Sponsor Four English Teachers from Mexico

Last year we shared Emir’s personal journey that he undertook to become an English teacher and a participant in one of IAPE’s programs. He is almost two years into his three-year IAPE Service Commitment that began the summer of 2016.  In addition to participating in IAPE’s English Trainers Corps, Emir has also served as an Advanced Trainer and facilitator of IAPE sessions in Mexico and in the US, and has been a mentor to IAPE participants throughout Mexico.  This is his story in his own words:

The Rassias® Method not only inspires teachers.  It also inspires students to continue studying. They visualize themselves in the future becoming professionals (doctors, teachers, engineers, nurses, etc.) who will help to change this world into a better one. I have no doubt that most of my students will continue their studies. Some of them have told me that they will become English teachers and that really makes me happy.

The first three months being a IAPEañero, I was able to start practicing drills and other Rassias® techniques with my students. I made some mistakes on the road: I had to check notes repeatedly and I used the techniques over and over again. My students were surprised, and, no doubt, thinking,  ´Our teacher is crazy,’ and laughing at me every time I jumped over a chair, or rolled over the desk, or mimicked something.  Our classes may sound out of control but they are not. There is a method to our madness.  My students noticed rapidly the change in their language learning, in their participation in class, in generating confidence among classmates, and in collaborating to reach goals.   It was a great start!

Last year, October 2017, I attended the MEXTESOL International Convention and I was absent from work for three days. Coming back to my workplace, my students greeted me with complaints:  ‘Why didn’t you come, teacher?’ ‘We were waiting for you!’  ‘Don´t leave us again!’

I knew this really meant, ‘I missed you!’  ‘You have become part of my daily life!’  ‘You and your class are important to me!’ And it meant that I am succeeding in making a difference by applying the Rassias® philosophy I learned in IAPE, inspiring students “heart to heart.”

We are achieving this goal with the help of others, as one united team. I have had the opportunity to serve as a model for others and to provide them with guidance.   I have had the opportunity to have teachers from different states help and support me to present IAPE Introductory Workshops in the Rassias® Method.  I have been blessed to be a mentor to others since the summer of 2016. And teachers have supported me and given me feedback to become a better teacher and leader.  I am reaching my life purpose of helping people to make a better world.  There is still a long path ahead, but step by step and working together, we are transforming lives.