This went much smoother than anticipated. We were told to prepare for class sizes of about 30 to 40 students. I am fortunate enough to be working in a semi-private school where class sizes are more like eight to 15 students. I start off and end the week with Ignacia's 10th grade class, which is about 8 people. They're level of English is also something that blew me away. We were told that if our students could introduce themselves by the end of the semester, we should consider our work done. Fortunately for me, these kids can sit around and have entire convos in English. So I am certainly excited about pushing them and getting them to do all sorts of fun presentations and such. Next I went to 6th grade, followed by 3rd grade (certainly the most active, challenging bunch I had). All three classes speak at a level much higher than I expected for their age group. The 12 year olds in 6th grade can already introduce themselves and discuss their hobbies with ease. I have a few more classes later this week, including high school seniors. For the younger kids I work with Gabby, and for the older grades I work with Mauro. Both are Chileans my age that recently completed degrees in teaching English, and both are new this year to the school, having started just 3 weeks ago. So at least I am not in it alone. Mauro was very chill about lesson planning and working together, and even invited me to his family's home for Easter weekend in Puerto Montt. I hope to go, as it is about 5 hours away and would be a nice break from school (we get a three day weekend that week for Semana Santa). It is truly quite amazing how hospitable the people here are. Can you imagine someone extending an invite to their mother's home to a new co-worker on their first day in the States?
Speaking of the States, first let me reflect on something Ignacia brought up today as I sat in the living room listening to her play the guitar. She said that recently Chilean president Sebastian Piñera said the Chilean educational system needed to focus less on history, and more on English. Ignacia's sister, Camila, (whose room I'm occupying) is studying history at a university in Santiago. And as Ignacia put it, these students were very sad because their own interests and culture are being pushed aside to make room for English, and indirectly, American culture. Ignacia told me, ''It is sad because we already know America, but we do not know our own culture.'' As I tried to find some justification for this, I found the following Rolling Stone article in my Facebook feed. Clearly, there aren't many reasons why our country should find itself at the forefront of modern history.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
Cliff's notes: Basically several companies in the US military spent at least a year roaming the countryside of Afghanistan murdering innocent bystanders with complete immunity. The article discusses how various troops planted guns and grenades on shot-up corpses, and how dinnertime conversation usually focused on killing Afghani civilians for sport. Pictures with dead bodies were taken, fingers were cut off and kept as trophies, and illegally obtained black-market grenades, rifles, and clips were circulated through the military so that various companies could partake in the ''shoot em up and make it look like self-defense'' mentality you would usually find in a Scorsese flick. It is really quite sickening, and what bothers me most is that the only two media sources I can even hope will cover this are a music magazine and a comedy cable station. Now I'm off to brainstorm lesson planning activities for the following month. Tomorrow I have some sort of meeting no one seems to know much about. Hopefully I will meet the one or two other volunteers living somewhere in this region. Pics of the house, family, and school will hopefully be up in the next few days or weeks.
-Pablo
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