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After our classes and another great meal – we have decided that we like the Chilean natural juices, café cortados (like a Chilean cappuccino), and kuchen (Chilean pie) – we took the metro for the first time to the center of Santiago. The area and metro stop are called “Plaza de Armas.” We first visited the central cathedral which is incredibly ornate and beautiful. The building is under construction and expected to be renovated in one year; however, the inside was wonderful to see.We then visited the National History Museum which is located in the same plaza. It includes some history of the Mapuche, the indigenous people living in Chile when the Spaniards arrived, and lots more since the Spanish conquest. We were given the opportunity to visit the newly renovated tower that contains the clock. The tower was originally designed by Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, an urban planner who supported the building of schools and the running water system of Chile. (Coincidentally, “Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna” is also the name of our partner school where we will be teaching so we were especially interested to learn more about him.)To reach the top of the tower we had to climb a tight spiral staircase to the 6th floor. On this floor is a balcony from which we could see the whole plaza – it was a great view! Our tour guides were interns who gave us a wonderful explanation of the tower.In the evening, the teacher candidates returned to their host families for dinner, and Dr. Patti and I met with our Universidad Mayor colleagues from various parts of the Education program. We ate at a Peruvian restaurant that was delicious. We had ceviche to start and wonderful seafood dishes for our meal. People tend to stay out late, so we didn’t get home until after 11:00 (which is late for me on a school night).
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Thanks so much to all of you who are posting comments on our blog sites — it means a great deal to us to hear from home!
Sam has volunteered to be our blog master, and she’s doing a great job getting us all to post more about our experiences (I just received an email message from her reminding me of my homework to post tonight!). All three teacher candidates (and Dr. Patti!) have been terrific travel companions — everyone has been so open to all aspects of the experience. They are making SUNY Buffalo State proud. Our adventures really began during our 7 and 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta. This gave us time to get to know one another and review the work the teacher candidates have prepared for the Chile trip. They have developed research proposals to compare a particular aspect of education in Chile with education in Buffalo and also prepared numerous instructional activities with materials for their field experience at Escuela 25, our Chile PDS school. They also have reflected on the experience of communicating with a pen pal — one from the Universidad Mayor English Pedagogy Program and one from the Special Education Program. We arrived in Chile about 8:00 am (the time in Chile is the same as the US — we have traveled 100s and 100s of miles yet stayed in the same time zone!). There was a mix-up about our transportation to our host families, but, being teachers, we were ready with a back-up plan and with the help of a very kind airport worker we were on our way. Each of us met our host families except in one situation where there was a second misunderstanding. Once again, a kind person helped us work it all out and we are happily learning more about Chilean life, family, and food from our host families. Monday morning we arrived at ECELA at 8:00 to take a written and oral test that would help place us in the appropriate level of Spanish. The first class runs from 9:00-10:40 and focuses on conversation (completely in Spanish). Then there is a break with cookies and coffee when we have a chance to interact with the other ECELA students who have come from all over the world to learn Spanish. For example, we’ve met people from Brazil, China, Switzerland, France, Germany, and other parts of the US. From 11:00-12:40 we have our grammar class (again, all in Spanish). Then at 1:00 we have scheduled various activities with either ECELA or with our UMayor partners. On Monday afternoon, the weather was beautiful so we walked to the Bellavista neighborhood which is an art community (Pablo Neruda used to hang out here — how cool is that?!) and then took the funicular (a small train) up Cerro San Cristobal (Saint Christopher Hill) from where we could see all of Santiago and the incredibly beautiful Andes covered with snow. We then hiked up to a statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the whole city. Along the way we met some other students — one from NYC and another from Europe as well as a very cute 7 year Brazilian boy who wanted to practice his English with us. We then returned to ECELA for a welcome asado (BBQ — Chilean style) where we hung out with other ECELA students and got to know some of the ECELA staff. Today (Tuesday) we took part in our Spanish classes once again and then had a delicious lunch — everyone has been very adventurous in their eating choices. It’s been fun to try a new place each day so we can learn more about the food. Also, everyone is getting better at ordering in Spanish. At 3:30 the UMayor English Pedagogy and Special Education students and faculty welcomed us with wonderful presentations about Santiago and typical foods of Chile. Amber, Sam, and Danielle met their penpals and quickly made plans to spend the rest of the afternoon together. Dr. Patti and I have made plans with our UMayor colleagues to have dinner tomorrow. We’re looking forward to developing our friendships and also discussing ways to expand our partnership so more UMayor and more SUNY Buffalo State teacher candidates can take part in this wonderful exchange experience. All my best to everyone back home — we appreciate your support and good wishes! This is the third year of the International Professional Development Schools Consortium partnership between SUNY Buffalo State and Santiago, Chile. It has truly been a pleasure to be part of the program’s development as the IPDS builds the Zambia and Dominican Republic programs while also expanding to Germany, Italy, and China. The opportunity to connect with educators around the globe has strengthened our work locally in so many new ways.
The reach of IPDS is also moving across the teacher education unit at SUNY Buffalo State. This year, Dr. Angela Patti of the SUNY Buffalo State Exceptional Education Department has joined the program to extend opportunities for teacher candidates, faculty, and children. This new collaboration builds on the February 2014 visit to Buffalo by representatives of Universidad Mayor’s Educación Diferencial program. Faculty member, Andrea Barnier, and teacher candidate, Danella Hernández, spent three weeks learning about special education in the US while teaching us about special education in Chile. Discussions are underway to include secondary social studies education majors for next year. As our departure date (June 7) gets closer, we are making many preparations. The SUNY Buffalo State teacher candidates are beginning to connect virtually with their Universidad Mayor “pen pals,” they are preparing instructional materials for their service learning work at Escuela 25 Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, and they have begun their comparative research projects. Once in Chile, we will participate in Spanish language classes and cultural experiences at ECELA (www.ecelaspanish.com), live with host families, visit Valparaiso, and trek in the Andes. Please read and respond to our blog postings for details about these experiences. All of these opportunities are made possible by support from numerous sources, and we extend our thanks to the SUNY Buffalo State School of Education, Elementary Education and Reading Department, Exceptional Education Department, International Education Office, and Volunteer and Service Learning Center as well as Universidad Mayor of Chile. We look forward to hearing from you! |
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