Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The past few weeks my contacts have been terribly busy for everyone including myself. Ms. Haydee shared with me her education background and the goals of teachers in El Salvador. 

Ms. Haydee is a 78 year old woman and mother of a daughter. She has two grandsons age 17 and 19.  The 19 years old graduated from high school and is studying in college while the  youngest grandson is in the 1th grade.

In regards to her professional career, she mentioned that she started as an Early Childhood teacher on which she spent around 10 years until becoming an adviser on the education ministry, in spanish it is the "Ministerio de Educacion", after that she got her Masters Degree as a University Teacher, as well she worked a teacher and vice principal. She never left the educational enviroment since she always felt a certain attraction for teaching and now through OMEP is able to train different people through seminars and workshops.
A trending issue thats been going on lately is that teachers get their degree and they start working on high grades and since they have little material to work with, they find theirselves limited to the material the government provides them with. One of her biggest chanllenges was one she recently gotten since she was provided with a group of international students who needed special attention on different levels of spanish speaking, reading or at a grammar level, all of them with different difficulties and not to mention different ethnic groups.

 On a personal level, she feels she has reached about every personal goal that she placed upon herself. She still keep on teaching and enjoys it every day." My greatest joy is teaching my own kids since they are the ones I can teach on a daily basis for the rest of my life" stated Haydee.