Peru is a place that feels like a second home to me. It is a place I have visited every year for the past 18 years of my life. However, volunteering in Peru was a completely different experience than mu usual trips there. In the center of Lima, there is a little public day care that changed everything for me.
I found out about this day care through my grandmother because she has a friend who used to work there. The day care is always looking for volunteers to help teach different subjects. For English, they need even more help because it is hard finding teachers who actually speak fluent English and are willing to work in a public place in Peru. So, a few summers ago, I decided to volunteer there and teach a class of 14 students ranging from ages 2 to 4.
On my first day, I introduced myself in English to all the children in the classroom. Their eyes stared at me with a look of such curiosity and confusion. That was the moment I realized the kids did not know any English at all. My motivation to teach these kids grew so much that I worked insanely hard for all the students to learn as much as possible that week. I began with teaching them numbers, colors, and shapes. After a few interactive activities, they started to pick up on the words pretty quickly. To try and step up the level and teach them something useful for an everyday basis, I taught them phrases and words such as “hello”, “goodbye”, and “how are you?”. During recess time, I would catch the students saying these phrases and words to each other as much as possible. Even though they could not fully speak the language, it was apparent that they were enjoying learning it.
I must say that there is no better feeling of accomplishment than achieving a goal that seemed so hard to reach. By the end of the week, the children had learned so many words and phrases in English that they did not know before. I wish nothing more than to have been able to stay longer and teach them more, but either way, every student thanked me for helping them even if it was in just a small period of time. Many even got emotional and begged me to stay longer, but it was time for me to fly back home. However, I hope to go back or for other Americans to go volunteer one day so new kids can learn as well since not many kids get the opportunity to learn English.
Little Helper 