Contributed by:
Matt Hilton, ELMS Project
A big part of
teaching English as a Second Language and working with English Language
Learners is understanding the culture they bring with them. This summer I had
the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica through the Watson College of Education
at UNC-Wilmington. With this opportunity I hoped to acquire a personal
understanding of the Latin American culture that a lot of my students have. In
order to keep this post relatively short here are some highlights:
Host Families: By far the best experience of the whole trip was my time with my tica (native Costa Ricans)
familia. I had two different families; one in Heredia (urban) and one in
Monteverde (mountains). Both families are family oriented; the majority of the
time was spent with relatives. Luckily for me they took me in as one of their
own, always making sure to include me. They were very purposeful in helping me
learn Spanish and of course the occasional jokes came with my bad
pronunciation. I grew so close with both my families that they even invited me back
in the future!
Immersion
Cycle:
The immersion cycle is the process of acclimating to a new culture and
language. This cycle is a very difficult process, which I came to find out. Not
only did I have to use Spanish in my home-stay, but my academic work was also
in Spanish. I truly felt the same way an ELL student would be in the United
States. I had to use my low proficiency L2 to get through the day and then not
even get a break on homework.
Volunteer Work: While there we were
able to go to a few schools and work with students. It was great to see the
excitement on the students faces as we stepped into the classroom and work with
them one-on-one. Along with our visit we were able to donate books and supplies
for their classroom.
Tourism: It wouldn’t be a trip
to Costa Rica without doing a few touristic opportunities. These included going
to zoos, zip lining, and volcanoes. My favorite tourist activity was the
zip-lining; something I’ve never done before.
