THE PROGRAM: Maximo Nivel

The reason I am here in Cusco is to get my teaching English certification as a foreign language or TEFL/TESOL. I am doing it at a private language school, Maximo Nivel, which sits across the street from the Incan Sun Temple. Needless to say there's a lot to get distracted by in town. The course itself is an intensive class about ESL techniques for non-native speakers. Consists of 150 internationally accredited hours including 10 practical teaching hours. We began teaching 20 minute mini-lessons at the end of the first week, which was only after a day and a half of classes.

My first mini-lesson was about whitewater rafting and consisted of creating new vocabulary about the river, what you need to get down it, and local knowledge of the river systems here. My class consisted of 6 beginner intermediate English students ranging in age from 18- 22. It went okay but, thankfully, there's always room for improvement. It's a crash course in pedagogy, grammar, and overall classroom management. I like it as it is taught differently than any class I've ever taken, focusing on getting the students talking, using the language correctly, and takes the spotlight off of me.

In addition to this class, I have also started doing what is known as a tandem learning hour with a local Peruvian focusing on language exchange about any topic you prefer. It's arranged through the school here with an English student and its aim is to improve both languages and, indirectly, my ESL techniques. This picture is of Jenny, her sister Lucy, and myself while they tell me about Inti Rahymi, the upcoming Incan Sun festival. Here's how it normally goes, I speak Spanish and she speaks English, we meet in the middle (sometimes) and choose a new topic for the next day. Yesterday was political structure, discussing the similarities and differences of our governments. It was so hard for me to explain the difference between conservative and liberal since the two parties are centrist and have more similarities than differences. Then there's always the neo-conservatives and neo-liberals, which is different sides of the same coin and bag of worms in and of itself. Today's topic was much better, poetry. I brought a poem by Pablo Neruda called 'Clenched Soul' and she brought a poem call "La Semenairista de los Ojos Negros" both with English and Spanish translations. Tomorrow is the religions of the world. We'll see how that goes and whether or not I will need salvation and just exist.