Language Assistants

languageassistants-ela-success-stories-paraguay-lucy-tebbitt-iguazu-2009-2010

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LUCY TEBBIT, ELA IN PARAGUAY 2009-2010

Lucy worked as an assistant in Fernando de la Mora in Paraguay during her year abroad. She has just finished her studies in French and Spanish at the University of Southampton.

I really wanted to go to South America, and decided that the best way to do it would be to teach so that I could earn money whilst I was out there. I taught in a private institution which only taught English. I taught mainly teenagers between 13 and 17, and had a couple of classes of adults who tended to be around 18-24. Most of the teaching was done on Saturdays, and the other days I only went in for an hour or so, I had to teach everything from grammar to listening and writing, but had a course book and workbook to use. Teaching the teenagers was the most fun because they were very enthusiastic and I could try new ideas with them. They loved to find out exactly what life was like in England and loved looking at photos and any other bits and pieces that I had taken over.

I lived with a Paraguayan family, and the girl was my age so I went out with her a bit. I also went out with my students who were my age. I then joined a Taekwondo club to meet some different people outside of work. My language skills improved a lot, mainly because I was based just outside the capital and was the only foreigner, so I had to speak a lot. It’s good to try and spend time with as many Spanish-speaking people as possible.

My advice for future assistants would be to just to go for it, and say yes to all invitations and try to speak as much as possible. It has given me a lot more confidence now that I have managed to live in Paraguay for a year when I didn’t know anyone to start with.

After the assistantship, I got a two month holiday in the summer, and so met up with a friend from Uni and travelled around South America which was amazing, and something I couldn’t have done had I not spent my year there. We went to Iguazu waterfalls, which were amazing, cycled the death road in Bolivia and spent some time in Argentina and Uruguay, it was amazing!