Travel to Teach: Mexico Volunteer Story

Cathrine Campari, Germany

What brought me to travel-to-teach in Xalapa? First – Travel-to-Teach: After having spent multiple years of my professional life doing research on global socio-economic issues behind a desk, I was starving for a time out as well as an activity that involves direct interaction with my fellow-human beings.

Add a few “teacher´s genes” (my father and my grand-father were teachers) to the equation, and it is not surprising I ended up thinking about going somewhere to teach – English, German (my mother tongue), PC-skills, whatever! Google brought me to the website of travel-to-teach. And a few e-mail exchanges I had with Adriana convinced me that with T2T Xalapa I would find what I was looking for: An opportunity to teach to people who don´t have the same privileged access to education that most of us from the rich countries do.

So, second, the location – Xalapa: I decided to do my volunteering/teaching in Mexico right from the start. This was due to the simple fact that I fell in love with the country ten years ago when I first went there on another volunteering project. Since then I have spent about 1.5 years in the country in different regions and for different purposes, traveling and volunteering. So, I am not a newcomer to Mexican life (and language), which is why I cannot describe all those things that you notice and experience when you come to a country for the first time. But what made me choose Xalapa as a location was entirely the appeal to be in “real Mexico” and not a touristy area. I wanted to savor the rich and special flavor of Mexican culture and life once again, that made me love the country so much many years ago. And I found what I was looking for. Xalapa is a mid-sized university town with an inspiring cultural life and a huge, predominantly Mexican university population that gives it an intellectual touch. Sharing a room in Adriana´s house, I could enjoy Mexican life as much as I wanted to – no touristy decor. The only thing I would recommend anybody to be aware of is the unexpected cold that you have to live with if you happen to go there in January or February, as I did.

The teaching: A few days after my arrival Adriana took me to the orphanage “Casa de la madre Angelica” where I was supposed to teach English three times a week for an hour. I was very nervous when I met the 15 or so girls for the first time. I had never taught a group in my life before! And, let me tell you, I was not really fond of the idea of having to teach kids. I had in my mind teaching adults, as all my previous teaching-volunteering experience had been with grown-ups, not kids. So, there I was, in front of 15 kids, whose curious eyes were on their new English teacher.

The classroom in the orphanage is very small, and not really a classroom, but a living room with a sofa, armchairs and extra-plastic chairs that the girls take out for class. But in this modest room, the girls conquered my heart in their curiosity and eagerness. And I discovered just how much I love to teach! I had to go slow with my classes, as the students differed very much in age, capacity and knowledge of English, and the overall level was basic. But Adriana provides a lot of teaching material, which helps volunteers to improvise and come up with good lesson plans for any situation. So, having the luxury of time (and of speaking the same language), we got to know and appreciate each other. I went to teach there for almost three months and now I really miss them! I will always have a reason to visit Xalapa again to check up on how they are doing. And I left with a thousand very special memories and a renewed love for Mexico.

Email: Cathrine

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