Ben Lev

7 thoughts on “Ben Lev”

1. David Young

   October 10, 2011 at 7:04 pm

   Ben,
   I enjoyed reading your bio. The Sandinista Revolution was also a big thing in my life for many years. In 1983 I went with a large group of people called Witness for Peace to the border between Honduras and Nicaragua. This, as you know very well, was where the U.S. backed Contras were launching their attacks against the Nicaraguan people. We went there to bear witness. I went to Nicaragua again in 1992 to travel around a couple of weeks.
   I also welcome another ESL teacher. ESL teachers that use TPRS are a very, very small group indeed. I look forward to your insights about teaching ESL.

   Log in to Reply
   1. Jim Tripp

      October 10, 2011 at 7:12 pm

      David, did you ever meet a guy named Gary Holthaus? He came to our town a few months ago to conduct a sustainability survey, and while he was here he interviewed me and he mentioned that he had gone to Nicaragua with that very program you were with. That would be a strange coincidence. A very brave move on your part, thanks for your patriotism!

      Log in to Reply
      1. Ben Slavic

         October 10, 2011 at 9:40 pm

         Yeah, David is not one to mess around.

         Log in to Reply
2. Jim Tripp

   October 10, 2011 at 7:09 pm

   Ben, I also lived in Guanajuato, back in 2002. Great place! Did you do the daily climb to the top floor of la universidad? That was always tough for me after a big Mexi breakfast.
   I’m interested to hear how your exchange deal goes. I’ve been teaching an adult class the last year, and it is going great, but I feel it could benefit from facilitating relationships like you mention. Are you in a small town or do you live in Denver too? I would also like to hear what kind of difficulties (if any) you experience when transitioning from teaching Spanish, to teaching English.

   Log in to Reply
3. Bryce Hedstrom

   October 11, 2011 at 6:51 am

   Thanks for the bio, Ben Lev. These back stories are so interesting. what a talented and diverse group!

   Log in to Reply
4. Shannon

   October 11, 2011 at 3:47 pm

   David and Ben Lev,
   You may know Sharon Hostetler. I just went to Cuba this past June with her and Witness for Peace. My Mother-in-law was in Nicaragua in ’83 as well with Catholic Women. Sharon was telling us how incredibly moving it was that once the call went out, average (ok, heroic) Americans started showing up and fewer people died when WFP was there. It was pretty moving. Thanks for going and sharing.

   Log in to Reply
5. Ben

   October 11, 2011 at 8:19 pm

   I went to Nicaragua with Bikes Not Bombs, a totally great group of people. We collected old dusty bikes in the US from people’s garages and shipped them to Managua where we fixed them and then distributed them to health workers who could then do 3x the amount of work than on foot. While I was there I worked in the shop, then went into the countryside to pick coffee. I fell in love with a wonderful Nicaraguan university student who, like many, had sacrificed her vacation to pick coffee for $1 a day in order to support the revolution. My life could have been very different if I had stayed in Managua with her, but I came home to California. No complaints, I love my wife ;-). I’ve been back to Managua twice since then, a very different place now.
   David: I’m new to ESL, haven’t even started yet, but I know that the hour or two a week I could teach isn’t as valuable as setting people up with language partners for a free exchange. It was so helpful for me when I was “coming up” (jazz term) as a Spanish student. But write to me off list and we can stay in touch : benlev2@yahoo.com
   I want to add that I value this list and Ben Slavic so much.

   Log in to Reply