The Pastoral Universitaria
I spent my summer teaching at the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano de Puno (commonly referred to as the "UNA"). It is a public university, which means that students do not have to pay tuition to attend. Because it is funded by the state, however, it is only able to admit a limited number of students, so admissions are competitive – with about eight students applying for one spot. Since it is the only public university in Puno and the surrounding areas, students who are not accepted to the UNA often do not have options for further study. They can not afford to pay for private universities – many of which are unaccredited and for-profit, offering a lower quality education.
The Pastoral Universitaria functions as the campus ministry of the UNA. During the day, students can come to use the computers, play board games or card games, or simply have a cup of coffee or tea and spend time with their friends and other students. The Pastoral also offers opportunities for seminars and workshops across all disciplines that foster students’ personal and academic development; during the eight weeks that my site partner Elizabeth and I worked at the Pastoral, they were planning a conference about current environmental issues. Every Wednesday, the Pastoral holds a conversatorio, or a discussion, that is relevant to the lives of students. Some of the conversatorios I participated in were about health and well-being, gender roles, and the environment. One week, my site partner and I led a conversatorio about American culture and life in the United States.
The Pastoral Universitaria functions as the campus ministry of the UNA. During the day, students can come to use the computers, play board games or card games, or simply have a cup of coffee or tea and spend time with their friends and other students. The Pastoral also offers opportunities for seminars and workshops across all disciplines that foster students’ personal and academic development; during the eight weeks that my site partner Elizabeth and I worked at the Pastoral, they were planning a conference about current environmental issues. Every Wednesday, the Pastoral holds a conversatorio, or a discussion, that is relevant to the lives of students. Some of the conversatorios I participated in were about health and well-being, gender roles, and the environment. One week, my site partner and I led a conversatorio about American culture and life in the United States.
Elizabeth and I prepare to discuss American culture for our conversatorio with students at the Pastoral.
My Role: English Class!
As the main project of my ISSLP, I taught free, informal English classes at the Pastoral twice a day, from 10:00-11:30am and 3-4:30pm, during the school week. Because some students had studied English before and others hadn’t, Elizabeth and I divided the classes into basic and intermediate levels. I taught basic English to students with little to no knowledge of the language, and Elizabeth taught the intermediate students, who had previously studied English.
Our English classes were not intended to be formal, since that was already available to students through the Centro de Idiomas. Instead, the Pastoral asked us to ensure that our classes were creative and interactive. With the intermediate students, Elizabeth would work do story telling exercises and chat with students while teaching them card games in English. Although it was more challenging for me to be creative while also making sure that basic students still got the repetition they needed to learn, I was able to develop memory games to use with them. I focused on vocabulary and verb conjugations in the present tense. Since I knew that it would be difficult to make considerable progress in just eight weeks, I wanted to inspire students to study English formally, and give them a basic foundation that they would be able to work with if they chose to do so.
Our English classes were not intended to be formal, since that was already available to students through the Centro de Idiomas. Instead, the Pastoral asked us to ensure that our classes were creative and interactive. With the intermediate students, Elizabeth would work do story telling exercises and chat with students while teaching them card games in English. Although it was more challenging for me to be creative while also making sure that basic students still got the repetition they needed to learn, I was able to develop memory games to use with them. I focused on vocabulary and verb conjugations in the present tense. Since I knew that it would be difficult to make considerable progress in just eight weeks, I wanted to inspire students to study English formally, and give them a basic foundation that they would be able to work with if they chose to do so.
We brought materials such as grammar books and playing cards to ensure that classes were both fun and creative as well as informative.
Challenges, Difficulties, and Recommendations
Many of these students had taken English classes or were currently enrolled at the Centro de Idiomas, which means "The Language Center" - the official language-learning institute owned and operated by the UNA. They told us that the professors at the Centro de Idiomas would often teach them inconsistent things, or that they would pronounce things different ways and claim that theirs was the correct pronunciation. In one of our English classes at the Pastoral, we spent the entire class time explaining the verb phrase “listen to” to one student, as all of the teachers at the Centro de Idiomas had omitted the “to.” Thus, along with teaching new vocabulary and grammar, Elizabeth and I also devoted time to correcting students on what they had already learned.
Thus, during my time in Puno, I assessed the standing accomplishments of students in their English proficiency, and worked to build on vocabulary and grammar through creative and engaging exercises. It was often difficult to know what students needed most practice with, so often if something came up during a lesson, we would change what we were doing to answer different questions students asked. Furthermore, one of the negative consequences of offering "informal" English classes is that the students were informal about them as well. Attendance was sporadic, and students often arrived late. In fact, most students came to a session of English class once, and then never returned; since this happened on a nearly daily basis with different students each time, I taught the same introductory lesson nearly every day for six weeks. Those basic students who did come regularly began to come at times that were different from the scheduled classes in order to be able to learn new material and make progress.
In order to maximize the benefits of English classes at the Pastoral, I recommend that in the future, an attendance policy be implemented, and that students are not permitted to arrive later than 20 minutes after the class has begun. These rules will ensure that those students who are committed to learning English will be able to advance in their studies, and make progress over the course of the eight weeks in which ISSLP students teach.
Thus, during my time in Puno, I assessed the standing accomplishments of students in their English proficiency, and worked to build on vocabulary and grammar through creative and engaging exercises. It was often difficult to know what students needed most practice with, so often if something came up during a lesson, we would change what we were doing to answer different questions students asked. Furthermore, one of the negative consequences of offering "informal" English classes is that the students were informal about them as well. Attendance was sporadic, and students often arrived late. In fact, most students came to a session of English class once, and then never returned; since this happened on a nearly daily basis with different students each time, I taught the same introductory lesson nearly every day for six weeks. Those basic students who did come regularly began to come at times that were different from the scheduled classes in order to be able to learn new material and make progress.
In order to maximize the benefits of English classes at the Pastoral, I recommend that in the future, an attendance policy be implemented, and that students are not permitted to arrive later than 20 minutes after the class has begun. These rules will ensure that those students who are committed to learning English will be able to advance in their studies, and make progress over the course of the eight weeks in which ISSLP students teach.