Work - 31 Things

My work at the university (CEC-EPN) as a teacher trainer entails: Researching topics for and prepping teacher training workshops (three or four a cycle). Observing new or struggling teachers and giving them feedback. Teaching a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) class twice a year. Occasionally taking on a regular English level (I usually teach the higher, “Academic” levels). Putting together folders of activities for teachers to use. A few administrative duties such as helping with teacher reports, emailing reports on teacher performance, tallying workshop attendance. 

My job at the university used to be much more hectic. As Academic Coordinator, I dealt more with the students (as they asked for advice on grades/problems/complaints) and teachers (as they asked for advice on problem classes or rooms or turned in grades). I miss this daily interaction a bit.

I love teacher training. I get to spend time sharing ideas and activities, problem solving, identifying issues and working on long-term plans to alleviate them. It is definitely a creative outlet some days. I love taking someone’s weak points or problems and trouble-shooting. I love giving them advice and then asking them later how things worked out. Many days, however, I miss the interaction in the classroom. As a teacher my students looked up to me, asked for advice, shared their lives with me. As a teacher trainer I am sometimes (unfortunately) seen as the bad guy, the person who’s sent out when there are problems. I try to keep the training upbeat, personal, and practical, but I am no longer “one of them.” It doesn’t help that I don’t have an office, either, and am currently “stationed” in one of the labs on the first floor on the way to nowhere. 

Part of my isolation is my own fault. I feel a little like a “spy” when I sit in the teacher’s lounge. There is also an age gap - most of our teachers are fresh out of college, doing a year or two of volunteer work at the university before they move on to their “real” jobs. While I have made a few friends, I get older and they don’t, and we don’t always have a lot in common.

One of the biggest perks with training at the moment is the type of contract I have. I work two months, then get 2 weeks off. It is not paid vacation, but I enjoy the break so much. My schedule is flexible, which is another huge perk. I can take a cycle off (with no pay) and pick up again in two months. Financially, it can be difficult, but most of the time I feel like I get the best of both worlds: time at home and time at work. 

Yesterday we took Nico out of school so that we could get his Ecuadorian passport renewed. And for the first time ever, when it comes to paperwork, I can say (in Agustín's words), it was "easy peasy"!

Whew! Huge relief. Only one more hurdle - we need to get the permission for me to leave the country alone with the kids (Ecuadorian law will not allow children to be removed from the country without a notarized written permission from the absent parent. In one way, very good. In another, a pain).

And then, a little Spiderman action to end the day...