Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Our day began very early. At 6 AM, we met in our hotel lobby and boarded a nice coach bus, along with our hosts from Dolores Hidalgo, Chewy (Jose Jesus) and Jaime and 20 students from UTNG. We traveled for 2 hours to UT Leon, where we were greeted by many English teachers and staff who made us all feel welcome.

After a lovely breakfast reception, groups of 2 or 3 Global Volunteers along with several students from UTNG went to their assigned classrooms - 6 classes each lasting one half hour. It was a whirlwind! In between, we managed to have a delicious lunch prepared by several students in the Culinary Arts program at UT Leon.

I was paired with Ellen and we had a wonderful experience. In several classes, the students were at a beginning level and enjoyed our asking each of them about their families, favorite food and free-time activities. Apart from the popular activities such as playing soccer and listening to music, many students enjoyed sleeping, shopping and watching TV, not at all dissimilar from their peers in the U.S. We also found out that our students enjoyed a rousing round of hokey-pokey! The more advanced students had prepared questions, such as "What do you think of President Bush?" , "How do you feel about racism?", "How do you like Mexican culture?", "What do you do to help the environment?", "What are your hobbies?", "Why did you decide to be a Global Volunteer?". We had very good interactions.

After lunch, some of us met with teachers from different areas. My group met with engineering teachers. They wanted to practice their skills in English with us. One of them, Javier, a mechanical engineering professor, gave us a brief tour of his laboratory/classroom.

Altogether, the day was very well organized. By the time the bus came for us at 3:30 PM, we were pretty tired and were glad to return to our home away from home, the hotel Posada Las Campanas. Our day was capped by a delicious dinner at the restaurant El Carruaje. Thanks, Carl! Thanks, Volunteers, for a great day.

Contributed by Ofra Dose

Quote contributed by Jeanne Anderson

If you plan for a year, plant a seed. If you plan for ten years, plant a tree. If you plan for a hundred years, teach the people. When you sow a seed once, you will reap a single harvest. When you teach the people, you will reap a hundred harvests.

Kuan Chung