FundaVida is an organization that I have been working with to teach students English in an after school program in the lower developed neighborhoods in San Jose. I just ended the first month of our classes and cannot wait to continue our progress in April and May. This opportunity has given me a whole new outlook on teaching and what it means to be a role model in the lives of others. The program is about self concept as well as learning English, I have learned so much about my own self concept while working with others it seems I am the student and they the teacher. My two colleagues will be returning to the states this weekend, and so today was a bittersweet class for them. As we climbed on the packed public bus and found our way to our "standing" seat one of our little students began chasing the bus and waving and for that moment I got chills. He like so many others greet us with hugs and kisses and send us on our way home with even more...that is more than any slap on the back progress report you get in the states for teaching your students some standardized hodgepodge.
