What inspired you to work for INESLE Madrid?
I was looking for a position in teaching over the summer, and I was already working with INESLE during the academic year! Therefore, it was a good fit to continue my work experience with them. It allowed me to teach secondary and have a full summer cultural immersion experience.
We saw the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso on a field trip in Spain.
Describe a typical day at work.
A typical morning consists of teaching cultural and grammatical English lessons to students for an hour. My goal is to make the lessons fun and exciting, yet engaging enough for students to be captivated and pick up on colloquial phrases to have a better understanding of English in a non formal way.
After morning classes, students have an engaging lunch together, where the Spanish students and American students mingle and get to know their professors a bit more. After lunch, everyone loads the bus for a fun cultural immersion in the city. Visiting museums, amusement parks, gardens, and other cultural sites around the city.
INESLE Field Trip to the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Spain.
Why do you do what you do?
it's truly a great privilege to be a teacher and have the opportunity to learn from my students as much as they learn from me. It is definitely not easy, but at the end of the day, education is a valuable tool that can benefit everyone in one way or another.
Especially speaking different languages! It not only enhances your perspective on the world and where you live, but further helps you down the road on your desired career path.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Change is scary, but never leaving your comfort zone is detrimental. The world is so big, that you have to take advantage of great opportunities to travel, learn, and explore. It is best to travel as much as you can when you are younger, you allow yourself to have fun and a lot more exposure to a variety of things then when you are older with more responsibilities to think about.
Why should someone choose INESLE Madrid over competitors?
INESLE is a great program for those looking to have an excellent immersion program in Spain, with qualified English and Spanish teachers to help support your journey into learning a new language in a different setting.
With INESLE you will have the best of both worlds when it comes to learning and travel. You have a great balance of studying great topics with your professors, but also the chance to visit different historical and cultural sites in the city.
Photo of me enjoying the sites in the gorgeous Plaza de Espana in Sevilla, Spain.
What is INESLE Madrid's mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Our mission is to enhance and promote the beauty and culture of Spain by making it a great exchange program for Americans to study and travel during the summer. They work towards providing great studies, accommodation, travel, and other fantastic cultural opportunities.
Not to mention the bond that students make with their host families! This program truly promotes blending both cultures where one equally learns from the other.
What do you hope participants take away from your program?
I hope participants in the program take away an experience of a lifetime and an open mind to the world and of their time in Spain. Also, I hope they will make friends that they will cherish forever and continue to keep in touch with even when they go back home.
Additionally, I hope students will be culturally inspired to travel even more and continue progressing in the use of another language. This is an excellent steppingstone to have as a young adult to create memories and connections.
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
It is important to expose oneself to new things and adventures. It promotes the ability to push yourself out of your comfort zone. The beauty of travel is not limited to a single person, it is for everyone. Tasting new food, meeting new people, traveling to different countries, and speaking a different language makes you more adept to have a door open for even more opportunities in the future.
Quick pause for a selfie while exploring the streets and plazas of Seville, Spain!
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel is curating memories that will last a lifetime and bring me valuable insights into who I am as a person, and how I can further translate what I learn into my work. Travel is a cultural abundance of so many things, it needs no explanation that it encapsulates food, language, people, history, etc. These are all variables that make each memory valuable because you create them based on where you are and who you are with. You essentially become a storyteller.
