Circumventing the job search, I found my teaching
opportunity through a Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) . After
being accepted and completing all the prerequisites I was guaranteed a 10 month
teaching contract in Santiago, Chile
and an allotted salary to cover living expenses. I had no idea who or where I
would be teaching until I got to Chile,
but that’s what made it an adventure.
I taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at DUOC a technical
institute that was initially created for blue collared individuals and bared
resemblance to a community college in the US.
My students generally had a very low level of English and ranged in age from
18-30. However, age and maturity levels corresponded very differently from
those in the US
because expectations at school and at home were very dissimilar as result of
distinct cultural norms. The majority of my students lived with their parents,
and many of them had children and/or worked. In a country where the majority of
the population is catholic, sex education is non-existent, abortion is illegal
and condoms not only are expensive but sometimes also carry a social stigma,
there are a lot of young people with children. To make a complicated situation
worse, many of my students only took English because it was a requirement to
become an Engineer, Graphic Designer, Accountant, etc. As a result, my class
was often put on the backburner for many of my students. Consequently, I didn’t
assign homework but in return asked for attendance and full attention. When
frustrated by what I interpreted as rampant laziness and/or apathy, I tried to
empathize with my intricate students’ lives and remained inspired by the
students that were motivated and wanted to learn.
As a petite 24 year old girl that is often mistaken for a 19
year old, I had to work creatively to motivate them, to gain their respect, and
to minimize their desire to take advantage of me. Many of my students had had
never met someone from the US,
so I considered myself an ambassador and was careful about broaching certain
topics. In order to play the role and
set myself apart, I also thought of myself as an actress and at the minimum I always dressed business
casual .
With that in mind, bar none the first day of class and first
2 weeks were the most vital pieces in gaining respect, establishing classroom
environment, and setting the tone for the semester. On the first day of class I
gave my first impression: I established my 5 rules, policies and procedures; I introduced
myself with humor; I brainstormed reasons to learn English as a class in an
attempt to increase students’ self-motivation; and I had them individually
complete a survey about their interests to demonstrate I legitimately care
about them. During the first two weeks I had them display name cards. I
considered it very important to immediately start learning their names and
information about them from the student surveys. By gathering information on
the first day and by talking to students throughout the semester, I tried to
get to know my students so that I could personalize learning with their
specific interests, establish a connection to use as a motivator, control the
class by using their names during disruptions, and specifically call on them
when I needed volunteers. To gain respect and establish my role, I was very
strict in the beginning of the semester and eased up according the class
dynamic, but I always reminded them that I truly cared about them.
Officially we were told to teach entirely in the target
language and unofficially every professor used varying amounts of Spanish. .
(There are tons of methods to minimize the use of the native language that
should be utilized, just do a quick google search.) I was a walking testament to the value of
learning foreign languages, and I found that speaking Spanish helped build
rapport: my accent and mistakes showed that I understood firsthand the
difficulty of learning a second language; they enjoyed hearing stories my
ridiculous stories of miscommunication from traveling; and they really liked
teaching me slang. Sharing my experiences and poking fun at myself was
conducive to creating a comfortable classroom since Chileans are extremely
apprehensive to speak English
Classes were officially 1 ½ hours long. However, the
combination of the institutes’ forgiving policies and the cultural differences
about tardiness combined resulted in students chronically showing up late and
often checking out early. If I started on time I would teach to an empty class
room and would undoubtedly lose more teaching time, because I would have to
repeat essential parts of the lesson to latecomers the entire class period. As
a compromise, I would take role 15 minutes after class was supposed to start
and then begin my lesson. I was punctual as an example and would play English
music by students’ favorite bands (info I gathered from a survey on the first
day of class) until I was ready to start. I also played music during activities
and when I turned the music off it was a signal that I was ready to teach. I
would allow students to walk in late, but I counted them absent and wouldn’t
backtrack. I encouraged their on-time classmates to catch them up as a way of
reinforcing what they learned. The most effective tools I found for keeping
their attention was using humor throughout class along with pop-culture
references and student names sprinkled through the examples, activities and
PowerPoint lessons.
With everything aside, I want it to be clear that this is a
success story, because I loved teaching in Chile!
I know I helped in some small way and was able to create indelible bonds with a
handful of students. I can only hope that my students learned ½ as much I did
or that I at least sparked an interest in English and the US in a few of
them.
