Mi búsqueda para pura vida

So I am applying to teach English in Costa Rica. And it'd be really helpful if I could get any feedback at all on my application questions. So I am going to freewrite my initial responses here, then refine them for the next week or so (the questions aren't too difficult, but the 250 word limit is pretty harsh). Any help would be incredibly appreciated... especially if you could point out both the aspects that work and those that don't work (or need to be worked on).

1. At this point in your life, what is your motivation for wanting to be a WorldTeach volunteer in the country to which you are applying? What personal goals do you aim to achieve by participating in the program? What contributions do you hope to bring to the community in which you will teach and live?


My motivation for being a WorldTeach volunteer in Costa Rica stems from my interest in teaching, writing, and the country itself. As a newly intermediate Spanish speaker, I understand the difficulties of speaking a second language and the fact that acquiring new languages takes discipline. As a self-motivated young woman, I am constantly thinking of ways to strengthen my rhetoric both inside and outside of the classroom. Being submerged into a different culture and language will challenge my normal discourse and will undoubtedly benefit me as a thinker, writer, and scholar. In this way, my motivations and personal goals will truly be at work together.

Because I view writing as such an important factor in life, no matter what field one is in, the practice of this art would be employed in order to contribute to the area that I will be living and working in. Collaboration is a huge part of my personal pedagogy, so the idea of creating some sort of “writing community” would be beneficial to both me and the students. A specific idea I have is developing a newspaper for students to work on about topics that affect or interest them. We could focus on everyday things like movie reviews, extracurricular activities, or whatever interests the students. Something like this might have to start in Spanish, but it would be a great experience to practice writing articles in English because seeing physical results in the form of a newspaper will be rewarding.

If this idea is successful, I would invite friends and families of the students to contribute as well. This could branch out further into answering questions that non-Costa Ricans have. Since I have relationships with teachers in my hometown, I might be able to let both Costa Rican and American students collaborate from abroad. Hopefully, this will make students aware of their own country and community, as well as in the world around them.