Liceo B-55

As I have said numerous times in the past, my time here has continued to be incredible but my final days here in Los Alamos are sneaking up on me. After this weekend I will only have 3 more weeks of classes with my students. Since I am here to teach, I find it only fitting that I fill you in on the education system here in Chile and that I tell you a little about the school that I teach at.

Liceo B-55

            Since arriving here in Los Alamos, I have been teaching at a public high school named Liceo Politecnico Caupolican B-55 more commonly known as “Liceo B-55”. The school consists of just over 800 students from grades 9-12 and as far as Chilean high schools go, this is a normal sized high school.  Each class consists of anywhere from 30-40 students and class periods last for 1.5 hours. Currently I work with one of the English teachers, but I teach my classes all by myself and I have complete autonomy with the material that I choose to teach. The system that we use is that I get half of the students for the first 45 minutes of the block, and then we switch and I get the second half of the students for the second 45 minutes. I have really enjoyed this system as it reduces class sizes, which allows me to have more 1 on 1 time with students, I can focus on students specific needs, and it helps to reduce behavior management issues.

            One of the major differences between Chilean high schools and high schools in the United States is that teachers do not have their own classrooms, but rather the student have their own classrooms. Students are with the same group of students all day everyday in the same classroom. Because of this system, the teachers are unable to impact the environment of the classroom with posters or visual aids so the walls are all blank with an occasional piece of graffiti from the students. Also as a result of this system, the teachers’ lounge has become a safe haven for the teachers. I cant imagine what would happen if we told all the teachers in the United States that they were no longer going to have their own classrooms and that they had to change rooms every hour! Currently, Karyn (the other volunteer at the high school) and myself are the only two teachers with our own classroom. Thanks to our contract, this is a requirement set forth by the organization we work for.

Typical Students

            One of the best parts of being here in Chile has been getting to know my students. I have had a blast spending time with them in class as well outside of class. The kids in the high school are just like high school kids in the United States. They enjoy spending time with their friends, listening to music, texting, playing sports, watching movies, goofing around, etc. Actually now that I think about it, I would say that the students enjoy listening to music and texting way too much. I am not positive, but I don’t think teachers do much about cell phones in class because students are always pulling out their phones in class and trying to listen to their headphones. I have cracked down on this but I think it took some getting used to for the students.

            As far as extra-curricular activities go, Chile has a much different system than the United States. Instead of having sports teams, or music/theater departments, they have what are called “tallers”. These are times set aside during the week in which students can participate in activities such as ping pong, chess, karate, soccer, basketball, etc. These are incredibly informal and if students want to show up they can, but if they don’t want to that’s ok too. There is nothing like the highly competitive Friday night football games or large theater productions in the United States.

            Although I teach at a public school, every student is expected to wear a school uniform which is something that seems to be pretty standard around the world outside of the United States. From what I can tell, the students do not like their uniforms but about once a week they have what is called “Happy Day” in which the students can pay about 25 cents to wear what ever clothes they want. The reason for the school uniform is to reduce the social class tensions. If everyone is wearing the same clothes, no one can tell who is rich and who is poor, or at least that’s the theory behind the uniforms.

A Little Something I Call “Flexibility”

            Although I would consider myself a very patient and flexible person, I have had to learn to me be even more flexible and open to changes since I arriving here in Chile. It is fairly common for me to prepare a lesson and prepare my classroom, and then to just sit and wait for students who never come. After waiting around for about 10 minutes I will go find my co-teacher and find out that classes were canceled for various reasons ranging anywhere from a staff meeting that I was never informed about, to kids being sent home because it was raining too hard (kind of like a snow day in Minnesota, but let me tell you… it rains quite a bit here, but never too hard to send kids home early from school).

            Teacher strikes are also fairly common here in Chile, and as you can imagine, it is always about money. Just last May, the teachers went on strike for about 3 ½ weeks, and currently we are on another strike that started last Friday and will hopefully end today. This has been unfortunate for me especially since I only have 3 more weeks with my students and in my classes, but I guess I just need to be flexible and adapt.

Feeling Right At Home 

            Although I will never be able to change the fact that I am a foreigner here in Chile, I feel right at home. Since day one all of the teachers, staff, and students have been incredibly welcoming towards me. On our second day in the school, the principal and several members of the staff threw us a “welcoming party” in which they had traditional Chilean food catered in, and had students come to dance the Chilean national dance for us. It also showed me that they all truly cared that I was there, and that they were excited to have a foreigner teaching in their school. This event gave me just a peak at the warm hearts that Chileans have.

            In the most humble way possible, our popularity only grew from that point. I can confidently say that the three of us volunteers are the first foreigners to ever live in Los Alamos. Having foreigners in your town for the first time is quite a big deal, especially if they are from the ever-popular United States! It is odd, but I am often meeting people for the first time that already know my name, who I am and why I am here. I guess that just shows how fast word travels in a small rural Chilean town.

            The students have also been very welcoming. It is always fun when I am walking out to my classroom and I hear students yelling from the windows; “Hello Mr. Matt” or “We love you Mr. Matt!” It is funny because often times they will just start yelling random words in English that they may have learned from movies or music even if they don’t know what it means. I guess the opportunity to speak English with someone from the United States is just too cool to pass up. I also have students stopping me on the street or in the super market and introducing me to their parents or friends which is always fun.

Video 

            Below is a video that starts with me leaving my house (the woman at the beginning is my host mother) and entering school. It then goes into a clip of one of my first days with a class in which I am teaching them the phrase “How are you?” and “I am __________”. You will then see a few clips of students practicing the phrase “What time is it?”. The video ends with students showing off the “slang of the day” that I teach them every day. I hope you enjoy! 

A Little Bit of Everything

           Greetings to all! The past few weeks have been great as usual. In addition to teaching, I have had the chance to travel a bit with the family, go fishing a few times, and gain a few blisters on my hands from a few hard days work with an axe and a chainsaw. The weather is rapidly getting better, so I am finding myself spending a lot more time outside and enjoying the southern hemispheric spring.

"I Think I've Got a Bite!"

 

           Being from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I figured I knew at least a thing or two about fishing, but after only a few minutes of fishing with my host father and brother, I quickly realized that I had to start over from ground zero. Until now, when I imagined fishing, I imagined a fishing rod and a real. Now, I have a completely different image. In Chile it is much more common to fish with a rusty tin can or a PVC pipe with fishing line wrapped around it (see photo below). Instead of casting out a line using a rod and real, you hold the tin can in one hand, and about 2-3 feet of the fishing line in the other hand with the lour attached to the end of the line. You then begin twirling the lour around your head. Once you have gained enough velocity you let go of the fishing line in your one hand and the lour and fishing line go flying out towards the water while the tin can is still in your hand other hand. Some of you may be thinking; “What the heck is he talking about?!” and I don’t blame you. I was even confused after being shown how it works in person.

            Fortunately after a good 3-4 times of letting go of the lour and watching it get stuck in the trees or the weeds near by, I finally got a hold of it. My host father and brother make it look a lot easier than it really is but on day one, I was actually the only person to catch a fish! I caught a nice 12” salmon. After a long day of learning a new fishing technique and fishing my line out of bushes, that salmon sure did taste good for dinner!

            Since our first fishing adventure, we have returned to the river three times and our fish count as a group is up to 4 salmon and 1 big trout, which I can proudly take credit for. Each time we go, I get much better at the tin can technique, which allows me to focus more on the beautiful nature that surrounds me. My host father absolutely loves fishing, so I foresee myself returning to the river several times in the next few months. 

"Do You Have a Permit For All That Wood?"

           As I have mentioned before, most of the stoves here in Chile are wood burning rather than gas or electric, so good firewood is a valuable resource around here. Going into this past weekend, our host family was a little low on firewood, but after our weekend full of work, we should be set for the next few months at least.

            On Saturday morning, nearly the entire family piled into our pick-up truck, and headed out to el bosque (the forest) in search of wood. The weekends must be a popular time to collect firewood because on our way to the woods we passed about 8-10 other families gathering wood as well.  Logging is a huge industry in this region of Chile, so after the logging companies cut down all the trees and take what they want, the public is allowed to come through and take whatever branches and logs are left… or at least that is what I thought.

            After spending a few hours hacking away at the wood with an axe, we were just about ready to tie the truck down and secure the wood when two men in big truck pulled up. The mood amongst the family immediately changed, as I could tell they were worried about what was going to happen. Before even saying hello, the men asked us for our permit for all the wood we were collecting. We spent the next 5 minutes receiving a lecture from the men on why we can’t take the wood and how they should be giving us a big fine, and then the next 10 minutes pretending like we had no idea and asking them to just let us take this one load of wood. Fortunately the men were actually pretty nice, and they let us keep the wood we had loaded in the truck. We said goodbye to the men promising that it would never happen again.

            You would think that this would deter them from going back out to get more wood, but bright and early the next morning we were back out in the woods collecting more firewood. This time we didn’t just take back one load of wood, but two. I guess the 5-minute lecture and the threat of a fine just wasn’t enough. This time we borrowed a chainsaw from one of my host father’s friends, which made the job 10 times easier. Needless to say… this weekend I got to show off my Grove Landscaping skills, which my host family was actually pretty impressed with.  

Stickers Were a Bad Idea

             As I have mentioned before, I have been volunteering at a local kindergarten school here in Los Alamos. The time that I spend with the group of 4 & 5 year olds is a blast and those little kids always brighten up my day as soon as I enter the room.

            A few weeks ago, I received a package from my parents in the mail. The package was full of teaching materials, many of which are very helpful with my kindergarteners. In the package was a series coloring books to help learn the alphabet, learn sounds, colors, animals, as well as several sheets of really cool stickers. When I was looking through the coloring books and all the stickers, I thought to myself: “Wow! These will be perfect!”

            The next time I had class with the little ones, I brought all the coloring books and the stickers. The coloring books worked incredibly well! The kids absolutely loved them, especially the ones with animals. (*Side note: monkeys are kids favorite animal all over the world!) The stickers on the other hand, turned out to be way too good of an idea. After I walked around and gave each kid a sticker, I didn’t stop handing out stickers for the next 30 minutes. Kids were non-stop pulling at my pant leg or my belt saying “I want another sticker!” “I want a smiley face sticker!” “I want a star sticker!” No matter how many times I said “Nope. Only one sticker per person”, they just kept begging. But those little kids are so darn cute, that I just couldn’t stand my ground. 

          Just as I thought it was all over, and I was starting to pack up my things to leave, I was attacked by all 30 or so of the kindergartners. Apparently the teachers and the students had planned a secret attack on me the whole time. It worked perfectly, and soon I was on the ground with a pile of little 4 & 5 year olds screaming and laughing. It was hilarious! 

The Dictionary Is Starting To Fall Apart

             Almost three months ago, I was sitting on a bus from Santiago to Concepcion where I was to meet my host family for the first time. In Santiago, communicating was easy because I was around other Americans all day everyday, so I could always fall back on someone else that knew a lot more Spanish than I did to help me order food, buy a bus ticket, etc. As soon as I was with my host family I was no longer going to have that support. Sitting on the bus, I was scared out of my mind! At that point I essentially knew absolutely no Spanish what so ever. I thought to myself; “I am not going to be able to communicate for the next 4 months! I know nothing!” I could hardly ask someone what their name was or where the bathroom was. I was also thinking; “Chileans are known for speaking terrible Spanish too!” Things were not looking good for me.

            But things quickly started to turn around. Slowly but surely, I started to pick up words and phrases here and there. I also purchased a little notebook to keep in my back pocket so that every time I learned a new word, I could write it down to practice later. In the beginning I would only be able to pick out one or two words of a sentence, but I am starting to understand full sentences and I do not have to ask people to repeat themselves nearly as much. I now feel very functional, and am really starting to enjoy speaking Spanish. By no means am I even close to perfect, but after nearly 3 ½ months I feel like I have come pretty far, or at least better than I thought I would be at this time.

            I now have a strong desire to continue to learn Spanish, and when I return to the United States, I will definitely search for any way possible to continue to learn and practice. I believe that as a teacher in the United States, knowing another language can be incredibly helpful especially in the ever-increasing diverse United States.

 

As usual, I hope this post finds you and your family happy and healthy. I absolutely love receiving responses to my posts and I would love to hear how everything is going for all of you. Take care! 

The Halfway Point

It has officially now been three weeks since my last blog post. My lack of blogging may be a combination of me becoming more comfortable and trying to spend as much time away from my computer as I can, the nice weather that we have been having which has drawn me outside more often, or my incredibly busy schedule over the past few weeks. Either way, I can happily say that the past several weeks have been great. I am continuing to enjoy my time here in Los Alamos which is already more than half over! With that being said, the past few weeks have been a time of reflection for me as I have recognized the short amount of time I have left here in Los Alamos.

Fiestas Patrias

  It seems like ages ago, but my stomach is just now recovering from the ridiculous amount of food consumed over Fiestas Patrias. September 18^th, also commonly known as Dieciocho or Fiestas Patrias, marks the beginning of Chile’s independence in the early 19^th century. As a result, the entire country takes time to celebrate the holiday over about a 5 day span with parades, traditional music and dancing, and a ton of food.

            In Chile, an asado is a traditional social practice in which family and friends gather around an open fire and cook various types of meat. If you removed the ridiculous amount of salt rubbed on the meat, and the all the beer and wine poured on the meat, I would, to some extent, compare it to a traditional BBQ in the United States. Lets just say that our family had an asado every day for about 5 days straight. After consuming the montañas de carne (mountains of meat), I definitely had to loosen the good ole’ belt a notch or two. Other traditional foods that are prepared for Fiestas Patrias are empanadas (which my host mother takes great pride in), sopipias, and anticuchos (shish kabobs) along with the infamous Chilean wine and chicha which is pretty much an apple wine. Fiestas Patrias is also a time for everyone and their grandmother to dance the cueca which is the national dance of Chile. Yes, even I got roped into dancing the cueca a few times.

            After going through the Fiestas Patrias experience here in Chile, I have come to realize the incredible amount of pride that Chileans have in their country. For the week of Fiestas Patrias, there was not a single house in town that did not proudly fly a Chilean flag in front of their house. 

Only a Slice of the Pie

           After Fiestas Patrias, it was time for a little traveling. In the past three weeks I have made a few trips that have allowed me to explore only a small slice of what Chile has to offer. Through my WorldTeach program, I have made a lot of great friends, and a few weeks ago a group of 11 of us rented a cabin in Saltos del Laja. This small town in central Chile has flourished due to its close proximity to two large waterfalls or saltos, which are beautiful. It was a great time for us to get caught up again after living in separate towns for the past two months.

            A week later, I traveled about 9 ½ hours in a bus to a city named Valdivia, which is located in the southern lake district of Chile. There, I met three other fellow volunteer teachers and we spent the weekend exploring what the town and surrounding area had to offer, or at least as much as we could in two days. My favorite part of the trip was the 1 hour ferry ride that we took up a river to a town that could only be accessed by boat. The town had less than 100 residents, and seemed to be a bit frozen in time. The time we spent wondering up and down the only road in the town was incredibly relaxing as it was significantly more quiet and tranquil than all of the other places I have been in Chile. It was a perfect time to slow down a bit, and take a nice big breath of fresh air.

 

Little Bundles of Joy

  While I’m on the topic of quiet and tranquil, I might as well talk about the time I have spent volunteering at a local kindergarten school! About 3 weeks ago, I began teaching a class once a week to about 35, four and five year olds. This has become one of my favorite parts of my week and I always look forward to it. In the time that I have spent with the kids, I have taught them “Duck duck grey duck”, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, and a song to help them learn colors in English. Their little brains are like sponges, and they learn incredibly fast!

            For the hour that I spend with the kids, there is almost always at least one child hugging my leg and yelling “Tio Matthew! Tio Matthew!” (“uncle Matthew!”). It is refreshing to see the energy that these little ones have, but I always leave exhausted.

 

Time for Reflection

  The day after Fiestas Patrias, my host family took a little day trip to a village located on an island named Isla Morguilla, which was one of the most beautiful places I have seen since being here in Chile. Sitting on the rocky coast of this isolated fishing village, watching the perfect sun set, I began to reflect on the time that I have spent here and the two months that I have left here in Los Alamos. Sitting there, I made three goals for myself for the time I have left here in Chile.

            My Goals:

                        -Live every day to the fullest.

                        -Take pride in the small victories

                        -Cherish the relationships that I have made

I quickly came to realize that these are goals, not only for the time I have left here in Chile, but for the rest of my life.

I hope this blog post finds all of you and your families happy and healthy. Until next time…