 2003, I studied abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico.  While I took regular and international classes there, my most rewarding experience was an optional internship that I participated in.

Several times a week, I assisted with English and Spanish classes at a local public secondary school.  Oftentimes, the regular teacher I assisted would simply not show up to school, so I would have to spontaneously create lessons and activities for each hour!  Classrooms held up to 50 students, and most classes were full.  Trying to control many students in a different language was challenging and frustrating at times.

Periodically, I submitted reports about daily activities, comparing America’s school system to the one I worked at in Guadalajara.  These reports allowed me to reflect on my personal beliefs about teaching language, relating with students, and the role of the educational system.

This internship gave me a glimpse of a foreign educational system and first-hand experience in teaching languages.  This experience was extremely beneficial to my future teaching career; I definitely encourage all future teachers to not only study abroad for at least a semester, but to engage in an internship opportunity such as this one. It is very challenging, but after you come through it, you find out how very rewarding it can be for you.

 

From Jessie Louie, Elementary Education, Costa Rica:

I studied abroad during the summer of 2004 in Costa Rica through the University of New Orleans.  I used this program to fulfill my Language Arts endorsement credits for my major.  It was an amazing, fun, memorable experience that changed my outlook on life and has made me want to spend some time teaching abroad in the future.  I lived with a host family in San Ramon.  For six weeks, I took classes in Costa Rica.  These classes were from Monday to Thursday, 4 hours each day.  I had long weekends to travel; we saw volcanoes, beaches, rainforests, etc.  I met some great friends on this trip and got to learn the language better.  Living with a host family was a wonderful experience and a great way to see how families live across the globe.  Studying abroad has made me more interested in teaching diverse groups of children.  I have requested to have my student teaching experience in a bilingual classroom.  I am also thinking about moving out to California next year to teach in a classroom with students from many different backgrounds.