2.4.3.3 Counsellors
To be a counsellor in the Self-access Centre of Oaxaca it is necessary to be a teacher
of the Language Centre. This means that all the counsellors are at the same teachers of the
Language Centre, and their characteristics are the same (see section 2.4.2, p. 30). There are
around 15 teachers that work in the SAC and as a group it is very heterogeneous and
unstable. As I said before, the former feature is due to the fact that they come from different
backgrounds: most of them are foreigners (Americans, Canadian, Scottish, French and
Dutch) and their education as language teachers ranges from MA in TEFL to none. The
latter trait, instability, is a result of the mobility of the teachers. Although some of them have
decided to settle in Oaxaca, many are just there for a short period of time. The effect of this
is reflected in several aspects, some of them being training, experience and commitment.
In the following paragraphs, I will describe the training process of the teachers to
become SAC counsellors. The reader will notice that there is a difference between the actual
content of the different courses, summarised in Fig. 2.4, and my personal recalling of it. This
difference is due to the fact that most of the training input did not produce much intake.
Later, I will analyse the problem in depth.
As I said before the training of the teachers consisted of four courses that started at
the middle of 1992, a year before the SAC was opened. This has been called the formal
training (Clemente and Kissinger, 1994, 18). A colleague and I attended this first course,
which took place at the University of Yucatan. It was held by Susan Axbey, a free-lance
English consultant. As I recall, its main focus was practical issues, in particular, processing
and elaboration of SAC materials. However, looking through my notes there was some input
on pedagogical issues such as the role of the teacher and the implications of self-learning
(see Fig. 2.4 for an objective account of the content of the four courses from Clemente and
Kissinger; 1994,26). As I said before, I was exposed to the theoretical information but I did
not process it.
The second course was carried out in Oaxaca at the beginning of 1993. That fact
allowed me to invite all the teachers of the Language Centre to attend it. There were teachers
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