I know little about my internship, and what little I write here is subject to change.
Who are the students?
They are 5th-6th grade children and adults at ABC School of English. Of course I don’t know their personalities yet, or their proficiency level. I believe the class size is under 15 but I’m not sure.
Who are the other stakeholders?
Magdalena Chavez is the site director. I don’t know yet who will be our MAT supervisor. For the school-age students, I imagine their parents will be part of the picture. For the adults, I don’t know if other family members will have any involvement. Other teachers, my peers.
Why are they learning English?
I don’t know the answer, which will probably be different not only from person to person but between age groups (kids v. adults).
When is the class?
I don’t know. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that the classes are after school hours, in the evening, but I don’t see that written on the site overview.
Where is the class?
Someplace in downtown Pachuca, I think. Mountainous community around 8000+ feet in elevation. Few tourists so mostly Spanish spoken. Good hiking.
What are the learning objectives?
I don’t know yet. I know know if they have a set curriculum this year as they have in the past, or if (as I think I remember hearing somewhere) it’s flexible and we can develop our own. I don’t know the students’ level of proficiency and objectives, or the school’s objectives, or even whether they related primarily to one or another or all of the Four Skills.
With what will I achieve these goals?
It depends. But I will take my computer, my camera and a photo printer, my video editing software, some pens and paper, music, some realia related to life in the US, some candy… For my own edification outside the classroom I’ll bring teacher resource books and will consult with my class notes stored in my blog. I hope for an Internet connection. I hope to have time to record some video of conversations in English by native speakers here, and by nonnative speakers for comparison. I will likely use the PowerPoint software on my computer, and will probably use some of the thousands of photos I’ve taken that I store on my hard drive. Maybe Cuisenaire rods.
I may bring index cards for my own Spanish learning. And the rest of what I’ll bring will depend on my mission.