We are so impressed by how many of our au pairs donate their time and talents to community service work. This week’s spotlight is on Vania Bigatto Secon. Vania was an au pair from Brazil living with her host family in Georgia and a State Winner for the 2016 Au Pair Community Service Awards. She shared the following about her volunteer work teaching English as a second language.
America is an open-hearted country. We can find refugees, workers and all kind of immigrants living here from all around the world and for many different reasons. Some of them have a very good level of English and some of them can barely survive in this culture.
When I first arrived here in USA, I had an intermediate level of English, and it was very hard to communicate and make connections with other people. After studying very hard and living in community in this immersing language and cultural experience, I developed my skills very quickly and this teaching desire starts to grow in my heart.
I signed up for teaching English classes, and I found many opportunities to help people here. My volunteer experience is at a Community Assistance Center, teaching English, that’s where I found my passion. The English teacher role is helping me to see and live this cultural experience very closely. It’s been amazing for me to have this experience and help other people who live here to communicate and take the most of their experience in the USA.
It is amazing to see the students working hard in class and developing their language abilities. I volunteer teaching English for adults! They can learn very fast! They are motivated by the need to communicate and the pleasure of expressing their thoughts. I have students from China, Venezuela, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, some of them are retired, and some stay at home and some have a job. It is amazing to see all of them working together for the same propose; learning English. When they cross the door, all their differences are left behind and when I see these people working together and helping themselves to learn and improve their skills, I feel more alive than ever.
It is a wonderful experience. No money in the world can pay this feeling. I’m still struggling with the language, but each day, I grow with the students and it’s amazing see how far they can go! Many times, they came from work hungry for knowledge, and it’s a pleasure be the person who feed them with this incredible cultural experience. It’s a differential being a foreign teacher, because they can see themselves in me and somehow get inspired to go forward and master the language.
I’m so thankful for the opportunity to live here and live this incredible life experience. For sure the au pair program is so much more than take care of kids and improve English. We learn to live a new life, respect different cultures and grow as a person. And for me, it helped me to find my new passion; teaching!
Contact us to view profiles of au pairs like Vania and to learn how Au Pair in America can be a rewarding cultural experience and child care solution for your entire family.
