A couple of months ago, on a Tuesday afternoon, I finished my class at Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, where I have been teaching different electives to undergraduate students. My next class was in a couple of hours, so I decided to step out in search of an empanada.
This semester has been enjoyable because I am teaching electives. My elective 21st Century Skills for Success attempts to start a conversation around soft/interpersonal skills and my elective India y el siglo 21 introduces the idea of India and its relevance today.
These electives are novel. In them, we look at topics and themes that are often overlooked at this part of the world. India remains a mystic and exotic place and what I try to do is make relatable India, Asia, and the world at large through my electives. These electives are powerful because they allow us to shift the narrative of education to a more open, respectful, and diverse one where the focus is on us as a common humanity.
Anyway, back to the empanada story. I stepped out of the university and bumped into Manuel and a couple of his friends. Manuel was my student in a business English course I taught last semester. He is a friendly young man with a good level of English, and the confidence to communicate ideas.
We started chatting. Soon, more of his friends came along and joined us. We ended up a group of 7-8 people, and our chat ended up becoming an hour-long conversation. The conversation was in English, and these young people were confident and excited to use the language to share ideas. They asked me simple questions such as what my favorite Colombian food was, to more transcendental ones such as my personal life philosophy.
I would describe our conversation as frank, open and curious. We spoke about English language learning and methodologies for practicing the language. We spoke about accent and Manuel rightly affirmed that one should speak how one speaks, and not stress about accent.
Having worked at a few different universities now, I can say that I really enjoy the spaces they provide for cultural and intellectual exchange. Sometimes, the best moments of learning are those that are natural, informal, and spontaneous, as the one I had on this Tuesday.
I never ended up getting that empanada. Instead, serendipity hit me with a fantastic conversation, where we were building intercultural communication in an informal and social setting. This is my work and I hope to continue to have such moments.