By Susanna Eguren

Thinking of the whole of South America, politically we have all had similar problems with corrupt governments, hopes, more elections, coups, corruption once again. That is nothing new. What I have noticed in my thirty years of EFL teaching is a change in the type of students we have now.

When I started to teach, English was a luxury taught to the upper middle class so they could tour the world or read foreign novels. Today, our students make great sacrifices to learn the language and about the American culture because that is the survival beacon light at the end of their tunnel.

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As we, teachers, know, we don’t choose this profession to become rich. I’m sure that with all the acting and performing in the classroom we could make much more in Hollywood. We choose to teach as a service to those who need what we know to become better citizens. The books that we use are just a helping instrument. We try to find the best because we know that each page means great effort to buy, on the part of the parents,and on the children to learn. But at the end, when we find our own students teaching others, working at better jobs with English, or simply living under improved standards, we realize it wasn’t a complete sacrifice. It was just a step, a slow and difficult step, but we get there. Don’t give up!

About the author

Susanna Eguren’s article was originally published in the magazine section of One Stop English.