My love of
Guatemala was sparked when I was a child. When I was a toddler, my parents and
my uncle decided to travel to Guatemala to volunteer at an orphanage. My
favorite story has always been my uncle singing “La cucaracha” while painting
the orphanage, followed by the nuns laughing at him. Because he had no idea
what the song meant, he just continued to sing the only Spanish song he knew.
However, Guatemala had a lasting impression on him, and he continued to travel
to Guatemala and study Spanish, sparking my interest in the culture and
language. I began to take Spanish classes in school and between my sophomore
and junior years of high school, and I decided to visit the Guatemala. My uncle
arranged a four-week trip to La Antigua, during which I took Spanish classes
and volunteered at El Semillero de Mi Ángel Guardián, a program designed to
help children from low-income families with their homework and nutritional
needs. After the four weeks, I knew Guatemala would always be a part of me. In
2012, I returned to volunteer at the same project. My experiences in Guatemala
have shaped who I am and I would be honored to give back to the people who have
changed my life.
Ironically, I
never thought I wanted to teach. Yet, teaching seems to be calling me. Before I
graduated high school, I was already working in a school district as an
employee tutoring migrant children in class subjects and putting together
English lesson plans to help the students understand and communicate better in
English. Since, I have spent my time tutoring Spanish-speaking children through
programs such as Migrant Legal Aid and the local Hispanic Center, where
I also assisted with the adult ESL program. Additionally, I spent seven months
teaching Spanish to children ranging from ages six weeks to six years. Now, I
will graduate from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in anthropology, with an emphasis in linguistic and cultural studies, and a
minor in Spanish.
Throughout my
experiences, I have observed that every student has a different approach to
learning. I have seen the benefits of pairing fun with education in active and
collaborative learning and plan to employ methods such as breaking students
into groups, reading aloud, and games including spelling competitions, Jeopardy,
and rearranging words into sentences. This approach is effective because the
students have to form sentences and use the tools with which they have been
taught to communicate while practicing with and encouraging one another.
Looking back on my
time spent at El Semillero de Mi Ángel Guardián, I am reminded of the
importance of things that, before my time there, did not seem important. For
example, I remember most is watching the children’s faces light up as they
received new toothbrushes, as volunteers played games with them, and as they
learned how to care for a garden. With an ETA, I would like to continue to
volunteer with this project, or find a similar program in the community in
which I will be placed. This program encourages children to learn, teaches them
responsibility, and keeps the children interested in academics and
extracurricular activities, while providing the children with nutritional sustenance
they may not otherwise receive, and I know that I will return and continue to
work with this project even after the program officially ends.
Although the tie
between Guatemala and myself has already been formed, an ETA will provide a
foundation for my future goals. I plan to continue to teach; however, not in
the conventional way. Instead, I plan to apply to Teach for America and
continue to educate others about underserved populations. Hopefully, my goals,
and an ETA, will allow me to be the kind of inspiration to others that my uncle
was for me.
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