My Chilean Teaching Experience at DUOC and Advice

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.