"April Comes in June" - written by... April

I thought I had certainly heard every joke dealing with the months of the year as they are related to my name. Therefore, I had no idea there was yet another quip to be discovered over 4,500 miles away from home. "April comes in June" has sparked giggles amongst members of my host family since their anticipation of my arrival into their home this month. And, after hearing of the humor it has brought, I felt welcomed with opened arms and mouths.  A little spin on the latter follows.

Since being in Santiago - for all of 8 days - I've developed an affinity for many things: the people, the culture, the food, the wine, the school children, THE ANDES, the architecture, the food, the history, and unexpectedly, the fútbol (or maybe it's the great company and the food we eat when we watch fútbol); the traffic and the cold, not so much... at all. As you can probably gather, in addition to our mouths being open to laugh and talk in a Chilean version of Spanglish, they have also been open to consume everything that is delectable, from "our daily bread" (literally, we have bread daily) to Tres Leches cake for gatherings such as the birthday party we had today celebrating my host mom's father! "We Chileans express our love through food" is something that has been mentioned. If so, my family loves me; they really really love me! I'm beginning to think it is fate that "comes" in Spanish translates to "you eat". Perhaps the title of this post should have been "April, you eat in June":). I genuinely feel so welcomed and appreciated.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Feliz Cumpleaños, Papa!

Being in the schools has also been very exciting and eye opening. I've noticed many similarities as well as stark differences between schools here and schools in the US. These include everything from the similar curriculum and school culture to the procedures, teaching styles, and the delicious Chilean school lunches; there I go with the food thing again, but I digress. Upon completion of this program, I think teachers from the Geaux Global collaborative and teachers here in Chile will have had the opportunity to learn and exchange strategies for successfully teaching students with varied learning styles, backgrounds, and abilities.  Fortunately, I was able to jump right in and teach some small English lessons using graphic organizers and questioning techniques to aid students in acquiring new vocabulary and writing fluently in English. The students were interested and engaged in the lessons and also seemed to enjoy the incorporation of my acting skills into teaching English. After the lessons, they discussed new information they learned as well as questions the lessons sparked. I've enjoyed doing whole class teaching, but also small group work and one-on-one instruction (both in the school and at "home"). This experience is turning out to be more than I had imagined. Things are going so well that I really hope the smooth sailing is not a dream! ¿Cachai?

Small group science review in the library

In the coming weeks, I hope I continue to learn more about Chile and leave a lasting impression on the students and their families. They are certainly leaving one on me.

Ciao (until next week),



April

Amparo, one of my 3 niños