In which I rediscover Miss Caroline

For the past two weekends, I´ve been traveling to Heredia (just outside of the capital) to complete a certification for teaching English as a second language.  Long before coming to Costa Rica, I had set aside money to get certified while I was abroad, but had sidelined that plan in the haze of the daily joys of farming.  Sometimes, however, opportunities fall into your lap in a way that is not to be ignored.  Jeff, a friend of mine in San Isidro, recently took this same course and we fell to talking about it.  He highly recommended it, and told me some of the aspects of the class before mentioning the price.  At the number he gave, my mouth fell open.  It was well, well below what I had come up with during internet research while still in the States.  Call him, Jeff said.  There may not be room left soon.  So I did.  And there was.  A dream deferred was suddenly waiting on me only a few days and several bus hours away.

David Blake runs a teacher training facility in Canada for most of the year, and winters in Costa Rica.  He gives his certification classes at much more routine rates in Canada, but offers two sessions of class here during his "vacation." He´s taught all over the world, has an ear constantly open for business and money ideas, smokes like a chimney, and is married to a delightful Japanese woman named June who provides patient and insightful feedback as an English language learner herself. 

My classmates are an interesting hodgepodge of people. Priscilla, a seventy-something lady who landed in Costa Rica because a housing development desperately wanted her lot and offered to buy her a house anywhere in the world, has a big heart but can´t fathom the way some young people speak these days.  Jackie, a beautiful mom of three who lives in a suburb of Costa Rica that can be compared to LA in the states, comes from a special education background in the States and found herself at a loss when trying to do demonstrate "scowl" to June because of Botox.  Kevin owns a fancy bed and breakfast by the beach in Uvita, and taught Kindergarten in the States for thirteen years.  And so on.  It makes for a very interesting class experience - I have learned a lot from the students as well as the teacher.

Each hour that I spend in class, I am reminded of the joy and hardship and friendships and stress I found last year teaching ESL in New Orleans.  I have realized over and over again during lessons what an important experience that was for me - with help from Sarah at Literacy*AmeriCorps, my Corps members, and the Even Start Family, I received and created a quilted education in how to teach ESL.  I made mistakes, I made progress, I taught.  It´s been easy to feel distant from that experience here in Costa Rica, but this course has reopened my heart for the work of teaching English.  I am finding it easy once again to imagine a future of teaching.

I have one more weekend to go before I finish the course - this coming weekend I will be doing my two final practicums and learning about international job opportunities and resume writing.  The bus hours are brutal, San Jose is loud and the men obnoxious, but I believe this class is well worth it.