secondaιy and preparatory school (see Fig. 2.3, p. 28). At the time that the project took
place, two of them were, or had been, enrolled in English classes. For the other two
(Participants T and A), the only possibility to study English was through the SAC.
Moreover, Participant T had just enrolled at the SAC, when he joined the project. This
fact becomes relevant in the information I gathered from him.
5.1.2 The setting
Except for the one-to-one sessions, the participants and I normally met in a SAC
room that is generally used for the users' course. It is furnished with around thirty
movable chairs and one or two tables. We usually worked around the tables, which were
useful for recording and taking notes. During the IS, I sometimes used a portable
whiteboard. Although having privacy was one of the great advantages of the room, its
great disadvantage was the noise from outside. The SAC is situated in a busy downtown
area next to the Oaxacan Red Cross. This means that on several occasions during the
sessions, the person that is speaking has to wait until a noisy bus or deafening ambulance
disappears in order to make his/her voice audible. For two weeks, however, because the
SAC was closed for regular users at 17:00 we carried out the evening sessions in a more
open and quiet area at the back of the centre.
For the one-to-one sessions we met in one of the cubicles that are supposed to be
used for counselling sessions. These 2x2 meter rooms have a desk against one of the
walls, two chairs and some shelves and file cabinets. There was always a tape recorder
and some notes on the desk. We usually sat in a comer of it. Because of the heat and the
size of the room the door was always opened. Although I liked this informal atmosphere,
our conversations were sometimes interrupted by passers-by of different types.
5.2 WHY I DID WHATI DID: THE METHODOLOGY
In short, what I did was to revisit the SAC and, for me, there is no doubt that I
saw it from a very different point of view. I worked with nine students and recorded their
stories about their personal experiences as FL learners. I also got their own versions of