This week was exhausting and stressful. Not only am I teaching in Senegal, but I have other responsibilities as well.I'm applying to the Fulbright ETA program through my college. Fulbright is a 10-12-month cultural exchange program through the U.S. government where you can apply for an ETA position to teach English in a country of your choosing or do a specific research project abroad that correlates with your interests. The application is due in October, but my campus' application deadline is in September. It is HIGHLY recommended to start your essays in the summer around June/July, but before August. This way applicants can get their drafts looked over by professors at the school who know what the Fulbright committee is looking for.Anyways, I'm working on those essays. I am applying to the 11-month ETA program in Taiwan. It's difficult trying to put my personal statement and grant purpose into words and describe my life and purpose for applying to Fulbright in an aesthetic way.On the other hand, I'm currently studying for two standardized tests: The LSAT and GRE. The LSAT is the law school entrance exam and the GRE is the graduate school entrance exam. I'm applying for a dual degree of a JD/PhD in Sociology this upcoming fall, so I have to take both tests. I'm taking the LSAT in September and GRE in October, and these are not tests I can study for overnight, let alone study for in a month's time span. I packed along 2 LSAT study books and 2 GRE books to study from. It's hard trying to balance teaching, studying for 2 standardized tests, Fulbright application essays, and my social life in general outside of all of these things. It's stressful. I just want to be successful. I want to score well on these tests so I can get accepted into the schools of my choosing, and I want my Fulbright application to make the committee go "and I oop.."
Teaching on the other hand is both stressful and fun on its own. I realized I had to make adjustments to my lesson plan after the first week of teaching. I didn't know how much English the students knew coming in, but after the first week I could see that their English is at an intermediate/advanced level, but my lesson plan was geared more towards beginners. Making adjustments to my lesson plan has been time consuming and worrisome for me because I care a lot. I want to make sure the students are learning and improving their English. I don't want it to be a review class of the English they already know. It was challenging adjusting the lesson plan, but it just required some research and coming up with things of my own. I started to incorporate more games and debates where they could practice speaking English.
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Some of the games we played were "2 Truths and a Lie" so they could practice the present perfect tense in English, and we played a game called "hot seat" where one person would sit in the front of the class and everyone could grill that person with questions. It's a good game for them to practice their English-speaking skills. Originally only the students were sitting in the seat, but they asked me to sit in the "hot seat" so they could ask me questions and get ALLLLLL THE TEA. They asked me about my love life, my likes and dislikes, things I hated, passions and goals. I enjoyed spilling all the tea about my life to them.
We also had a debate about gender roles. It got a little intense between students, but these were their thoughts on the issue, which is very different to how people in the United States would respond.
Outside of teaching I tried some other things that I've always wanted to do such as eating a mango (lol) I never buy mangoes in the U.S. because they're expensive, but here it is mango season and they are everywhere you go and affordable. So, I decided to buy a mango to try it out. It was good and sweet. My host family made fun of me for how I ate it. I was eating it with utensils and usually they eat it with their hands, but I didn't want to make a mess and get dirty. Yea I know I'm boujee. I won't deny it.
Even though most of my week was stressful and me trying to find my balance, there were other positives within the week. I took the time to make a self-care list to keep myself in check, so that in times of stress, sadness or whatever, I could refer back to this list for things to do. I realized I was was lacking in self-care lately and I needed to make self-care a priority. Ironically blogging was one of those things on my self-care list. The last time I posted on my blog before making this "Teaching in Senegal Series" was in February. I forgot how much I love blogging and how relaxing it makes me feel.One day I joined my students for their art class and did some art of my own. I'm no artist, but painting made me feel the most relaxed I had ever been in a while. Possibly something I need to add to the self-care list 🤔
Overall, there were a lot of ups and downs this week, but God himself pulled me through it. 2 weeks down, 4 more to go!!
This is a part of the Teaching in Senegal Series.