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I can’t believe that our first week in Chile is over! These have truly been some of the greatest days of my life and there are still two more weeks to go. Each morning we go to ECELA from 9-1. Then we eat lunch and go to Universidad Mayor to attend classes and different activities. Many of the classes at UM have allowed us to engage in conversation with students about the educational system in Chile and their English pedagogy program. One thing I realized is that there are an incredible number of similarities between the United States and Chile. As someone who has never been abroad before I expected everything to be very different, but that is not the case at all. I thought that I was going to feel homesick, but it actually feels like home here. This experience has developed my intercultural competency and helped me to realize that we are much more alike than we are different.
Dr. Schmidt moved into our apartment a few days ago which has been especially helpful because she can speak Spanish to our host mother. She also helps Karly and I practice our Spanish. We love our homestay. It is a big apartment with a close walk to ECELA and UM. Our host mother hosts students in her three apartments. In our apartment we live with Dr. Schmidt, a 19 year old girl named Anna from the UK, and Marcela, the housekeeper. On Wednesday our group from Buff State did a presentation about the educational system in the United States and ways to engage all learners. There was a great turn out! We ended up going out with some of the students who attended the presentation. We listened and danced to Spanish music which was a lot of fun. We have a schedule chock full of different things to do but what has really made the trip so far is the relationships we have made with the students at UM. It is a great feeling to see people we know as we attend classes at UM and even when we are walking down the street! In Spanish class on Thursday our teacher took us for a walk around the neighborhood and we identified different vocabulary words. He places a big emphasis on pronunciation which is definitely something I need to improve on. During the walk my teacher went into a store and bought us all chocolate bars. He said that they are very popular in Chile. It reminded me of the strawberry and vanilla wafers they sell in the States. On Thursday night we took a salsa dancing class at ECELA and it was a blast! Karly and I are both pretty uncoordinated, but we eventually got the hang of it. The teacher spoke in Spanish the entire time, but we could all understand what he was saying. My Spanish has improved a lot this week from taking the classes at ECELA and taking to my host mother. This trip has made me really want to learn Spanish and keep practicing when I get home to Buffalo. We also attended a meeting for the Conversation Club at UM which is a free club run by students at the University who want to practice their English speaking skills. The students organize fun games that allow members to practice English in informal ways. For example, we did speed dating where we had to talk to a people about different topics for two minutes and two truths and a lie. The club is sponsored by the United States Embassy and members get a certificate from them at the end of the year. It is not exclusive to students in the English Pedagogy program. There are also high school students, UM students from other programs, and university faculty. Dr. del Prado and I were talking about starting a club like this at Buff State! Last night we went to an art museum and eventually a karaoke bar. Whenever an English song came on the guy playing the music would chant “USA! USA!” and give us the microphone. We sang along to I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys, Sorry by Justin Bieber, and Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver. Today we went to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar with ECELA. The streets of Valparaíso were much different than those in Santiago. They were narrow, cobblestone streets with many colorful houses and street art. For lunch we went to a restaurant there and had a great meal. When we sat down there was already a shot of pisco sour at all of our seats. Then we got bread, empanadas, an entre, and dessert. There was a band playing in the restaurant as well. In Viña del Mar we went to the beach where we were able to see the sunset. It was breathtaking! That’s all for now! Thanks for reading!
6 Comments
Alex
6/9/2019 02:53:36 am
¡we need a conversation club!
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Dan
6/9/2019 10:27:10 am
The conversation club sounds like an excellent idea, and I'm sure you'll have many more ideas to incorporate into your academic career! Everything sounds so wonderful, and I can't wait to hear more from your second week!
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hjarecki
6/9/2019 10:32:54 am
Sounds like so much fun, Kelly! How very lucky you are! I love your writing style, too. So proud...have fun!
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Dr. Patti
6/10/2019 11:27:23 am
Hi Kelly. Thank you for sharing so much detail from the past week. I loved reading about the lesson at ECELA in which your instructor took you out into the community - how cool and great modeling of teaching strategies! I am really excited about the idea of a Spanish conversation club; I would definitely want to join! You are a great person to initiate this based on your experiences with student groups on campus. I hope week 2 is starting out wonderfully for you today. Keep the great blog posts coming! :)
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Dr. Schmidt
6/11/2019 02:59:38 pm
Hola roomie! Sorry I missed karaoke, I would have crushed that John Denver song. You and Karly were fantastic in salsa class, and I could see you were both having a lot of fun. Keep the great posts coming!
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Solicitar un préstamo ahora
1/23/2024 03:17:32 pm
Buenos días señor / señora,
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Author¡Hola! My name is Kelly and I am an undergraduate student studying elementary education at Buffalo State. This is the first time I will be traveling outside the United States and Canada. I am very excited about the opportunity to learn more about Chilean culture, work with English language learners, improve my Spanish skills, and conduct research! I hope you’ll enjoy reading about my Chilean adventures! ArchivesCategories |