It rains almost everyday in the early afternoon in La Palma. While walking I notice buckets collecting the water to be used for later. My first day with my host family, they explained that water was a valuable resource and was to be used sparingly. Basically, I understood from my basic level of Spanish that I should simply live by the old saying, “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” I have gotten more and more used to taking 60 second showers and brushing my teeth with as little amount of water as necessary.

For some reason, I assumed all of this effort to conserve water was the whole “Going Green!” fad. However, a few days ago while riding a chiva (a bus without a schedule), I noticed all of the people around me throwing their trash out the window as if the ground was their own personal trash can. I kept it cool until I reached my house and could ask my host family about littering. They explained to me that there was indeed a law against it, however it was not enforced whatsoever.

I learned that my family and others living in La Palma do not conserve to save the environment, but instead to save money. While it makes complete sense, I was a bit dissapointed.

Yesterday I introduced the three R’s to my classes: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. They looked confused even when I switched to Spanish. They simply could not fathom holding onto their trash for more than a minute. I admit, I may have gotten a bit carried away in class while talking about global warming. I preached that it was the job of every single person to take care of this world. They looked very lost so I switched to a song to get the message across. It was a bit more successful than my preaching. “Clean up, Clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share.”

The lyrics were translated and hopefully the message as well. Throughout the week we will continue the environment lesson plan, making posters for the school and a concert for the parents presenting a few environmental songs. While some might argue that I should be lecturing in my own country, I see it completely fit to teach this lesson plan in my community. My classes at GW teach that it is just as important – if not more important – to educate the international developing communities about global problems. It is, of course, a joint effort.

And so at the end of the week when I take my students to do a trash clean up around the city, I hope they understand that it is up to them to convey the message to their peers and I’m crossing my fingers that the next time they have trash, they think twice before tossing it out the window.

Emily is a sophomore in the Elliott School with a major in International Affairs and a concentration in International Development. She is currently abroad teaching English with Learning Enterprises in La Palma, Panama.

I am currently living in a rural village called La Palma in Panama teaching English at the secondary school. I teach 7th, 8th and 9th grade which is an awkward age no matter what country you live in. My students are more than a handful but after teaching for three weeks, they have started to grow on me.

Though my school already has an English program, the teacher barely speaks English and it is actually easier for us to converse in Spanish. She basically hands over her classes to me everyday and I have complete freedom to teach them whatever and however I want. The first time I entered the classroom I noticed a sign that read “God created me to be a winner, not a loser so this term I will study hard.” I took a picture and then kindly removed it, leaving the rest of her very religious posters.

I try to speak only English but after they stare at me for a good five minutes, I switch to Spanish. My students are stunned by how many games, songs and activities I know. We just finished learning the basic body parts and the song “head and shoulders, knees and toes” has definitely made a comeback. I’ll be walking to the store in my village and hear kids teaching it to their siblings!

We have done activities using chalk, water balloons and construction paper and all of a sudden, the students are starting to grasp the information more quickly than before. The reason for this is that normally the students are forced to copy the board full of English verbs and sentences for over an hour. The content might be the same but the technique I use is completely different from what they are used to, and it is working. Many times, the teachers do not have the resources to play fun games and the school does not have enough money to provide them. It is not even guaranteed that my students will show up to class with a piece of paper and pencil.

While teaching I have learned that you work with what you have. Initially my goal was to motivate the students to learn English and teach them about some American customs – however, I am starting to notice that my fellow teachers are hungry for ideas to spice up their subjects. I took the easiest songs such as “B-I-N-G-O” and the easiest games such as “I Spy” all for granted. Now more than ever, I appreciate my earlier school years.

Every day my students surprise me with their English knowledge. One day I will try to explain direction words (up down left right and so on ) and they will look completely confused. But then, there are days like yesterday when we played a game and the team that lost came up to me and said “Mission failed.”  Seems like Wall-E is a good source of English phrases. I have so much fun with my students and being able to teach them is really an adventure.

Emily is a sophomore in the Elliott School with a major in International Affairs and a concentration in International Development.  She is currently abroad teaching English with Learning Enterprises in La Palma, Panama.