Teaching - PERU Daily Life

A day in the life of .. an English teacher in Calca, Peru

My day as an English teacher begins early, at around 7 am when I am woken up by the two little girls in my house playing when they should be getting ready for school! I get up and watch the hustle and bustle of family life as they prepare for a day at school / work, and then eat breakfast with the family. Breakfast usually consists of sweet bread and mate de coca tea, sometimes with a little treat of fruit or sausages.

Once the family have left for the day I get washed and dressed and decide what to do with the morning. The children that I teach only have lessons in the afternoon from 1pm until 6pm, leaving me with mornings free to plan lessons, meet for coffee with other volunteers, shop for souvenirs in the local markets or just sit in the garden with a good book!

Before school, I eat lunch, sometimes alone but sometimes with the family's maid. I then take the short walk to school usually followed with shouts of "Hola teacher!" from my pupils. When I arrive at school, I stand with the staff as the children sing the national anthem of Peru. The teachers are very interested in me and ask me many questions about England. One teacher in particular gives me sweets and asks me questions about the opera in England and the Queen!

I take my classes with another volunteer, and the teacher generally stays in the room and helps out if necessary, which is appreciated as some of the younger classes have as many as 50 students! In the lessons, I teach mainly vocabulary through games and word searches, as the students seem to become more involved if the lessons are fun! I also make sure that we spend some time practicing pronunciation, and doing some basic grammar work. During the afternoon, I may have a free period, which is spent playing volleyball or basketball with the children, or singing them English songs. In return, they teach me Quechuan words (a native language of Peru) and Peruvian games.

When school finishes I return home and eat with the family, who are eager to hear about my day. I have evenings free, so I usually play with the girls (their favourite is monopoly in Spanish . a game which can go on for days!). Also I often go out with the other volunteers, either to their houses for card games, or into the next town Urubamba, where we visit a local bar with chocolate cake to die for! The volunteers in Calca are like a small family and we often spend weekends together visiting ruins, shopping and experiencing the nightlife in Cuzco.


Genna West