Teaching and Eating

It has now been 2 weeks that I have been in Costa Rica.

Happily, 2 big pieces of the puzzle have now fallen into place.

I now have a part-time job. I have been hired by Pro Language to teach Business English.

The hiring procedure was a two-part selection process. The first part was an interview with the Academic Coordinator.

The second part was a peer teaching, in which I had to teach an actual unit to one of admin assistants who speaks very little English.

Prior to the peer teaching, I was advised that the grammar component of the teaching session was critical.

As an avid reader and a writer, grammar is something I hardly think about any more. Apart from occasional interventions by the in-house grammar police, English grammar is hardly a frequent topic of conversation.

When I saw that the grammar element involved teaching simple past, past perfect, past continuous and past perfect continuous tenses, although the words themselves were clear, the combinations seemed like a foreign language.

It's amazing what you can do when you have to.

After some extra preparation, the peer teaching went very well.

I was told that I had 'aced the session' and that what made the difference was the grammar component.

Teaching...or Tutoring

Not sure that what I will be doing is teaching as we know it.

It's more like tutoring, following a pre-set course or program.

In actual fact, it is more like engaging the student in conversation following the course outline.

At this point, I have one student, whom I will be working with 2 evenings per week from 6-8 PM.

The Academic Coordinator advises that I can expect another 2-3 students, each of which will also involve 2 weekly sessions of 2 hours each.

Ultimately that will total 16 hours per week at the rate of $4100 CRC for a weekly income of $65,600 colones.

Before you get too excited by that number, it works out to about $125 CDN.

But that's okay. The furnished bachelor apartment that I have arranged will cost only about $177 CDN per month. (I'll write about that when I move in...which I hope will be Saturday.)

Rice and Beans

It didn't take long to learn that the best place to eat is at a Soda, which is a small cafe.

These are small 1-2 person operations that offer good meals at even better prices, usually 2000-3000 colones ($5-$6).

With few exceptions, whatever you order in a Soda comes with rice and black beans.

After my first interview at Pro Language, I ordered what I was pretty sure was a fish dish...and it turned out to be fish & chips, complete with rice and black beans.

Another time I ordered the daily special, which I knew was spaghetti...and sure enough with the requisite healthy servings of rice and black beans.

In view of the compulsory servings of rice and black beans, I have started to have a fruit plate for breakfast.

That's 'plata de frutas', which a a plate or bowl containing chunks for freshly cut fruit. 'Ensaladas de frutas' also has chunks of fruit...but covered in ice cream, jello and chocolate syrup.

It tastes good...but I have learned that a 'plata de frutas, pan tostadas & cafe negro' is a much less jarring way to start the day.