Wednesday I had the first real opportunity
to break from my routine. One of my
Chilean coworkers also teaches English to workers in a small tourist town,
Pomaire, about an hour outside of Santiago.
It’s part of a university-sponsored program to help get the town and its
people back on their feet after the losses they suffered from the 2010
earthquake. Nearly their entire economy
is based on traditional pottery and the tourism generated by its sale. The town itself and the people were largely unharmed
by the earthquake, but the majority of the ovens used to produce the pottery
were destroyed. In Chile, municipalities
cannot apply for grants from the government but universities can, so the
director of the economics program at university (I’m not sure which one, it
might be the same one I work for, but there are so many branches of that one
that it’s hard to tell. Either way, it’s
a major university) applied for a grant to study the makeup of the town and to
create a proposal to improve it.
The director (whose name I forgot but
actually happened to work with the same study abroad program that I came to
Chile with) brought his students to the town to do a survey (census) of the
people and find out more about their economic status. There actually is currently a nation-wide
census being carried out this year, but unlike in the United States, the results
are not published. So, to make a proper
proposal, the university students had to do their own study. They just finished and are expecting the results
in a few months. Based on their
findings, they will make recommendations to the townspeople as to how to
improve their lives while maintaining important cultural traditions (like
pottery-making).
Part of the initial stage of the
betterment program is better preparing the townspeople to deal with the
tourists. Right now, most of the
tourists are Chilean, as the town is still a bit of a “hidden gem,” but part of
the improvement plan is to increase recognition of the town and its products,
hopefully even becoming a globally-recognized name in pottery production. Currently, the town is mostly a destination
for Santiaguenos looking for a relaxing day trip. There are some restaurants, but it is mostly
small shops. There is no entertainment,
or even lodging. Plans are underway to build a visitors’ center
and a hostel, and to advertise these attractions more widely, encouraging
foreign visitors to stop in the town.
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| Typical Pomaire Shop |
One important factor in dealing with
foreigners in the tourism industry is a basic command of English. For this reason, my coworker was hired to
teach bi-weekly English classes to townspeople who work in tourism-related
trades. She has been giving the classes
for a few months, and at the end of the semester she thought it would be fun to
introduce her students to “authentic” English speakers. She invited me and the three other new TIPS
(native-speaking teachers) at my school to help teach her class for a day.
A mini-bus picked us up from our campus
at 1:30pm, and we were off on the one-hour trip into the countryside. It was so nice to be in a private bus, not
packed up against hundreds of strangers on public transit! On the way there, we talked about our
experiences teaching English (let’s just say that we were all ready for the
break), and our plans for the future.
The Chilean teacher that took us has traveled quite a bit, and has
relatives in the U.S. and in Europe, so she gave us some good travel
advice. I’m lucky enough to be able to
visit Easter Island in a couple weeks, and she gave me a bunch of insider tips
on what to do there. She’s actually had
a lot of interesting experiences! We
haven’t really had the chance to talk in-depth with any of the Chilean teachers
at our campus, so it was nice to hear one of their stories and see where they’re
coming from! She actually used to teach
elementary school, but once got the opportunity to teach teachers, which
inspired her to go back to school for a Master’s so that she could teach in
higher education. I don’t know how old
she is, but she definitely seems to have way more experience than her years
warrant!
We arrived in Pomaire just after 2:30,
and immediately stopped at a restaurant for lunch (provided free by the
program!). While we waited to order, we
prepared for the class. We were to be
divided into small groups in which we would do practice exercises with the
students. The class was planned to be an
hour and a half long, but the teacher was so prepared—she had 4 planned
activities and 2 extra in case we ran out of time. She told us that these students had only just
started to learn English, so they weren’t very advanced yet. The games we had involved information they
would need to know in their jobs—prices, objects, basic questions, etc. The class didn’t start until 7:00 pm, so we
packed up the materials and got down to the most pressing matter—lunch.
The waiter was apologetic because he said
that their chicken pieces were much smaller than usual and he was concerned
that we would be hungry. Also, three
people wanted mashed potatoes for their side, and he once again apologized that
they only had two portions left. He
said he would see if he could stretch it a bit, and if not, he would bring
baked potatoes. We agreed and sat down
to wait for the meal. Luckily, I didn’t
have to worry about and of the waiter’s concerns, as I had ordered “carne
mechada,” slow-cooked beef stewed with vegetables. I also decided to forgo the potatoes, and
ordered rice instead.
As we waited for the meal, we were
served with fresh-made “pan amasado,” rustic baked buns, and a small salad. We hardly had time to let the bread cool
before our main course came out. We were
quite surprised to see that the chicken pieces each took up half of the large
plate, and the two portions of potatoes had successfully been divided among
three people, and that each portion was still larger than both of my
fists! I had ordered rice, believing
that it would be the lighter option of the two sides, but the mound of it
covered the entire plate, with the meat piled on top. It was perfectly cooked and very tender. It wasn’t really seasoned, but it was so
juicy and flavorful on its own that it didn’t need anything else! After the meal, we were served peaches and
cream for dessert with coffee and tea.
By the time we finished our extravagant lunch, it was nearly 4:30!
We headed out towards town to explore a
bit and meet some of the students in their shops before class. Considering how much we had all just eaten,
this was a bit of a chore, but after a few wrong turns, we made it to the town
center, which was full of small shops of pottery and other artisan goods. We first stopped at a pottery shop owned by
one of the students—they were so excited for our arrival that they had been
waiting out front for two hours with a sign that said “SPOKEN ENHGISH.” We were amazed that they introduced
themselves fully in English, and even answered our basic questions about their
products in English. It was probably
more difficult for us to realize that we didn’t need to speak Spanish! The pottery was all gorgeous and really high
quality, but unfortunately, as pottery tends to be, it was all quite heavy and
therefore difficult to transport (especially back to the U.S.). We all wanted to buy a bunch of things, but
we settled for small bowls as a memento (only 250 pesos, too!).
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| Crucifix made from recycled fork |
After our exploring, we headed back to
the restaurant for “onces” (teatime). Even
though it had only been a couple hours since lunch, we were offered sandwiches
and empanadas, which we politely declined.
They couldn’t just let us have simply tea, though, so we were once again
served fresh “pan amasado” with real butter.
There, we met with the owner of the restaurant and the director of the
university program, where he explained his goals. We also got to talk to the owner of the restaurant, who is apparently a bit of an archaeology buff and was quite excited to learn that I had worked in that field at one point. He told us that the town has been continuously settled since around 700 BC and that there have been some archaeological findings, but that most of it has ended up in private hands. He was hoping that I could set something up to look for more stuff that could be put into a public museum or something. I think that's a bit above my training (for now at least), but it's definitely a good idea! Maybe in the next phase of the university project, they could do something like that! And I wouldn't be opposed to helping out...
After "onces," we headed over to the local school where the classes were held. Each of the four of us native speakers were given a large card with a number written on it. In an envelope, the Chilean teacher had made small pieces of paper with the same numbers. As the students entered, they reached into the envelope and chose a number, indicating with native speaker they would work with for the evening. I was grouped with four students--two women and two men. One of the men worked as a taxi driver (and therefore already had pretty decent English), and the other worked at a tool company as a salesman. One of the women was older and worked as a homemaker, while the younger of the two owned a jewelry shop in the town (she had been one of the people we had visited earlier during our exploring). I was so amazed at how friendly and talkative they were (even though they'd only had a couple months of English--they tried everything in their power to communicate with me)! The Chilean teacher had told them that we didn't know any Spanish, so we only had to speak English for the entire class. We actually managed to do it, too! I can't imagine that ever happening in my other classes!! Before we started on the activities, we just conversed a bit about everyone's jobs and interests--in English!!
The class was schedule to last for an hour, and much to my surprise, nearly everyone arrived on time (early, even!). Only a couple people were late, and they received much heckling from the rest of the group. We started class right on time, and it was so wonderful to have excited, engaged students who actually wanted to learn. We played some games to practice some of the things they had been learning during the year, and I didn't even have to explain the rules in Spanish! We started off with a simple BINGO game to go over the alphabet. Each of the students had a board with various letters of the alphabet, and I had the whole alphabet on cards inside of an envelope. We started out just going over the names of the letters that each person had on their card, and they got most of them without problems (and they didn't even have to sing the song to remember--I'm not even sure I'm at that point yet)! As we played, they even began to call out names of words that began with each letter--what a great idea! I wish I'd thought of it! But again, it was so great to have eager, willing students! It's so much easier to teach a class when the students want to be there!!
I had been worried that I would run out of activities for the hour and a half class, but they were having so much fun that I actually only got through two of them. I had prizes for the BINGO game, which the students appreciated, but it was not the motivating factor in playing the game--much different than I am used to! They even wanted to keep playing just for more practice! After the BINGO game, we played a matching game with pictures of merchandise (bags, jewelry, clothing, etc). Even though they hadn't heard a lot of the words before, they caught on really quickly and guessed every single one of them without me using a word of Spanish (I did have to use some interesting hand gestures at some points though). They got really competitive with the matching game, but were still friendly with each other, and even helped each other out. They were genuinely having a good time and wanting to learn! They even wanted me to correct their mistakes, even the most minor of them! I could not (and still cannot) get over how wonderful it was to have active, friendly participation in the classroom!
The last game that I got to with my group was a fill-in game. Each student had a piece of paper with pictures of the merchandise that we had just learned about. For example, both had pictures of a backpack and of pens, but one had the price of the backpack while the other had the price of the pen. They had to practice asking and answering questions about the prices of the objects--something that will be very useful to them in everyday life (and that some had even already gotten the chance to practice earlier in the day when we went around to visit). This was the only activity that I had some difficulty explaining in English, but with an example conversation, everyone got it. They were so great at paying attention to detail--correcting each other when they forgot the verb "to be," and even helping each other with minor pronunciation errors. I butted in a couple times to ask and answer questions so that they could get practice with a native accent, but they really didn't need my supervision at all--they were happy learning and practicing just for the sake of it. In fact, my group actually got scolded a bit by the Chilean teacher because they wouldn't even stop practicing even when she announced that class was over!
When everyone was finally pulled away from their practicing, the Chilean teacher announced that class was over and we all magically knew Spanish now so that we could all converse freely over tea. Many attempts were made to corral us into the kitchen, but first pictures had to be taken of each teacher with their group. A few of the male students insisted on having their picture taken surrounded by the four of us (young, female) native teachers, saying "no one will believe I was with four beautiful gringas unless I have proof!" So, there are probably a couple dozen photos of us and the group floating around somewhere, I'm sure you'll get to see one at some point! After the photo session, we all went to the kitchen for (another) onces of tea and "palta" (avocado) sandwiches. We chatted with the students for a while in Spanish (or Spanglish).
By 9:15, everyone was getting tired from the long day and our bus driver was back waiting for us, so we said our goodbyes (which took a while, as we had to fit in a few more photo ops, plus the customary good-bye kiss for each student), and headed back across the plaza for the ride home. On the way over, we stopped for a quick thank you from (and to) the director of the program. It was such a success that they're already making plans to do another similar experience next semester! I hope I can be involved again, it was such a refreshing experience!
We all got on the bus, glad for the heating system, as it had gotten quite cold in the town once the sun went down! On the way back, we talked about our experiences and our plans for the winter vacation. We arrived back at our campus around 10:30, and the Chilean teacher was kind enough to drive us all home (we all live within three blocks of each other). I was exhausted, but so excited that I ran inside to tell Scott about the experience. Then, we quickly packed up for our trip to San Pedro the next day and headed off to bed. Hopefully I'll have some great adventures there to tell you about soon!
After "onces," we headed over to the local school where the classes were held. Each of the four of us native speakers were given a large card with a number written on it. In an envelope, the Chilean teacher had made small pieces of paper with the same numbers. As the students entered, they reached into the envelope and chose a number, indicating with native speaker they would work with for the evening. I was grouped with four students--two women and two men. One of the men worked as a taxi driver (and therefore already had pretty decent English), and the other worked at a tool company as a salesman. One of the women was older and worked as a homemaker, while the younger of the two owned a jewelry shop in the town (she had been one of the people we had visited earlier during our exploring). I was so amazed at how friendly and talkative they were (even though they'd only had a couple months of English--they tried everything in their power to communicate with me)! The Chilean teacher had told them that we didn't know any Spanish, so we only had to speak English for the entire class. We actually managed to do it, too! I can't imagine that ever happening in my other classes!! Before we started on the activities, we just conversed a bit about everyone's jobs and interests--in English!!
The class was schedule to last for an hour, and much to my surprise, nearly everyone arrived on time (early, even!). Only a couple people were late, and they received much heckling from the rest of the group. We started class right on time, and it was so wonderful to have excited, engaged students who actually wanted to learn. We played some games to practice some of the things they had been learning during the year, and I didn't even have to explain the rules in Spanish! We started off with a simple BINGO game to go over the alphabet. Each of the students had a board with various letters of the alphabet, and I had the whole alphabet on cards inside of an envelope. We started out just going over the names of the letters that each person had on their card, and they got most of them without problems (and they didn't even have to sing the song to remember--I'm not even sure I'm at that point yet)! As we played, they even began to call out names of words that began with each letter--what a great idea! I wish I'd thought of it! But again, it was so great to have eager, willing students! It's so much easier to teach a class when the students want to be there!!
I had been worried that I would run out of activities for the hour and a half class, but they were having so much fun that I actually only got through two of them. I had prizes for the BINGO game, which the students appreciated, but it was not the motivating factor in playing the game--much different than I am used to! They even wanted to keep playing just for more practice! After the BINGO game, we played a matching game with pictures of merchandise (bags, jewelry, clothing, etc). Even though they hadn't heard a lot of the words before, they caught on really quickly and guessed every single one of them without me using a word of Spanish (I did have to use some interesting hand gestures at some points though). They got really competitive with the matching game, but were still friendly with each other, and even helped each other out. They were genuinely having a good time and wanting to learn! They even wanted me to correct their mistakes, even the most minor of them! I could not (and still cannot) get over how wonderful it was to have active, friendly participation in the classroom!
The last game that I got to with my group was a fill-in game. Each student had a piece of paper with pictures of the merchandise that we had just learned about. For example, both had pictures of a backpack and of pens, but one had the price of the backpack while the other had the price of the pen. They had to practice asking and answering questions about the prices of the objects--something that will be very useful to them in everyday life (and that some had even already gotten the chance to practice earlier in the day when we went around to visit). This was the only activity that I had some difficulty explaining in English, but with an example conversation, everyone got it. They were so great at paying attention to detail--correcting each other when they forgot the verb "to be," and even helping each other with minor pronunciation errors. I butted in a couple times to ask and answer questions so that they could get practice with a native accent, but they really didn't need my supervision at all--they were happy learning and practicing just for the sake of it. In fact, my group actually got scolded a bit by the Chilean teacher because they wouldn't even stop practicing even when she announced that class was over!
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| My students and me after class |
By 9:15, everyone was getting tired from the long day and our bus driver was back waiting for us, so we said our goodbyes (which took a while, as we had to fit in a few more photo ops, plus the customary good-bye kiss for each student), and headed back across the plaza for the ride home. On the way over, we stopped for a quick thank you from (and to) the director of the program. It was such a success that they're already making plans to do another similar experience next semester! I hope I can be involved again, it was such a refreshing experience!
We all got on the bus, glad for the heating system, as it had gotten quite cold in the town once the sun went down! On the way back, we talked about our experiences and our plans for the winter vacation. We arrived back at our campus around 10:30, and the Chilean teacher was kind enough to drive us all home (we all live within three blocks of each other). I was exhausted, but so excited that I ran inside to tell Scott about the experience. Then, we quickly packed up for our trip to San Pedro the next day and headed off to bed. Hopefully I'll have some great adventures there to tell you about soon!
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