One Semester Down

My first semester at the Universidad Estatal de Cuenca has come to an end.  In response to Marie's inquiries into my daily life at the University, I reflect on my first four-month semester in this post.

The university applied to Fulbright for a grantee to come to their university and in doing so, thought they were going to receive an English teaching expert who would help evaluate the English program, teach courses, and develop new curriculum.  Although the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) program varies greatly by country, that is not at all what it is, and so when I arrived, the plans the university had for me were inapplicable. While Fulbrights have been coming to Ecuador for years, this is only the second year of the ETA program here and the first at my university.  My position is very new, and as a result, my schedule and my work have been a work in progress. 

My responsibilities in the Fulbright ETA program as outlined by the Fulbright Commission of Ecuador:

• Comply with assigned responsibilities such as attending meetings, staying in close contact with supervisor, and meeting demands of the determined work schedule of 20 hours per week.
• Plan and deliver activities and lessons.  For example, conduct conversational activities; give presentations related to United States' culture, society and history; lead discussion groups; and help with pronunciation.
• Engage in other activities of personal interest such as pursue a course of study, conduct research or volunteer outside of work.
• Complete evaluations sent by the Fulbright Commission.
• ETAs are not TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) experts and should not design curricula, evaluate or grade course work, or teach full course loads.

The host institution's responsibilities in the Fulbright ETA program:

• Assign a supervisor as the ETA's main contact person at the university who should meet regularly with the grantee.
• Provide logistical help to the ETA regarding housing, security matters, etc.
• Introduce the ETA grantee and the ETA responsibilities to the university community.
• Agree on the activities to be performed by the ETA within a fixed schedule according to the university's needs and the ETA's background.

I began work in early October with a schedule of 18 hours in which professors could sign up for me to come as a guest to their classes and 2 hours for a conversation club for professors. After the first few days, almost no one signed up for me to come to their classes and no professors were coming to the conversation hour.  We tried to pursue several possible solutions.  I went to the faculty meeting to speak briefly about my purpose and what I could do in the classes, my supervisor sent out emails to the faculty, I shared written  proposals of sample lessons that I wrote aligned to the curriculum of various English courses, and so on.  Over the four months, I have had weeks in which I worked zero hours and weeks in which I worked more than my twenty.

Over time, as we tried to increase interest in my involvement in the department, we also changed my schedule numerous times to try and better meet the needs of the English programs. For example, I began hosting optional conversation classes for students a few months ago.  Here is what my schedule looked like for most of the time between November and January when we followed it.

Monday
9:00 – 10:00 Conversation Class
1:00 – 2:30 Available Class (For professors to sign up for me to come)
3:00 – 4:00 Conversation Class
4:00 – 5:00 Conversation Class
5:00 – 6:00 Faculty Meeting
7:00 – 8:30 Available Class

Tuesday
7:00 – 8:30 Available Class
11:30 – 1:00 Available Class
1:00 – 2:30 Available Class
5:00 – 6:00 Conversation Class

Wednesday
11:00 – 1:00 Conversation Class
12:00 – 1:00 Conversation for Professors
1:00 – 2:30 Available Class
2:30 – 4:00 Available Class
6:00 – 7:00 Conversation Class

Thursday
1:00 – 3:00 Available Class
3:00 – 4:00 Conversation Class
7:00 – 8:30 Available Class

Some of the biggest challenges I have had with my work schedule are:

• I feel like I am always at the university but when I show up I rarely have work.  I end up with lots of small periods of free time between my frequent trips back and forth to work throughout the day.
• My schedule is constantly changing to accommodate new ideas and the university's needs, and I am always readjusting my plans around those changes.

Some of the highlights of my semester are:

• Conversation hours in the multimedia lab.  Sometime mid-semester I started conversation groups that meet at several different hours throughout the week  The students are a diverse group of all ages and levels, but best of all they choose to come for optional conversational opportunities and are motivated and interested. 
• Agreeing with my boss that if no one has signed up for my schedule 24 hours in advance, I will not be obligated to come in, as I have been doing for months - coming in, sitting in the office to see if anything develops, and leaving after twenty minutes before repeating again the next hour.
• Substituting.  I have now subbed several different times for several different teachers and it is far more fun to work with a class under my own terms rather than shadowing around as a guest speaker.

My supervisors and I recognize that we still need to make additional changes to my work for next semester.  I have submitted a proposal of lessons in conversation, pronunciation and American culture upon their request. Beginning in March, I will be assigned to a different class each period and the professor of that class will be obligated to work with me and my list of proposals at that time.  In the meantime, I am on vacation!