I spent June 23rd to July 2nd in Ecuador thanks to the AATSP’s partial scholarship with United Planet, a global volunteer organization. The first five days there at the Quintilian Sánchez School, I worked predominantly with seventh grade students (the oldest at this public school) and taught English basics like introductions, colors, clothing, descriptive words and numbers to 100. I worked on pronunciation and getting students to use language in chunks and short sentences, rather than singular words. I was told prior to arrival that I would be supporting the English teacher there and therefore, had not packed many teaching supplies. I had purchased some school supplies to donate like glue, pencils, erasers, and stickers, but I felt very unprepared for the school’s reality. There was no technology, so my entire curriculum saved in Google Drive was inaccessible and even when I made pictures to hang on the board, tape was a challenge to find around the school.

I was always able to reach out and talk with someone at United Planet.