Friday night, 9:00pm, I received my placement site from WorldTeach. I could not wait until departure day to reveal my exciting news. I feel like I am living in a dream and someone is going to wake me up at any moment. But it is not a dream. I am headed to the beautiful city of Manta. Manta is located on the Northern Pacific Coast in the Manabí Province. It is a mid-sized city with a population of 200,000.
Manta is the second largest seaport in Ecuador before Guayaquil and is named the Tuna capital of the country. Good thing I love seafood! So, what does living on the coast mean? Beaches! And a lot of them. The two main beaches are Playa de Tarqui and Playa Murcielago. As I have spoken to previous volunteers who are currently living in Manta, I was informed that there are not only great beaches to relax on but there are outstanding restaurants, bars, shopping, and much more! One of the most popular things to shop for are sombreros de paja-straw hats or panama hats. The hats are made from toquilla fiber (Carludovica palmata) which happens to be the finest for hats.
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| Puerto de la manta |
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| Sombreros de paja |
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| La Playa |
Muy emocionado about my placement, I am even more emocionado about the university I will be teaching at! I will be teaching at the Universidad Laica “Eloy Alfaro” de Manabí.
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| Universidad Laica “Eloy Alfaro” de Manabí |
I will be taking on college aged students through six levels of English; each level lasting six weeks. I teach three days a week (Monday-Wednesday, 2:30-8:30). It does not sound like much but I know with three classes I will be extremely busy planning, grading, and being prepared! One exciting thing is I will most likely have the same students throughout the year. I will be able to reflect on how my students progress and grow in their English skills. I will average around 100 students total when combing all three classes. I am a bit overwhelmed and not sure what to expect but I am confident that I will do a great job and get my students where they need to be!
I could say a thousand more things about Manta and the Universidad Laica “Eloy Alfaro” de Manabí but I will save those for later posts! I could not be more happy and excited as I am now about this upcoming experience.
¡Nueve días!
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