Ana, English Student

Hi!

Ana at work

My name is Ana Gutiérrez, I live in San Salvador.

I work as a Physical Therapist, Occupational and Speech Therapist too.

I work with deaf people in my church, doing interpretation in Sign Language and I´m a volunteer in the Red Cross.

Ana with some classmates

I´m learning English because knowing English, I can serve many people in different ways and places.

English helps me to have contact with English speakers who want to work with people that I work with. It allows us to do the work with more efficacy and we can provide more people with necessary services. 

Why do you study English at CIS - what is special about CIS?

I enjoy studying English at CIS because I have the opportunity to practice my English with native speakers.

At CIS we have the space to speak about subjects and topics of social interest, and CIS provides us a good environment for expressing our opinions, It´s a good place for listening to different ways of thinking and for learning to respect others’ thoughts.

Sign Language

In CIS at the same time that we have an education of quality we don´t invest too much money.  This is a advantage for us; due to the economy in our country.  Salaries are really poor and in my case I couldn´t afford an education with native speakers and with this high quality in another institution.

The location of CIS is accessible for people who come from different places of San Salvador. The CIS´s facilities are comfortable and good for learning. 

Why is it important to native English speakers to come to teach?

From my point of view, it´s important to learn English with native speakers because it helps us to learn the correct English pronunciation and at the same time we can learn to understand diverse accents. That is important because we can speak with people who come from distinct countries.

We learn about the cultures of the countries that our teachers are from and it´s good for us to have a better comprehension of the world.

I think it´s excellent for me to have the chance of to make new friends.

Ana's class

Meg, a social worker

CIS changed my life in so many ways. From becoming proficient in Spanish which has opened a world of opportunities to me, to growing in solidarity with the people of El Salvador, to forming wonderful bonds with friends from El Salvador and around the world, to meeting my amazing Salvadoran husband, I can’t imagine my life now if I had never gone to CIS!

 I studied at CIS several times between 2012 and 2014 for a total of about 6 months. I kept coming back because I could see I was improving and was fascinated with the classes. I started in level Basic B and finished in the Advanced.  Thanks to learning Spanish at CIS, I later worked as a delegation leader and translator at a NGO in El Salvador before I was hired at my current position as a social worker in Washington, DC in large part because of my Spanish proficiency. I now spend large parts of my workday working directly with immigrants doing clinical work in Spanish.

I was attracted to CIS because I knew Spanish fluency would be essential for the social services work I was going into and I wanted to study in a more meaningful way than typical Spanish classes.  I knew I wanted to go to El Salvador because I was also very interested in its rich history of liberation theology and struggles for social justice. The fact that CIS uses a popular education model and shares the lived experiences of people in Central America further drew me.  I wasn’t disappointed! The material presented a rich cultural and social justice history, and I felt absorbed in learning.  It was practical and useful and what I wanted – practice talking about issues – from water rights, to land ownership, to politics. The teachers come from shared or lived experiences that we are learning about and were eager to share their culture and history with us. And in the evening, I could use the language skills I was learning to bond with my host family over dinner or playing with their dogs to further deepen my learning experience.

Meg with one of her classes

The Political-Cultural program in the afternoons and some weekends was important, as well. I connected what I learned in class with seeing things and practicing using the language, which made the language and the history and social justice issues come alive. Some of the most powerful moments were hiking Puerta del Diablo, visiting the UCA massacre site, and learning to dye indigo. We experienced food, people, music, natural environment-all the special things that make El Salvador one of a kind.

Vigil at the UCA

I also experienced the country could be in solidarity with the people of El Salvador without feeling that my safety was compromised. We got a thorough security briefing upon arrival that left me feeling aware and prepared. My whole time there was without incident because of all the precautions put in place, and I never felt less safe that I do in my home city of New York – mainly we just took universal safety precautions that anyone would take traveling to any city.

Teaching English was a really powerful experience, as well. In addition to learning really helpful teaching and training techniques, by far the greatest learning experience I had was getting to learn from and hear first-hand accounts from my students about their experiences living in El Salvador in present time – while working on grammar they could also express from their heart. Also, it’s FUN! I did a ton of fun events with CIS to foster community, from cultural nights, to Halloween party, to a field trip celebrating “Teacher’s Day.” Some of my favorite exchanges were teaching my students about my home in NYC-

Indigo Dresses!

I made wonderful friends between my students and fellow teachers from around the world who were

studying, teaching and volunteering on election delegations – rich friendships that I still have 4 years later, some of whom even flew in from around the world to my wedding in El Salvador.

CIS remains an important part of me and my husband’s lives-we even had the favors for our wedding 

made by one of the cooperatives that CIS supports through their program for women artesans and our 

musician was my former English CIS student! I can’t imagine my current life now without CIS and would 

encourage anyone considering a powerful and effective way to learn Spanish and apply!

Berta, English Student turned English Teacher

Hi, my name is Berta,

Receiving her Diploma!

I would like to share my experience at CIS. In the beginning I was a student and the most important thing that I learned of CIS was "How important it is to promote solidarity in El Salvador". When I finished improving my skills I was invited to participate as an English Volunteer teacher. This was a really good experience for me because it gave me the opportunity to practice my English knowledge by helping other students.

Berta with her students

Several years ago I graduated from the University of El Salvador with a degree in Business Administration. My experience as a volunteer English teacher at CIS inspired me to return to school to obtain a teaching certificate. Last year I took a break from my classes and volunteering at CIS to complete a one-year program. I hope to obtain a teaching job and I will be returning to volunteer at CIS in April too.





I invite you to participate in this program because you can have the opportunity to practice Spanish with native speakers, to know about our culture and, the most important thing - to promote solidarity between our countries.

Margie comes back every year!

Margie showing off the pockets in her new backpack from the CIS store.

Margie Legowski is a former teacher, Peace Corps volunteer, education and training specialist
and program manager with the Peace Corp and the Corporation for National and Community
Service (the agency that funds AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps, NCCC). She is active in Holy
Trinity Catholic Parish, Washington, DC, the group that first brought her to El Salvador and a
group which has had an on-going relationship of support and solidarity with the parish of Maria

Madre of Los Pobres (where she now has a goddaughter) in San Salvador for over twenty-five years. Margie has been involved in this solidarity work for the past five years and has studied at CIS four times in order to learn Spanish and/or increase her fluency. In addition to spending time working in the parish, she has also participated in election delegations with CIS and Cristosal in 2014 and 2015. She is here again this year for two months and is spending her mornings studying at CIS, so we had a chance to interview her about her experience with classes at CIS and her time in El Salvador. 

Elections forum

Margie´s words:
My first teacher was Zulma and there were only two of us in the class. Basically, Zulma took us
from where we were to a new level. My fellow student and I both love music so she used music
and her own stories to engage us in learning. All the CIS teachers have helped me understand
¨la lucha¨ - the struggle for justice here in El Salvador – and all use very creative strategies to
work with us to improve our language skills.

Each time I have come, I have stayed with Nora, who has one of the host homes for students and volunteers at CIS. She is one of those women made in heaven– former teacher, activist with the FMLN and even in her 70´s full of more energy than most young people. She has also been a student in the English classes at CIS. 

My experiences with CIS and with Maria Madre Parish have led to so many other things in my life. I have new friendships in El Salvador and with people in DC, Baltimore and other communities that work for justice Latin America. I've participated in several the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) meetings in Fort Benning, Georgia, and a few months ago I joined a delegation to Venezuela to broaden my perspective about Latin American issues. And I am now an emergency foster parent with the Latin American Youth Center in DC. 

I can see that security issues are difficult for people living and working in El Salvador. The people at CIS, my host mother and my friends and family at Maria Madre de los Pobres do everything they can to to keep us all safe. I'm particularly interested in the issue of security as I lead my church's delegations here twice a year. The CIS document analyzing violence in El Salvador was particularly helpful in that regard.

Basically, I listen to the advice Salvadorans give me: I take cabs when I am out after dark, and I don´t carry or wear valuable items when I am out traveling around by bus or on foot. I use many of the same safety precautions here that I use at home in Washington, DC. or when I travel anywhere outside of my own country.

Erica connecting with her cultural roots and understanding her parents' stories

Erica (left) and her sister with a great view of the volcano!

 Hi I’m Erica and I’m a university student from Vancouver, Canada. I first learned of CIS

while doing research on development projects and NGOs in El Salvador and was really

drawn to the CIS’s mission of promoting cultural exchange and social justice in El

Salvador. My parents are from El Salvador and they left during the civil war in the 80s

and most of what I knew about El Salvador was from the stories they shared with me.


I decided to teach English at CIS; at first I didn’t know what to expect as I had never

taught before but CIS does a great job at preparing their volunteers, I really liked their

use of the popular education concept for teaching and learning. Teaching English was

definitely an exchange of ideas, each class was structured so that every grammar lesson

Erica presenting during a cultural event

was accompanied by a social issue topic. Some sample topics included mining, the

environment, gangs, and historical memory. Getting to know my students and learning

about El Salvador through them was definitely the highlight of my experience.

Through my time at CIS I learned a lot about the current political and social realities in El

Salvador, another highlight for me was definitely taking part in the Political Cultural

Program at CIS. Through the program other volunteers and I had the opportunity to visit

various sites of historical and cultural significance in El Salvador, and it really allowed

me to gain a better understanding about Salvadoran history and its current reality. Many

of the social and political factors that led to the civil war that my parents escaped are still

visible in various forms in El Salvador, and those same factors contribute to the current

Salvadoran reality.

Some of the students and teachers at the CIS

While in El Salvador I didn’t run into any major security issues. I took the buses during

the day, but at night travelled by taxi. In general it’s a good idea to avoid walking around

alone after dark as well as carrying flashy valuables. CIS was always really great in

making sure students and volunteers always had a safe way of getting home after classes.

As part of my experience I also had the opportunity of enjoying the beauty that is El

Salvador: the land of volcanoes (23!). I got to climb a couple and it is definitely worth the

trek, once you are at the top the views are incredible! The beaches are not too bad either!  

Being in El Salvador was really like being home, it really allowed me to connect with my

Taking a boat to visit a women's sewing business on an island!

cultural roots and gain a more complete picture of my parents’ stories. I would really

recommend anyone, especially those with roots in El Salvador to learn more about its

history and its current reality. My experience at CIS definitely provided me the

opportunity to do this, and along the way I got to meet incredible people, many of whom

I’m still in contact with today. I’m really looking forward to my next visit home!

Sam's Experience

Sam Lawrence still wanted to share his story, from his experience a couple years ago!  Cheers Sam.  Saludos from El Salvador!

I cannot imagine a better place to learn Spanish.  I often had one on one instruction or had class with
one or two other students – it was a great student- teacher ratio.  I loved that aspect of CIS.  The
teachers are very well trained in both language teaching and in popular education techniques.  I learned so much about people and issues of El Salvador, Central America and Latin America while learning to speak Spanish – It was a perfect mix for me. It was an intense immersion.  I went from nil to fluent enough to use Spanish in my professional life, and it was great for understanding the social landscape of Latin America.

I felt like I became friends with all of my teachers and felt very comfortable with them.  They were not intimidating.  The teachers at CIS are very warm people who made me feel safe to go all out and get out of my comfort zone and I feel like I have lasting friendships and I can Skype and visit with them at any time.

I went to El Salvador with some of the same apprehension other people feel because of how El Salvador is portrayed in the media and having read all the warnings.  I never felt unsafe.  I lived in a neighborhood with a host family that had security in their area and I walked to school every morning and took a taxi home after dark.  I think that CIS staff and my host family and all of my friends were very, cognizant of our fears and very accommodating to make sure we were as comfortable as possible – to make us both feel and be safe.  I had no bad experiences and took the same precautions I took living in New Orleans.  I would come back in a heartbeat if I had the time and funds.

Teaching English was a really thrilling experience.  It has stuck with me and I think I´ll remember it for the rest of my life.  The training program was great – to learn philosophies about language learning and popular education.  I was nervous at the beginning but I found my stride.  And I learned so much from my students – the experience left me with a lot of optimism because my students were so great and thoughtful.  I feel really confident that I can translate the skills to my work in the USA – teaching, leading meetings, bringing groups together to have discussions about important issues in a very exciting way.

I came to El Salvador not knowing how to conjugate a single verb, and when I got home I was ready to use Spanish in my professional life.  I worked for the juvenile public defender in New Orleans and I was able to use my skills to help the lawyers communicate with clients and their families – and now I am using my Spanish skills in my graduate program in Social Work working with Spanish speaking kids and their families in the schools in Siler City, North Carolina.

Jill Stiemsma, retired teacher and volunteer

Made it to the top of the volcano!  I'm in the middle!

Hi.  I’m Jill Stiemsma, a retired college instructor from Wisconsin. I first became aware of CIS when I joined an SOA-Watch delegation that traveled to El Salvador to

honor the 30^th anniversary of Oscar Romero’s assassination.  SOA-Watch contracted with CIS to lead this delegation, and it was truly an amazing experience.  As luck would have it, two other members on the trip had previously studied Spanish in a Bolivian language school and encouraged me to do the same. As a 60-year-old Spanish student, I was struggling in basic University courses back home.

So, yes, I spent six months in Bolivia.  But when I returned home, I thought, “What can I do now to keep using my Spanish?”  And in the mysterious ways of the universe, what would appear in the mail the very next day but a letter from CIS, wondering if I’d be interested in teaching English for them.  Would I be interested???  What a silly question!  I immediately applied.

Jill with her first group of Beginner English Students at the CIS

I’m now teaching my fourth English cycle over a five-year span and have made seven trips to El Salvador, all told.  I’ve been an English teacher, a Spanish student (as a CIS English teacher, I pay half price for my classes), an Elections Observer, and a member of one other CIS delegation (the last one for the beatification of Oscar Romero).  Because of CIS’ Cultural Program and organized teacher trips, I have a really good background in the Salvadoran Reality.

Since teachers must pay their own transportation and housing costs here, why would I keep coming back, especially to a country deemed so unsafe?  Quite frankly, I get a lot more out of working and living directly with Salvadorans than they get from me.  When I enter El Salvador these days, I immediately sense that “I am home”.  I firmly believe US citizens owe El Salvador a lot, given our funding of their Civil War and our sending planeloads of gang members back to El Salvador, sometimes daily (and then having the audacity to admonish them for not solving “their” gang problem). 

Getting coffee during election observations

Am I safe?  I think so.  I don’t take public transportation or walk at night; CIS places us in decent (though not fancy) housing in non-gang neighborhoods.  As a gringo, I’m less likely to be harmed anyway (or so I think).  I know enough not to argue with robbers; I’ll just give them what they want.  Here, the teachers’ biggest complaints revolve around taking cold showers, quite frankly!

Please come.  Please support CIS as a teacher, as a traveler, as a language learner.  The experience will change your life.  It absolutely will.