~Argentina has a population of 32.6 million people, about 1/3 of which live in Buenos Aires or the surrounding area.
~99% of the Argentinian people are of European descent (predominantly Spanish and Italian) with less than 1% being of African descent and less than 1% being indigenous.
~In terms of land mass, Argentina is the 2nd largest country in South America (after Brazil) and 8th largest country in the world.
~Argentina is home to the highest peak in South America, Mount Aconcagua, at nearly 23,000 feet.
(picture from wikipedia.com)
~Argentina is also home to the world´s largest glacier, called Glaciar Perito Moreno. This 250 km² ice formation is also the 3rd largest fresh water reserve in the world.
~Argentina also boast the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia, capital of the Argentinian province of Tierra del Fuego.
Ok enough about the country, on to MY life here in Argentina. Today was the second day of my TEFL course. Yesterday I arrived at the office building where the course is taught. We have a very nice section here with 2 classrooms, offices, and computers with internet (where I am writing from right now). It turns out that there are only 4 students in my class - Kelly from Texas, Michelle from Colorado, Graham from England, and me. It´s nice because our classroom setting is very intimate and informal. Our teacher Mali is from South Africa (he´s white) so he teaches in a British accent, which at times can be quite amusing.
Yesterday, after a brief introduction to the class, Mali left the room and came back speaking only in Czech. At first we thought it was a joke, but then realized that he was going to teach us very basic words and phrases in Czech. After an hour of this, and my basic learning being ¨Ahoj!¨(hello) and ¨Pa pa!¨ (bye bye!) He left and came back in and asked us (in English) what the point of all that was. Very quickly I realized that he wanted us to understand how our students would be feeling, those who don´t know any English at all. See, when we teach here, we are not allowed to use any spanish (despite any knowledge we might have). It seems to create a handicap for both the teacher and learner to just fall back on the native language.
After the morning session, the other students and I went to a nearby plaza to eat lunch. Our class building is in a very nice area of BsAs (Buenos Aires), meaning everything is very expensive. So we walked a bit and found a delightful cafe to eat toasted ham & cheese sandwiches at, as it had gotten sunnier and warmer by lunchtime.
In the afternoon, we did several different activities, one of my favorites being correcting mistakes of other students. I realized that teaching a foreign language really can be quite enjoyable when I came upon the following errors:
1. ¨I am going to bring my sleepy sack.¨ (instead of ¨sleeping bag¨, how cute!)
2. ¨Let´s keep touching!¨ (did you figure out what the student meant? ¨Let´s keep in touch!¨) Learning English can be rather tricky, and hilarious, at times...
For dinner, my host mother made sopa de calabaza (pumpkin soup) & milanesa (flat, breaded beef steak - remined me of country fried steak at Saga only waaaay better). My host mom has 2 twin 28-year-old daughters, who came for dinner and we talked a lot about Spain because they have traveled there as well. After dinner I needed to prepare my first lesson - no worries though, I just had to present a 10- minute ¨how to...¨ lesson to the other kids in my class. I chose how to read music. :)
Today at school, we learned more about teaching from Mali & taught our How-to lessons in the morning. During the lunch hour, Michelle and I went on an adventure to find the bank, although we didn´t know it would be when we left. We figured in this nice part of BsAs, there would be a bank on just about every corner, but after walking several blocks, we decided to ask someone. They told us 300 meters to the next bank. We walked 500 meters and asked someone else. They also told us 300 meters (from where we were). Another 500 meters down the road we found it. I needed to change my 100 peso and 50 peso bills because no one will accept them for purchases less than 90 pesos and 40 pesos, respectively. (Side note: $1 = 3 Argentinian pesos) Basically they are not real big on giving change here. My friend even tried to change a 2 peso bill for change for the bus at a little food stand and they wouldn´t do it. I am learning quickly that coins are precious here because they are the only way you can ride the bus (there is an automatic machine you pay into when you get on). Rushing to get back to class on time, we stopped at the cafeteria of the local Catholic University we passed on the way. Very cheap, very likely we will return there again...
After lunch we got to meet our new students! 7 Argentinians came for our first English class, although we didn´t teach, we just observed, but it was still exciting! Before class started we went around and individually met them. This is meant to be a beginner level class, but people are at various levels of beginner. For example, some can talk all about their families, where they live, etc., while other´s struggle to tell me how old they are. It was good to see and get to meet the kind of people we will be teaching for the next 2 weeks, before we move on to the advanced levels. Tomorrow I am in charge of teaching pronounciation: the 2 different ¨th¨ sounds (as in thy and thigh) and the ae sound (as in ¨stair¨). I´m excited, but I have alot of work to do to prepare my lesson. Adios!
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