Today we had our second free day to explore Riobamba. Unlike our first free day, we were allowed to leave the hotel unaccompanied by an adult. In groups of four or more, we wandered around the city and stopped at various cafes, stores, and markets to buy food and souvenirs and make calls home. Returning to the hotel at four o’clock, we prepped for our second English tutoring session, and after dinner went to the college to teach. Unlike the previous session, we all came to the consensus that tonight went relatively well.

Our experience teaching between the two nights was drastically different. While on our first night we felt underprepared and overwhelmed, tonight we knew what to expect and came much more put together. In my particular class, today we chose to focus on teaching the parts of the body. We chose one activity in which each student received a card with a body part written on it and was instructed to stick the card on the correct spot on our lovely model, Alex. This activity allowed our students to open up and have fun with us, making the rest of the lesson much more comfortable. From the last two sessions, my group has learned that finding activities that engage the students with us and each other is the most effective way to maintain enthusiasm in the classroom and that seeing growth and understanding in students is extremely rewarding.

Overall, the day was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to learning more with our students for the rest of the week.