During my 6-month time studying in Quito, Ecuador I had to go back to the U.S. for a family event.
It was great to see friends and family but I was very surprised how thrilled I was to go back "home" to Quito! I remember heading from the airport back to my homestay family talking rapidly to a taxi driver in Spanish and being very surprised at how happy I felt to be there.
Being around students who are undergoing life-changing experiences has really changed my perception of the flexibility of humans and our capacity to grow.
In my current position I mostly talk to students before they go and then see them after they return. Because I am not up close and personal with the transition, it is particularly amazing to see the difference in students after they return.
This work has further solidified the importance of experience in our lives and how we must seek out these experiences and then be sure to carefully reflect about them before, during and after.
We just heard a wonderful story from a student who took a medical Spanish course with us (where she practiced bedside manner, taking vitals and making patients feel calm) and then volunteered in a free clinic in Houston when she returned home. At the free clinic she was asked to work with a lot of Spanish-speaking patients and she was able to apply everything she'd learned immediately!
She said if it wasn't for the class with us she would have just asked to file papers or do some other, less interactive, job. She was so excited about how she was able to do very meaningful and impactful work.
Right now I'm really excited about the customized program that we offer where students can make a program that fits their needs. I would do this because I'd like to improve particular parts of my Spanish and spend a lot of time working on my speaking skills.
I would also really love to be with a homestay family again because they are so loving, interesting and make such wonderful food!
To us, success is when our students write reviews at the end of the program and they feel they were cared for, but that they were also challenged and grew from the program.
It is not about making it easy - but rather making it possible for the students to learn more Spanish than they ever thought possible and grow as individuals.