Teach in Chile Advertisement Dear Kate, How are you? I hope you are well. I was in touch with you last year after I did my CELTA Course at International House Belgrano asking for advice on job opportunities etc. before I decided to take a 7 month contract in Chile and I remember you asked me to give you an update on how it all went because it might be useful for future CELTA students to read about. Anyway I finished my contract just before Christmas in Copiapo and it was a fantastic experience! I really enjoyed my job, teaching for a small institute called Capital London. My students were great and I managed to gain invaluable experience both from a teaching and administrative perspective. I was also able to improve my Spanish and travel around different parts of Chile; it really is a fantastic country! The highlight of the 7 months though had to be the unfolding of one of the biggest news stories of the year right on my doorstep - the rescue of the 32 miners! I just felt so lucky to be there for such an important moment in Chilean history. From being in a mining town where there were only another 4 or 5 'gringos' living there, suddenly we had journalists from all over the world, it was very surreal! I ended up going down to the main plaza (where they had set up a big screen) to watch the rescue of the last few miners.  (más…)

My First Classes (Post-CELTA)  (don't feel obligated to read!  but I thought I'd share a bit about the experience.....sorry it is so long!) It started out simple enough - a friend sent me a text message, explaining he was sick and asked if I would cover his classes, Tuesday and Thursday.  I'd have to leave home around 2:30ish and return about 9:30.  Ok.  Sounds like a good opportunity and I said yes.  Wanting to know a bit more (i.e. level, age groups, how many classes, etc.), I gave him a call.  Unfortunately, the reception wasn't so great - I asked him to explain a bit more, and his response was something like, "es una pavada, no te preocupes, tienen todas las fotocopias alli, los libros, hay un grupo de chicos de 12 anos, y despues unos màs grandes, y no tenès que preparar nada - es fàcil!"  Ok.  It wasn't exactly a detailed response, but it sounded doable! I did not, of course, quite believe my friend about "no tenès que preparar nada."  But what to prepare?  12 yr olds?  Well, the basics...a ball.  On second thought, two balls, just in case.  Some notecards with different verbs, tenses, and negative/positive/questions.  A few pictures.  Ok - I felt more prepared, though still a bit nervous! (más…)

Living in Buenos Aires, there’s nothing I enjoy more at the end of a long week of teaching than going out at the weekend for a meal.  Eating out is one of the favourite pastimes of all Porteños and you’ll often see restaurant after restaurant choc-full of people even on week nights, let alone weekends.  While it’s easy enough to find somewhere to eat, the local tendency towards quantity over quality can mean it’s difficult to find that special place which lures you back again and again. The same can also be said for that long week of teaching too.  It’s easy enough to find tasks and activities to fill up time in the classroom, but it can often be difficult to hit upon those classic activities that we happily return to over and over.  And, funnily enough, the ingredients that make a restaurant successful are very similar to those that make successful learning activities in the classroom. (más…)