As a Language Assistant (LA), our job is to design fun and engaging lesson plans for students to learn English. We meet with the language teacher weekly to discuss what topic to go over with our classes. We offer students from all over the world and of different ages and backgrounds, a chance to practice and learn English in a nontraditional setting. Apart from leading a class, there are other leadership opportunities at the institute such as sponsorship roles and a level group leadership position. As a sponsor, you are in charge of an after school event. As a level group leader, you moderate discussions between other LA's in the same teaching level as you. My job as a level group leader meant coming up with solutions to classroom problems and discussing how to improve class activities. (The picture below is an activity we did with students where they had to label body parts on a partner).

ELI events and activities are a great way to bond with students. There are five main events on weekdays and there are often weekend activities held on Saturdays. The events are as follows: Monday Mixer (game night), Tuesday Soccer, Wednesday Volleyball, Rotating Thursdays (social events that change weekly), and Cafe Fridays (social at a coffee shop). Weekend activities are always changing, and usually require LA's with cars to shuttle students to the event. Some weekend activities I've been to are laser tag, Daytona beach trip, and the gator football game. 

While most of what we do at ELI is paid there are many weekend events where we are given the chance to volunteer in our community. The volunteer opportunities target different needs in the neighborhood such as food insecurity, wildlife management, and school restoration projects. The projects that I was most interested in were focused on food insecurity so I volunteered at Grace Marketplace and Project Downtown. 

Part of what made this job so rewarding was the chance to meet people from all around the world and learn so much from them. Their kindness warmed my heart and they were so eager to invite me into their daily lives. I was invited to eat dinner with students from Saudi Arabia, I cooked with students from Venezuela, and one of my Korean students invited me to celebrate his babies 100th day. The experiences I gained from this program are priceless; I am blessed to have been given the chance to live through them.