October 11, 2006
Hi Dave (Kehe),
     Feel free to forward any of my emails to your students and I'd be happy to hear from them if they want some insight into the TEFL gig in Ecuador. As you know I am still getting things sorted out for myself and there are bound to be bumps along the way. The school where I work is funded by a non-profit foundation and they are involved in quite a few social service projects in the community including one associated with a Peace Corps volunteer who is working with a village where they weave the famous "Panama" hats which are indigenous to Ecuador. The women here weave the hats but it is the middlemen who make the lion's share of the profits and this volunteer is trying to organize a more direct connection between producers and retailers. There are lots of other opportunities to donate your time in such things as eco-tourism and rainforest preservation etc.

As for the value and practical application of the TESOL Cert. here at CEDEI they claim to only hire teachers with a bachelor's degree and a TESOL Cert. but the school seems to have taken a pretty hard hit when the government converted from the sucre to the dollar and I think they are making some compromises to provide services to a greater population of students. There has been a shuffle in the administration staff also so only time will tell how everything shakes out. As you can imagine the pay is not much but neither is the cost of living. My contract is only for 6 months but my visa is good for a year so if things don't turn out to my liking I can try my luck elsewhere in Ecuador or any other part of the world for that matter.

Because of the limited amount of luggage that you are allowed to bring these days and all the hassles associated with airport security I didn't bring any materials with me knowing that the school has an abundance of resources. I regret not bringing my copy of your workbook from the 425 class and another book called "English AS IT IS" which had lots of good illustrations for explaining very basic grammar points to beginning level students. As time progresses and I know more about how the postal system works I may purchase another copy of your book and have you send it to me. I am not too pleased with the textbook that they are using and have been for quite some time. It is called "Skyline" and really seems to add very little support to the field of Facilitative or Communicative learning techniques, but since they require the students to buy it they encourage us to use it. CEDEI also has an International program affiliated with a number of universities in the States, including Ohio University where I did my Master's degrees, so maybe we can get some type of exchange going with WWU. I will explore this further as well and see what materializes.

This weekend some of my fellow teachers and I are planning on visiting this eco-tourism camp in the rainforest a few hours from here. We get a discount since we are helping them get their business off the ground and giving them advice on what types of activities and accommodations are most important to attracting potential clients and satisfying their expectations. Well, I guess that pretty much does it for now.