Learning While Teaching
So after the first few weeks of mix ups at the library, our schedules finally coincided and I began teaching my computer classes a few weeks ago- I am now looking forward to lesson number 5 (although I should be on 6 but each lesson seems to go a little more slowly than the one before).Considering that I began using an Apple II when it first came out (I think I was like 8 years old) and I really don`t remember ever writing an essay outside of class without a computer, being in Latin America has woken me up to the real world. Yes, people still write essays by hand and no, not everyone knows what the shift button on the keyboard does.
So I have had to start from the ground up in order to teach my students (all three are housewives who want to learn for reasons varying from the desire to get back into the workforce to helping their children with homework). From what the buttons on the tower and monitor are for to hardware components, from operating systems (of course Windows since it was the Microsoft Foundation that installed computers in over fifty libraries in Chile) to Word- the process is slow and detailed.
But honestly, it has proved to be just as much of a challenge for my students as it has for me since I am teaching these lessons in Spanish with specific vocabulary. (I always have to remind myself to change the pronunciation to Spanish so that they can understand me- instead of Microsoft Word it is Mee-kro-sof Wurd...kind of, and instead of cursor it is koor-sore.)
But there is a lot more in addition to learning new vocabulary and a lot of patience- I find myself learning about their lives as women and housewives living in Chile. We gossip a little (come on...we are all women- it can`t be all business and no fun!) and they share what it is like to be responsible for sometimes up to four generations of family members living in the same househole. I don`t know how they do it, because I am still learning to take care of myself!
Despite the fact that I have to travel an hour each way from my house to the library in the southern-most part of Santiago, I look forward to the time I spend with these ladies during our two-hour lesson. We have about ten more to go and I am not sure I am going to be ready to say goodbye when the lessons are over...
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