English Summer Town -- Chilean Style

Upon arriving in Chile last July and during our orientation, we Fulbright teachers signed a contract with Chile Fulbright cementing our commitment to teach at English Summer Town in January 2007. Ah, they caught us early in the honeymoon stage—speaking for myself here, I later wondered why I didn’t notice that EST was during my summer vacation—January and February. The new school year starts around March 1^st.

As my teaching year began to wind down in December the reality of preparing for English Summer Town seemed a little daunting. Like at home, when June rolls around I’m ready for a break from the daily demands of teaching. I didn’t relish the thought of teaching for a week in January. Fantasies of lolling in a hammock seemed to eclipse everything else and I was having an all-out war with my motivation. In the end professionalism and commitment won out.

We arrived at Las Colinas de Cuncumen http://www.cuncumen.cl/ccm/index2.htm on Sunday the 7th and were instantly enamored of the setting, a gorgeous retreat center SW of Santiago. Wow! We realized that the English Open Doors Program and the Chilean Ministry of Education, along with Chile Fulbright, made a gargantuan effort to provide us with the best that Chile has to offer—an aesthetic environment with delicious traditional Chilean food.

The U.S. Fulbright teachers were the main event in EST: http://www.ingles.mineduc.cl We taught English language acquisition strategies to Chilean English teachers during the morning sessions and our family members taught cultural workshops after lunch. My morning sessions focused on writing strategies; Dan taught American folk songs in the afternoon.

When we first arrived to Cuncumen I was slightly shocked by how remote we were, with no internet access and spotty cell phone reception. The nearest town with services was about 45 minutes away. I needn’t have worried about being cut off from the world for a week-- we created our own vibrant universe there. The week turned out to be fabulous. Each day found us engaged in thoughtful conversations, rousing discussions, soulful songs and lots of playful activities. Obviously, we weren’t the only ones to interrupt our summer vacation: 120 Chilean teachers gave up a week of their summer break to attend EST as well. Once the buses rolled in with all the Chilean teachers on Sunday evening we knew we were in for a rocking week.

Here are some of the high points:

• Attending the workshops of my U.S. colleagues and learning new strategies to teach English in Chile. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to deepen our connections during the week. Lifelong friendships are coalescing among us.
• Collaborating with our Chilean colleagues who were passionate participants in our sessions all week. I was rejuvenated by their energy, creativity, and insights about teaching. At the week’s end my toolbox for teaching English doubled thanks to their many generous suggestions and ideas.
• The dance contest in which Dan was a finalist. He credits his dance partner, Anita, but he’s being too humble. They were an impressive couple and undoubtedly someone out there has photos or even a video of their fancy step-work.
• The rally squad “yell-off” in which Terri really tore it up with some hot, hot moves. I don’t need a video to recall that performance—it’s indelible in my memory! Her team won the cheering competition by the way.
• The spontaneous singing and dancing from our Chilean colleagues at any given moment. The picture of Hector on Dan’s blog entry was taken after lunch one afternoon when we were all gathered in the dining room-- a collective expression of gratitude for our week together. Songs were sung, dances were danced, and a fun time was had by all.
• The cloning awards in which people were bequeathed with certificates for looking like a carbon copy of someone else. Among us we had Shakira, Michele Bachelet, and Don Quixote to name a few. In the past Dan has been mistaken for Rick Bayless and we were once treated like royalty in a posh Mexican restaurant for that misconception. He is accused of looking like Harvey (a gringo character in a Chilean soup opera), John Denver, and Bruce Cockburn among others. I have been with him when people have asked, “Are you famous?” He has that look about him which once again earned him focused attention. He was our Don Quixote.
• My keynote speech on Thursday. The topic was Teachers and Students Taking Risks. I wrote an essay about the potency of teachers modeling risk taking and life-long learning. Initially I was intimidated because my predecessors had power point presentations, prizes to give away, and were very entertaining to boot. During a dip in my confidence I remembered my topic and the fact that I was asking teachers to risk sharing their writing in my morning workshops. Life imitates art imitates life.
  

I left Cuncumen Friday afternoon knowing that I didn’t give up anything to be a part of English Summer Town. I gained a whole new perspective on what it means to be a Fulbright teacher here in Chile.