MEET OUR AUXILIARES

English Language Assistants

Sierra Sur is one of many schools that has had the privilege to have English language assistants from NALCAP (North American Language and Culture Assistants Program) work at their establishment. This program provides an opportunity for students in Spanish schools to learn English from native English speakers and it also provides the assistant with the experience of teaching and living in a foreign country. 

Below is a list of the auxiliares that have had the pleasure of working at Sierra Sur in Osuna and what their experience was like at the institution.

 

2022-2023

Emma Cintado

Hi there! My name is Emma Cintado, I am 22 years old, and I am from Northbrook, Illinois—a small suburb outside the city of Chicago. I graduated in May 2022 from Augustana College with a Bachelor's degree in Spanish Education and a minor in Scandinavian Studies.

I chose to study Spanish Education specifically in college due to the fact that my father was born in Seville, Spain and is a Spanish teacher himself. I have been learning Spanish since I was a little kid because of him and have always admired his dedication to teaching me his native language. Teaching is not an easy job to undertake, however, I feel that teaching others is a calling of mine and I think that kids in school can benefit a lot from learning another language or at least becoming interested in one. Knowing other languages opens up a lot of doors to potential careers, gaining perspective on other cultures, traveling with more ease, and it also allows you to communicate with more people around the world that you normally wouldn't be able to.

There are many reasons why I decided to apply to NALCAP. Fresh out of college, I wasn't feeling ready quite yet to jump straight into a full-time teaching job in the states and this program felt like the perfect opportunity for me to teach whilst improving my Spanish at the same time. I ultimately ended up choosing Sierra Sur because I wanted to have the experience of teaching students who were a bit older and would be learning more advanced English. It is also just a train ride away from my family in Seville, making it easier to visit them in the city while also being able to create my own experience in a new town that I had not heard of prior to this program.

Sierra Sur has a bilingual program, which means that as an auxiliar, I was assisting English learning in the regular classroom instead of in English language courses. During my time here, I taught English in several different subjects such as Social Studies, Math, Music, Physical Education, and Technology. This proved to be more of a challenge than I had originally thought going in because I had to be conscious of the material that was being taught in the classroom and try to relate the English lessons to what the students were learning at the time. Despite this challenge, I feel like I put my best effort forward to creating interesting lessons that would motivate the students to want to learn English, and I had a lot of fun brainstorming how to incorporate English into different types of content for different age groups.

Now that I am nearing the end of my teaching experience here at Sierra Sur, I can honestly say that I am so happy I chose to apply to NALCAP and that I chose Sierra Sur. I think if I were to give advice to future auxiliares, I would advise them to not overly stress themselves out with making lessons for every class and that they should embrace every challenge as a lesson for themselves in the future. Not every student is going to want to learn English, not every student will cooperate with you, and not every lesson will go exactly the way you planned it. BUT THAT'S OKAY! It's the effort that counts, and although you might at times feel defeated, you are making a difference in your students' lives.

If you have any further questions or wish to contact me, you can email me at cintadoemma@gmail.com

2023-2024