“Miss, the answer is not here!” Marjory, used to getting
everything right, is frustrated. It is 11am in Cofradía Cortés,
Honduras, and energy drops as the temperature rises past 90 degrees.
“Do you think scientists know all the answers from the beginning?” I
ask, by way of response. In unison, my students chorus, “yes.” It
appears I have a long way to go. I am in my second month as a
sixth-grade teacher in a bilingual school, This means that in
addition to reading studies that only vaguely explain the function
of cell organelles, my students are making their inferences in a
second language.
It was never actually my plan to teach in a bilingual school. But,
while my plan had been to take it easy the summer after I graduated
from college, I’ve never been one for relaxing! One application and
three interviews later, I found myself more and more tempted by my
down-to-earth, interesting interviewers from BECA, all of whom had
been teachers themselves. And so it was that barely a month after
hanging up my cap and gown, I found myself looking out the airplane
window as fields upon fields of banana trees came into view--I
thought, “I will always remember this moment, the moment before I
set foot into a different world, where I am about to spend the next
year of my life.”
I highly recommend my experience with Bilingual Education for
Central America (www.becaschools.org).
By volunteering for this non-profit organization, you are helping
students achieve a level of education normally impossible for
lower-class Hondurans. BECA fundraises in the U.S. to give room and
board to its volunteer teachers, enabling San Jerónimo Bilingual
School to provide 35% of its students with scholarships. New
teachers, chosen for their ability to work with children, teach with
very little supervision and a lot of flexibility, and work as part
of a close-knit team, are given a thorough orientation on teaching
over the summer. They then assume primary responsibility for a grade
(teachers), or assist with classes and design curricula for gifted
students and those who need extra help (resource teachers). The fun,
dynamic team of 14 is encouraged to get to know the parents of their
students and indeed, this is a unique way to be welcomed into the
very heart of Honduran culture. The long-term commitment (one or two
years) offers the children much-needed stability and uniformity from
year to year, and it gives you the chance to acclimate, integrate
yourself into the culture, and truly make a difference.
BECA is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for those who cannot
survive without air conditioning! But if you are looking for a
fulfilling way to spend your year, full of challenges and unique
rewards, this is the way to go.
- Athena Matilsky
(28-Jan-2011)
Athena Matilsky (right) taught 6th grade in the academic year
2008-2009. Since returning from Honduras, she has been back twice to
visit, and currently serves as BECA’s Recruitment Chair. She is
self-employed as a Spanish Interpreter/Translator.
