And how is it going with the students?

Changing your tune: I can hardly believe it but Fiestas Patrias marked the halfway point of my time teaching here in Chile. The realization arrived and is growing more and more prevalent in chorus with the change in the seasons. Spring is beginning to make its presence known and the warmer weather is just another reminder that time is short and there’s still so much I want to accomplish. With the shift in seasons, I’ve also felt a shift in sentiment towards certain things. For one, I’m starting to feel more of a connection with my students. It’s hard to know what they really think of me, but not a day goes by that they haven’t put a smile on my face or made me laugh. Our comical efforts to communicate with each other – whether it’s in English or Spanish – are so endearing; the thought of only having 2 months left with them is like watching the good times run headlong into an expiration date.

Thinking about this has also helped remind me that part of the reason I’m here is for them. For a while, despite my determination to create awesome lesson plans, my outlook was that the students were not really going to learn much from me in such a short time period and that my efforts might be next to pointless. I suddenly realized how self-defeating that attitude is. I needed to change my tune and focus on the positive outcome of this experience for the students. In small ways I am still improving their English, and even if they don't remember a thing, there’s a possibility that one of them might be inspired to volunteer, or teach, or travel abroad because of their time in my class. It’s their futures that I hope to impact by taking on this experience, no matter how brief.

Slang of the day! If there is anything the student’s have learned from me, its English slangs. Each time I meet with a class, I teach a new “Slang of the Day” and the students latch on to them like you can’t believe. I often hear them shouting from across the courtyard “Miss Tara! What’s up?!” hoping I’ll respond with “Not much.” Other favorites are Awesome, Sweet, Chill out and Peace out. I’ve tried to teach these using hand gestures that compliment the word and it seems to significantly impact the likelihood that they’ll remember it once they leave the classroom. I’ve started applying the same strategy throughout the rest of my lessons when I can.

Advanced English Workshop: My favorite part of volunteering! Once a week, Erin and I work together with some of the more advanced students for an English workshop. They’re a great group that has demonstrated a keen interest in learning English. Some are more advanced than others but I’m surprised at the breadth of their English vocabulary. The group meets on Wednesday afternoons and the lesson is very loosely structured. Erin and I pick a few interesting topics (sometimes controversial) to encourage discussion. A few important vocabulary words are reviewed and then we dive right into the subject. For example, it was recently reported in the news that Argentina has legalized possession of marijuana for personal use. We incorporated this issue in the workshop. All students who agreed with the measure sat on one side of the room, all who disagreed sat on the other. We asked them to share their opinions and a very interesting debate between the two sides ensued. It was fascinating to hear their differing opinions and exciting to see that they were doing it in English! In order to lighten things up a little, we ended the class with a very intense discussion about which Chilean soccer team is better and why.

A couple amusing happenings while teaching: During the week of Fiestas Patrias, I never knew if I’d have a full of students, whether only 3-4 students show up, or if my classes were cancelled for the day. My plan each was just to show up and see what happens. For that reason, instead of focusing my lesson of the week on the English language, I decided to demonstrate the difference between the 4th of July Holiday vs. Chile’s Fiestas Patrias. New vocabulary was still reviewed but the objective was to convey similarities and differences between our cultures and the way we celebrate. At the end of one of my classes we had some spare time. A few of the boys had been fixated by a big map of the U.S. in my class so I asked if they had any questions about it. Two of them leapt up with great enthusiasm and asked me a question in rapid-fire-Spanish. I had no clue what they said. Others joined in, trying to explain but all I heard was a cacophony of 8+ voices exclaiming indistinguishable words. Obviously I wasn’t getting the picture. At this point, two of the tallest boys in the class stood up tall next to each other with their hands at their sides. A third got up, turned sideways, stuck out his arms like an airplane and pretended to fly into other boy’s chest. Upon impacted he pretended to crumble. They were demonstrating the 9/11 attacks – the two boys were the Twin Towers and the third was a plane! They wanted to know if I had been there when it happened. Explaining this in writing just doesn’t communicate how comical their little act was. Everyone laughed in particular at the demonstration of the airplane. I use miming all the time to explain new vocabulary so it was touching to see them practice the same strategy to help me understand. It lets me know that I must be doing something right.

Last week I taught Daily Routines which included vocabulary such as wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth, etc. I needed a means to demonstrate “wake up,” and so I thought why not go all out on this one: I got on the floor, rested my head against a chair like it was my pillow, closed my eyes like I was asleep, and then mimicked the sound of an alarm clock, waking me up. I certainly got a lot of laughs. I next asked all the students to get out of their chairs and model the same actions with me as we repeated vocabulary for Daily Routines of the morning. To my surprise, all of them got on the floor and pretended to sleep, and then one student whispered if he could please be the alarm and make the noise to wake everyone – of course! I thought to myself, these are high school kids; I expected them to think they were too cool to act this out, but instead they loved it! I doubt many teachers have gotten on the floor to demonstrate the subject matter of a lesson for them, especially since Chileans tend to put a lot of emphasis on appearance and finely pressed clothing. I mentioned earlier that I wanted to use more gestures to help students remember the words. It worked fantastically. My measure of success is through the little victories like these.

Learning from each other: I given a lot of thought lately to what I am gaining from my time in Chile and likewise what the students are learning from me. In my reflection, it occurred to me that there are some parallels to how we each relate to this experience. For the school and the students, having a volunteer native speaker from North America is a short lived anomaly and it’s hard to say how much they will really gain form my efforts. With a hint of doubt, they must be asking themselves “Why does this school have a native speaker? Why is she in Curanilahue of all places, and how much can she really teach me in one semester?” The reality is probably not much. As for myself, everything about this experience is new and convoluted in its purpose. Why did I choose to volunteer in the first place? Why did I choose to teach? Why in Chile? I can’t say I really know the complete answer to these questions. For these reasons (coupled with the language barrier) I sometimes feel as if both the student’s and I study each other with a bit of timid curiosity, not entirely understanding the circumstances that have brought us together and not wanting to put too much stock in something that’s not going to be around for very long. However, with that said, there is already so much I have learned about myself and the world around me. I feel the impact of these things everyday but it’s impossible to know the extent to which I will be affected by them. Likewise, it’s impossible to know how much any one student will learn. For now, all is still veiled in fascinating bewilderment. I press on with continuous effort, and look forward to what else we might learn from each other.