ALDO

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Furniture and a sneak peek into my personal space:

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ABOUT ME

Hello my name is Aldo, I moved to Madrid in September from the U.S. to take on this great opportunity to be part of the Language assistant program in Madrid. I come from Connecticut a small state in the northeast of the U.S. I graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Exercise Physiology. It never occurred to me that one day I would have an impact on the education of many children which makes me feel extremely privileged. Throughout my college career I always wondered what I was going to do after graduating. I changed my mind on numerous career paths, and never did it cross my mind that I would be interested in education. As I look back at my extracurricular activities, all my community involvement work, and even my upbringing I realized that all of these factors have played a huge role in my interest and love for this new career path. 

This is some of my community involvement work that have influenced why I chose to come to Spain to be part of the Language Assistant program. I was a Family Child Care Assistant for a daycare ran by my mother in West Hartford, CT. I helped with 6 children ages 1-4 years old by assisting the provider in creating and leading educational activities for the children, as well as learning the fundamentals to get them ready for kindergarten. After high school I volunteered at an after school homework program in my town where I helped children in the areas of ESL, ESOL, and conversational English. I have also volunteered as a coach at a Youth Soccer Camp at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, CT. This summer camp consisted of about 500 boys and girls aged 5-18. Each day I was in charge of creating fun and active soccer activities that incorporated different soccer skills and different types of number games. I have also volunteered at the children’s museum after school program as a volunteer counselor. My job was assisting the museum’s educators with children aged 1-6, while they performed experiments and toured the museum. I also educated them about the different animals at the museum and oversaw some of the simple science activities they were performing. I volunteered in the Windham Special Olympics, where I helped coach and cheer on kids with special needs in an event that they will always remember. 

Even though I have some experience working with kids, what shaped me and influenced me the most was being brought up in multicultural home and understanding the struggles of learning and acquiring a new culture. 

From first-hand experience I understand how hard it is to learn a new language and adapt to a completely different culture. I came from Peru when I was 10 years old. Everything in the United States was different for me. The school I attended was different, the clothes I had to wear were different, I didn’t have any friends, and on top of it all, I didn’t know any English and had to learn as quickly as possible. As I began attending school, through many challenges, I was able to adapt to the new culture. It started with me having to put myself out there and speak and engage in a language that I was not confident in. I tried hard to make friends in my ESL classes with students who were going through the same process of adaptation. My outgoing personality and involvement in sports allowed me to make friends outside of my ESL classes. This helped me quickly adapt to my new environment and as I broke out of my shell and finally felt the comfort to speak English. My life outside of school was different though. Everyday I still came home to family who spoke Spanish and kept a strong influence of Peruvian culture throughout my life. Although it wasn’t easy switching back and forth everyday, I take pride in this naturally formed cross-cultural view. This multicultural environment I grew up in has really shaped me into who I am today. I have experienced living two completely different cultures and I am passionate about incorporating another.