This is the End - Jacob Vaughn

Well, it is time for the study abroad experience in Chile to come to an end. It has been exceptionally awesome and continues to be. My family is sad and so am I, but we all ignore the fact that I depart soon. I am going to miss hanging out with Matias and his family, as well as the students and Gina.

I have learned that the students here are similar to kids in the U.S.A. They require structure, assistance, and continual challenge. I've noticed that some of the kids take his or her studies more serious than others, but this is to be expected. Gina and the students made this trip memorable, which I will never forget. A lot of the kids have been friending me on facebook and maybe they will keep in touch. It I difficult to speculate because life can/does get in the way.

This weekend I traveled to Salto del Laga. It is quite beautiful as you gaze upon the brilliant power of the waterfall silhouetted by the mist. It was cold, which was beneficial, and not a lot of people were out visiting the waterfall. After stopping at several craft stores, we left for Dichato.

Dichato was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in 2010. Seeing the annihilated homes was eerie knowing the natural disasters that occurred. After only experiencing a small hurricane in Louisiana, I cannot begin to imagine the terror the citizens of Dichato felt.

Sunday Matias' older brother traveled to Concepcion from Santiago to visit. Watching him and Matias interact makes me miss my big brother. Today we traveled to the country side for a bbq with Sandra's brother and sister. Good food, good times, and plenty of laughs. I am most appreciative how all of the Cordero's have treated me like family from the beginning of this program.

It has come time to wrap up this final blog. I would like to thank Herman, Sandra, and Matias for taking care of me for three weeks. I also want to thank them for taking me on once in a lifetime trips. I hope we all can stay in contact. I would like to take a moment and thank Gina for everything. Although she does not speak English and my Spanish is rusty, we were able to work very well with one another. Oh, and thank you to the students of Colegio de Concepcion for allowing me to work with him or her and for all of the laughs. Lator Gators. Blog-out. No more entries.

 

 

 

Week 2 in Chile

Hola,

This blog entry is going to attempt the impossible of summarizing all of the exciting things that have happened in the past week and a half without writing an entire novel.

Tres hermanos y madre

Last Friday was Filipe, my youngest homestay brother's 16th birthday.  We had a special sushi lunch then friends and family came over for homemade 'love' cake.

Saturday Filipe had a soccer match and our family had another homestay host family over for a dinner of a seafood stew.  The student from the other family is in the |LSU choral group and he and I put on a little performance, me on harmonica, to everyones amusement.

During the 'work' week the four science students attended an Oceanography conference at the University of Concepcion.  There we spent half of the day watching science presentations, mostly in Spanish, mingling with other researchers and professors.  It's always a nice experience talking to people with the same interests and passions.  There was even a room with a full day of biogeochemical research topics being presented.  For what sounds to be a such obscure topic, I was very pleased to find an international  group dedicated to similar studies as myself.

The walk from the university to the bus station back to our homebase at the high school allowed us to enjoy the public art filled campus and streets in Concepcion.  

This weekend I went to a barbeque for Filipe's class and caught an amazing sunset at the desembocadura *river mouth, where the Bio Bio River enters the Pacific Ocean.  There were seaside cliffs, rock outcroppings, rocks to scramble on and big waves some lucky surfers were riding.  It was a wonderful bookend to another great week in Chile.  

LeAnn's Chile Experience-Week Two

         Fun Inside the Classroom and Out- Week Two

     

This week, in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade classes I help teach started a new unit. Fabiola, the English teacher I've been working with here in Concepcion, allowed me to plan the activities and teaching methods for three days. During that time, I taught at least 80% of the lessons myself. It was a wonder to see the students try new ways to be exposed to English. One method I used to help the students practice their English was acting. We would read the story together as a class then, once we were finished, volunteers were giving the opportunity to read the lines of a character. Once they read the lines and every character in the story had a reader, the students performed the story out loud in front of the class. What surprised me about this exercise was the students who normally were shy when reading jumped up to participate during the activity. Im so proud I got the opportunity to add an engaging reading exercise to their class this week.

              

Outside of the classroom, I've been spending most of my time with Sandra, my host mom. Sandra is a stay at home mom who adores her family and always puts them first. The love she has shown me this past week could never be measured. I am very appreciative of all she has done for me since I've arrived in Chile. Although she doesn't speak English, and I struggle to communicate in Spanish, we've become great friends. When it is time for me to depart from Chile and this experience, Sandra will be missed dearly.

The picture on the left captures Sandra's mouse dessert she made for the family this past weekend for the first time, very enjoyable dish. The picture on the right captures us, me and Sandra, at the family's club lagoon. As you can see, when me and Sandra are together, we always find something to do with our time.

Until next week, adios. 

Peace... Beauty... & Love...- Phelecia Udoko

This second week in Chile has been nothing less than phenomenal. Thanks to my host family, Colleagues, and The entire Colegio Concepcion!

This week I had the opportunity to share with teachers one of my passion- Mentoring. My group and I presented at a Professional Development Workshop, on how teachers can help students prepare for their careers through mentoring. This workshop was successful as we shared and exchanged ideas on how to build powerful mentoring relationships with students. In the classroom this week, I realized that the students are now more comfortable with me. This is very exciting for me as I had more opportunity to engage them in English dialogues. I also got them to think about some questions about their future, such as what their interests are, what they like to do and who they want to become. I usually encourage students to set goals and to think about what they will be doing in a few years. This is important, as it helps them to better appreciate and value their experience at school, and reminds them of the vital purpose of getting a good education. My mentor teacher and I also spent some time together to bond and share a little of our experience. I have a great mentor teacher.

The students organized an Art Festival to share Chile’s cultural heritage through music and dance. I was happy I attended as it was very entertaining. I was very impressed by the students’ vocal and musical ability as well as their boldness. The performances from the various ages were very impressive, These Chileans sure have talents! I also had an opportunity to visit Chile’s newspaper station where I, along with a couple members of our group, had an interview on the purpose and experience of our trip here in Chile.

This week, I also visited a cultural museum, where I learned about Chile’s indigenous people and the history of their crafts, food, and culture. And oh, I discovered that Chile has chickens who lay blue and green eggs! How amazing! My experience at the museum was very interesting and I had a good time. We also went on an excursion to the Pacific Ocean! Our first stop was Penco, a city that was originally Concepcion. We saw the beautiful bay, and enjoyed its greenery. Next stop, to Dichato, where we enjoyed some delicious seafood empanadas by the fisherman’s village. The scent of fresh sea breeze woke up the Tropical Island girl in me, I fell deeply in love and did not want that moment in time to end. Our excursion was very relaxing, and once again, I left in admiration and awe of the great wonders of the world.

I cannot have enough of the beauty that Chile displays, from the intoxicating volcanoes, mountains, glaciers, lustrous vegetation, breathtaking ocean, rivers, hills and valleys, rich cultural heritage, to its beautiful, loving, and warm people. Oh I wish I had time to experience them all! Chile is a never ending beauty which has changed my life forever.

There are three words etched in my mind as I reflect on my second week here Chile-

Peace… beauty… and love…

Chao!

The Adventures of Brandon Lewis’ Abroad Trip in Chile, Part 2

Welcome back to The Adventures of Brandon Lewis’ Abroad Trip in Chile.

 Wow, words cannot merely explain the experiences that I have endured within participating in this program. Foremost, I am greatly appreciative for all the cultural and emotional enrichment processes that I have encounter. These developments have not only enhanced my intellectual capabilities, but personal viewpoints as well. I truly look forward to impacting others’ lives as this program has impacted mine.

*inserts caption

The first and second week have been totally different from each other. The beginning week was one that primarily consisted of constant discovery.  Getting to know our families, professors, students, and what was consistently expected out of us. Most importantly, getting to learn a new culture and environment. Furthermore, it was a discovery of ourselves, in which many of us participants had to take a moment to evaluate and then reevaluate as we were shoved out of our comfort zones. The second week dealt with enrichment, growth, and development. This week has passed on deal of knowledge that I am ecstatic about exercising. I await with pleasure as my colleagues and me embarked on this journey to educate and enhance others.  

Family :) 

From the beautiful beaches and mountain to the dreamy fruits, this has been a memorable period of enlightenment. I would like to thank everyone that I met on opening and broadening my horizons. I am grateful to call you all friends and family. 

My bro, Jim 

Amber Smith Blog 2

This week was a lot of fun at the preschool.  I am bonding with the kiddos, discovering their interests, and creating fun memories for myself.  The kids are three and four years old, and they are really into animals and fine motor skill activities, particularly puzzles, number games, and drawing.  This week they worked on their vowel sounds, particularly the letter A.  Projects included identifying and cutting As out of magazines and posting them accordingly on the capital and lowercase A for display.  I like how every transition and new activity is introduced with a song.  It keeps the kids energized and motivated to learn throughout the day.  Most of this was done in Spanosh.  However, they do take English class and they can count to ten in English, and are continuing to learn small words in English, such as "cloud" and "climb", which was what they learned this week.  I participated in many of their activities, most of which were fine motor.  This week the school also celebrated recognition of the ocean and many projects included art activities with sea animals and a sensory project with the kids touching various sea creatures, such as crabs and clams(none of which were alive, of course!  You'll see a picture of me passing around a crab). They were really into drawing this week so we drew together.  I noticed when I was drawing particular objects for them, they prepared to color them in advance by gathering the colors they, or I would need to complete the drawing.  It was nice to see the little ones identify their colors through drawings that were still in the recess of completion.  Through play, I have learned what the children have learned throughout the year.  I a looking forward to another great week!

Exploring more of Chile by Dylan Castro

My second week in Chile allowed me to experience much more than just the area around the school. My week started with a family reunion over the weekend in Chillan. The reunion consisted of my family along with their multiple cousins, aunts uncles, and everything in between. It was a special moment when I arrived because for most of the cousins it had been years since they had seen each other. We all stayed the weekend in Chillan at a campground owned by the grandfather. The scenery was absolutely stunning all around, and from the campground it was a about a 15 minute drive to the hot springs at the top of the mountain.I would have loved to spend much more of my trip there enjoying the sights.

My family and I in Chillan

 My favorite part of the weekend was climbing up a little on the side of the mountain to reach snow. It was my second time ever seeing snow but was much more thrilling than the first time. This kind of experience was exactly what I was looking for when coming to Chile, and I was more than happy to share this with my host family.

Me and Benjamin up in the mountains

I also was able to get more involved with the school and classes this week. It was definitely unlike anything that I had done before but being more hands on in the classroom was something I really enjoyed. The kids were really excited to learn about PE in the United States. I was able to teach them a little about football, and also some kinesiology knowledge that they surprising loved to hear about. Ultimately one of my favorite times at the school had to be working at Huertos with the younger kids. They were so full of energy and were so much fun to be around. I taught them some tennis rules and how to hold a racket. I was worn out by the end of my first class, but it was easily one of the most rewarding experiences that I have had. I cannot wait to see what my last week in Concepcion has to offer me, and I am excited to learn about more of the culture!

My PE class at Huertos