My Address!

In case anyone feels like sending some old-school mail internationally, here's my address in Chile:

Vicky Alarcón C.

Kelly Dwyer

Pasaje Huascar - 928

4440812 Los Angeles

Chile

If you find yourself sending anything larger than an envelope, be sure to also put my home phone number.  Somewhere on the box write "Avisar: (043)230316."

Curanipe

Thanks to the wonderfully Roman Catholic country that is Chile, Good Friday was a holiday!  My fellow WorldTeachers and I decided to take a little trip up North to a small fishing and surf town called Curanipe – our first South American adventure!  This town is so small that it’s not even on google maps, although if you want to look it up it’s just north of Pelluhue.  We took 3 different buses to get there, and on the third bus headed towards Curanipe we passed a wild horse and pig frolicking along the road together.  We knew we had made a good decision after seeing that!  We were definitely some of the only gringos in town since their summer tourist season is over, but all of the locals were extremely friendly and helpful.  We found the most amazing cabaña, or cabin, right on the beach about 2 miles away from Curanipe, and had a relaxing and great time.  Our cabin was up on a hill and a bit of a hike from town, but fortunately hitchhiking wasn’t a problem there.  We had employees at the cabins, honeymooners, vacationers, and friendly locals all offer to give us rides back and forth, and we jumped in our fair share of pickup beds as well!  The town was really beautiful, with black sand beaches on one side and hills of green on the other.  It was a great first adventure, and we’re definitely hoping to go back at some point!

Let the teaching begin!

So I officially started teaching my own classes a week ago, and while I tried to go in with little to no expectations, teaching here has definitely been a bigger challenge than I anticipated.  I see 4^th-6^th grade only once a week for 45 minutes, and I see 7^th and 8^th grade once on my own for 45 minutes and once in a co-teaching environment for an additional 45.  The students are all pretty much on the same speaking and listening level - a very beginning, basic level.  Last week we went over introductions and how to say “Hi, my name is ___, what’s your name?” and then we made nametags so I can try and learn all 450 names (yikes!).  Because the students are normally in classroms of 45-50 kids, a lot of the teachers don’t even know all of the kids’ names, which is sad for the kids and bad when it comes to discipline.  Not gonna happen in my class!  Most of my students are dying to know how to say their names in English, so I took all of their nametags home and wrote “American” names on the backs.  I had to get a bit creative when I had two or three Sebastians and Camilas in every class…

My classroom is a little storage room off of the cafeteria.  It’s a bit of a tight squeeze in there with all of us, and it gets a bit stuffy since we have to keep our window and door closed due to our shouting and games, but it works.  Teaching only 25 students is a lot easier than trying to get the attention of 45 – I honestly am not that surprised that my 8^th graders, who have had 3 years of English class already, are at such a low level.  It seems nearly impossible to try and accomplish anything in a language class that large.

Here are a couple pictures of my classroom:

Every week I’m planning on teaching my students a “slang” word – something fun that they’ll never see in their textbook.  Last week’s word was “Awesome,” which we used in phrases such as “Jonas Brothers are awesome!!” and “Soccer is awesome!”  This week we’re gonna try “What’s up?” instead of always saying “Hello.”  Feel free to pass along any fun slang words/ideas that you have!