Orientation.. CHECK!

A whole week of English Opens Doors orientation is finally over! Most of us had such a hard time getting up yesterday for our last day of orientation, but we did it. We had taken a photo with all 65(?) volunteers in the program in front of the presidential palace, La Moneda.

The training from the Ministry overlapped that of WorldTeach, but also had many differences in methodologies and presented different expectations of our students. Right now, I really don't know what to expect. I don't if my students (most likely anything from 5th to 12th grade) will even be able to introduce themselves...We've learned from WT to expect slow progress and perhaps by the end of the 4 months, the students will have learned how to talk about 3-4 basic topics. However, the textbooks presented by the Ministry are far more difficult as if they assume that kids will know what Anglo Saxons are, talk about volcanoes, who the Amish are, etc. all in English...

Chileans Students:
- Are not expected to do English homework
- May often try to listen to their iPods and pick up their cell phones during class
- may be pregnant as early as 9th grade
- have a low attendance rate (may come to school half or 2/3 of times)
-Usually are used to doing bookwork quietly in their classes so are not accustomed to a communicative, interactive class such as the ones that I will be offering in order to teach English.

However, many of them are motivated by American pop culture (i.e. kids running around singing Lady Gaga's music, watch Harry Potter movies, etc. )

(Btw, I went to watch Toy Story 3 in Spanish without subtitles. I liked the movie and was glad that it was easy to follow as I probably only understood 20% of the Spanish. )

WHERE AM I GOING?
WorldTeach volunteers are leaving early Monday morning from Santiago to Vina Del Mar and from there we will be splitting up to go to our respective towns/suburbs. For now, all I know is that there are 4 of us going to Calle Larga which is a town of approx. 10,000 people. It's near a ski resort in Portillo. We are probably less than 40km from the Argentinian border. I anticipate it will be COLD, but I think I brought enough clothes. I do not know anything about my host family or school yet.

There is 1 volunteer, Lauren, who got her placement in a little town of 43 people (or perhaps only 4 houses according to a local Chilean). However, we are all happy for her since she is going to live with a family with 2 siblings and a dog. They probably also have a farm too.

FOOD UPDATE:

I got a delicious wrap at Vainilla (a delicious french-like cafe) with awesome coffees. Many volunteers complain that most coffee in Chile sucks since it's mostly Nescafe and not real coffee.



I also got a seafood soup at Mercado Central (famous fish market in Santiago). It was cheap and yummy.




Gringos beware! There are many different restaurants you can choose from at the fish market to eat at, but just know that while you walk around, store owners and waiters will all push menus at you outside their stalls. At one point, I was handed 2 menus from restaurants with both guys pointing at their respective stalls and I just decided to walk away.