Reflection on learning

So far this has been a very educational trip and I feel so blessed that I have been able to share this opportunity with my friends and family.  As the trip comes to an end (3 days) I think about all of the experiences I've had, and it makes me feel confident that I will be able to have empathy for my future ELL students and communicate with parents and students better.  If I have a student who does not know English well and is struggling learning in my class, I will be able to share my experiences and teach him/her to make learning in a new language easier.  

I have had so many different struggles learning a new language and communicating with local people as well as my host family.  It is incredibly frustrating when I cannot comprehend what someone is explaining or they cannot understand my Spanglish, but we find other ways to communicate and make it work.  I have found that inquiry based learning is great for me and when I can do hands-on things and explore I learn a lot more than memorizing facts and information.  

There are so many different ways children learn and I hope that these experiences in Costa Rica will help me facilitate new ways to learn for ELL students in my classroom.