WorldTeach Ecuador 2013

I spent 8 weeks teaching in a rural community in Ecuador. I was placed with a fantastic, welcoming host family who made me feel very comfortable and eased my anxiety about my language level. The community, while small, was also very nice. I was placed near three other volunteers and was able to plan excursions on the weekends with them.
On the teaching side, I'm not sure how much of an impact I had. First of all, the school had a hard time placing me. I didn't know what grade levels I'd be teaching and what my schedule was until I was in the town for at least a week. Then, I had no idea what previous volunteers had worked on with the students, so I had no idea where to begin. As the community was remote and didn't really have a store, I didn't have many materials. Internet was available at my host family's house but otherwise was limited. I am a math teacher in the States, so I really had no clue how to begin teaching a language. I basically worked on greetings, colors, food, animals, etc. I do not think that my teaching the students helped them learn much English.
While I think I learned way more than my students, my experience was awesome, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about other cultures!