Hello, and welcome to my digital portfolio!
My name is Alexander Riggen, and this is my second year as an auxiliar in Madrid. I am from the United States, and I was born in Indiana. I am the oldest of four brothers, two of whom are twins! |
Background
& Interests
As a kid, I never remember wanting to be a teacher. In fact, school and I were a little like oil and water: we didn't mix. I loved being the class clown, and for me, school was an opportunity to sharpen my skills. The older I got, the more I realized the importance of school and began to focus on what I was going to do when I "grew up". It was in high school when I began to realize that teaching could be my calling. When I was 16 I started working at McDonalds so I could make enough money to spend time with my friends on the weekend. I never expected to work at McDonalds for more than a year or two. I ended up working at McDonalds for 9 years, becoming the General Manager of my own restaurant, and learning a plethora of life skills that I will never forget. It was at McDonalds where I began to embrace being a "teacher".
While working at McDonalds full time, I was also working towards my degree at university. When I left high school and started taking classes at university, I had no idea what I wanted to focus on. While working at McDonalds, I began speaking in Spanish with some of my coworkers who were from Mexico and South America. It was there that I experienced the power of learning a language, and how much you are able to learn about a culture through that language. Because my Spanish consisted of mostly slang and phrases that I had remembered, I decided to focus my studies on learning Spanish properly, at university. I began to take language and culture classes and became obsessed with everything "Spanish". In 2014, I graduated with a Bachelor in Arts degree with a focus on Spanish language and culture. I learned about everything from Romans and Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula to Los Desaparecidos in Argentina. My learning helped me fall even more in love with Spanish language and culture. After graduating from university, I told myself that I had to at least travel to a Spanish speaking country. It didn't matter where, but I wanted to immerse myself in a culture, even if it was only for a week or two. As fate would have it, I ended up hearing about the Language and Culture Assistant Program from a friend who was doing something similar in Chile. It was something that would allow me to do two things that I loved: teach and immerse myself in Spain's culture. |
Goals for Self
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The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. - Albert Einstein