So where did teaching come from? About a month and a half ago Morgan met some guys interested in having deep conversations. He met them from one of the nights where he volunteers at the college coffee shop. The coffee shop is a place for students to practice language and a place for us to meet students. This became a great relationship with a few of the guys. It turns out they are connected to an English club on campus. The students are all 2nd year students (sophomores) and major in English. They were looking for a good English teacher. When they met Morgan they got so excited with his willingness to be friends with them. They asked a few weeks later if he would be a teacher for their club? After asking all the right people, Morgan got the OK last week that he can teach at the college, but with our student visa we cannot get paid. They wanted to pay us from their own pockets. We said the college said we couldn’t be paid. The main guy was shocked and said we had to be paid for our time. Morgan explained it is good for our language too and it is OK. We may get a discount for Morgan’s language study in return. Either way we are excited to have this opportunity.
Morgan and I have over 35 students. We have almost divided them in half and made an advanced and beginner level. Morgan will teach the advanced class every Monday evening for 2 hours and I will teach the beginners every Thursday morning for 2 hours. They are all locals and I already learned how to say Thanks in their language! (Different from the language we are currently learning) Last Thursday was my first day to meet the students. Morgan had already met the class a few times before and told them all about his family. So when Morgan and I walked in the class they stood up and started clapping. They were excited to meet his wife. I think I turned red by the excited welcome. They all knew my name and were all saying it as I followed Morgan to the front of the class. It was so much fun and we both like our classes. The first day they just asked me all their questions. They asked about family, culture, food, and the basic things about America. They want to study the American culture as well as language. Next Thursday it will be Thanksgiving Day and I will share all about our Holiday. Then we head into December and we look forward to sharing more of our culture.
So it is something again that we did not have in mind before moving here, but that’s okay, its fun, and we look forward to getting to know the students. We are excited to have Christmas with them, dinner, movie nights, and the works! I love it.
Keep the students and us in mind. I am not sure what we got ourselves into as far as teaching, but we will figure it out. J
