Let's try that again

While we were staying at the organic farm, I spent the evenings helping instruct english at the school they helped establish. Two back to back classes of 50 students made for exhausting evenings, but the eagerness of the students made it the most rewarding opportunity. And since the students were giving up their evenings after full school days, I figured giving a little time from my vacation was the least I could do. Five to ten minutes before the hour, our first class was already seated, squeezing onto the low wooden benches...filling up every space in the room. The lessons were simple, almost too simple, making it difficult to fill the hour sometimes. Basic converstation, numbers, time. The students repeated everything you said in unison...a deafening chorus of voices bouncing off the bare walls of the classroom. The ones with a greater english background would skip ahead a few lessons and call you over asking about pronunciation and definitions. In between classes, it was gridlock as the earlier class fought their way out the door and leaping through the windows....and the next class fought their way to the benches. They are obviously accustomed to having a new teacher every week, eagerly welcoming us at the beginning of the week...and anxiously asking us if we would return the following week. I was showered with thank-yous as I said goodbye at the end of the week, and had a nagging feeling of guilt as I biked away from the classroom and these dedicated kids. In a town that is exploding with tourism, english is essential to find these higher paying jobs.