What is Ecuador: Immersed in Culture and Education?
During spring semester I took a seminar regarding the culture and education system of Ecuador, a small South American country on the Pacific coast. This class was mainly focused on a brief history of Ecuadorian politics, literature, and economics. We read two books prior to leaving for a nine day trip to experience what we had been reading about and anticipating all semester long. Our class of about 20 students studied Ecuadorian culture, grew closer together, reflected on our personal growth throughout the semester and in Ecuador, then finally traveled to South America and made lifelong memories that we will cherish forever.
What did I Learn During this Course?
One of the books was a novel written by an Ecuadorian woman about her hardships growing up in a poor family and fighting for her rights as an indigenous woman. This book really helped to reveal a darker past to Ecuador and made it easier to recognize that discrimination occurs all over the world in many different forms. One of the most important things I discovered about myself in Ecuador was my own ability to speak the Spanish language. I was able to teach the classes in Spanish, so I was very proud of my last 7 years of Spanish studies! After spending nine days in Ecuador with indigenous people, I learned how easy it is to love life. The people of Ecuador do not have very much materialistically speaking, however their love for life, their family, and their land is inspiring. I came home with a new outlook on how to live life, in a much simpler way.
How can I Apply this Knowledge to My Future?
After experiencing the culture of Ecuador, I have a new respect for people who center their entire lives around family, land, and education. I live my life very centered around my family, but to see it done in other ways by other cultures was eye-opening. I can take what I learned into my future workplace because of what I learned teaching in the classroom. I taught with 3 other girls so we had to plan our lessons and cooperate to teach them. However, I had to lead each lesson because I was the only one who spoke Spanish. I got some great leadership experience while in Ecuador which is incredibly important for engineers to have. Showing that I can be an independent learner, but also cooperate with others and lead others successfully will be such valuable skills to have.
Example of My Classwork:
Below is a link to a reflection paper I wrote for the class. Each night while in Ecuador, a few classmates shared their reflection paper during a bonfire. The prompt of the reflection paper was "Write your life story and how Ecuador fits into it". This was such a broad topic that when sharing nobody stuck to their paper. The bonfires always went long because people described their pasts and it became incredibly apparent that everyone comes from different backgrounds, but all the people in my class were connected through one thing: Ecuador.
My reflection is below, but while presenting I went off topic about how I felt the need to change my major and how I felt like I never quite fit in with the other education majors. At the end of my reflection time, I told my class full of future teachers that I would no longer be a future teacher myself. Needless to say, I was quite nervous! But they were all proud of my change in major and wished me well.
During spring semester I took a seminar regarding the culture and education system of Ecuador, a small South American country on the Pacific coast. This class was mainly focused on a brief history of Ecuadorian politics, literature, and economics. We read two books prior to leaving for a nine day trip to experience what we had been reading about and anticipating all semester long. Our class of about 20 students studied Ecuadorian culture, grew closer together, reflected on our personal growth throughout the semester and in Ecuador, then finally traveled to South America and made lifelong memories that we will cherish forever.
What did I Learn During this Course?
One of the books was a novel written by an Ecuadorian woman about her hardships growing up in a poor family and fighting for her rights as an indigenous woman. This book really helped to reveal a darker past to Ecuador and made it easier to recognize that discrimination occurs all over the world in many different forms. One of the most important things I discovered about myself in Ecuador was my own ability to speak the Spanish language. I was able to teach the classes in Spanish, so I was very proud of my last 7 years of Spanish studies! After spending nine days in Ecuador with indigenous people, I learned how easy it is to love life. The people of Ecuador do not have very much materialistically speaking, however their love for life, their family, and their land is inspiring. I came home with a new outlook on how to live life, in a much simpler way.
How can I Apply this Knowledge to My Future?
After experiencing the culture of Ecuador, I have a new respect for people who center their entire lives around family, land, and education. I live my life very centered around my family, but to see it done in other ways by other cultures was eye-opening. I can take what I learned into my future workplace because of what I learned teaching in the classroom. I taught with 3 other girls so we had to plan our lessons and cooperate to teach them. However, I had to lead each lesson because I was the only one who spoke Spanish. I got some great leadership experience while in Ecuador which is incredibly important for engineers to have. Showing that I can be an independent learner, but also cooperate with others and lead others successfully will be such valuable skills to have.
Example of My Classwork:
Below is a link to a reflection paper I wrote for the class. Each night while in Ecuador, a few classmates shared their reflection paper during a bonfire. The prompt of the reflection paper was "Write your life story and how Ecuador fits into it". This was such a broad topic that when sharing nobody stuck to their paper. The bonfires always went long because people described their pasts and it became incredibly apparent that everyone comes from different backgrounds, but all the people in my class were connected through one thing: Ecuador.
My reflection is below, but while presenting I went off topic about how I felt the need to change my major and how I felt like I never quite fit in with the other education majors. At the end of my reflection time, I told my class full of future teachers that I would no longer be a future teacher myself. Needless to say, I was quite nervous! But they were all proud of my change in major and wished me well.
reflection_paper_ecuador.docx | |
File Size: | 16 kb |
File Type: | docx |