Belated Last days in Guadalajara

Michelle: Our final week in class was one of gladness (that we were finishing up at Imac and having a couple of days off), dread (packing is absolutely the ultimate worst part about traveling, especially after living in a place and making it your home for 4 months and accumulating all kinds of extra odds n ends), sadness (we hate goodbyes), and professional disinterest (when your classes are going to be handed over to a teacher that the school wont even tell you who but still expect you to lesson plan for, and the kids don't want you to leave- who really cares about sticking to the text book, why not have some fun)!
Telling our students that we were leaving was tough, the reaction was complimentary to us but a little upsetting to see their faces fall as the reality of the situation sinks in- away they go again on the whirlwind of instability and uncertainty that is the face of Imac, losing teachers that they like, having classes and schedules changed without warning, squeezing 10 hours of lessons into 5 to make up for public holidays, getting pushed through even when they are flailing and going back to non-native english speaking teachers and therefore learning mistakes and bad habits. There were even some tears, lots of begging for us to stay, gifts given, meals together, photos taken and facebook details exchanged. We asked our students if they were interested in giving us some honest student testimonials and they all eagerly jumped on board and gave glowing reviews. It's uplifting for us to know that we will be missed, it makes everything worthwhile to know that we have made a positive impact and it gives us a confidence boost that reassures us we have made the right decision in becoming teachers.

To our friends outside the world of Imac, it was hard to say goodbye but each with promises of a return oneday, or a catch up somewhere around the globe. If we hadn't already booked the flights to Europe before leaving Canada, we would have for sure stayed longer in Guadalajara. Although we had to laugh when Imac was handing over our reference letters and they asked us when we would be returning, there was a very awkward silence as we looked sideways at each other and um-ed and uh-ed for the best way to politely tell them there wasn't a chance in all heck we would come back to work for them... From the day we were hired the school knew we were leaving and not returning, but even though we were the rebellious ones, not always sticking to the rigid rules, it was obvious that we had fun and our students really enjoyed class. As evidence, on my last class of conversation on Friday, there were 39 people packed into a tiny room, about 10 of them standing as there was no room for any more chairs, it was about 35 degrees with no window or air conditioning and we were all sweating like crazy but having a blast (of course we were not sticking to the given topic, but that's beside the point). To put this into perspective, the average conversation class size is about 3-6 people, my average class size was about 15, this was by far the biggest conversation class ever! As a little nose rub, Jon discreetly brought it to the attention of a few key staff members and had them take a look through the classroom door at the class...They were rather impressed...  

It sounds like we are ungrateful to Imac, not true at all. We are very thankful we were given the opportunity for experience fresh out of school, most schools before they take you on want you to have at least 1-2 years of experience, which is understandable from a business perspective. And so we really needed to get whatever we could so we have something to put on our resumes. However the truth of the matter is that we now know what we don't want in a school, what it is we do want out of teaching, and that is the true essence, to help people and have an impact on their learning and their lives and for ourselves to come out of it having a sense of accomplishment, to strive with our students to learn and have personal growth. We loved our classes, our students and so, mission accomplished! Thankyou Mexico!