Juan's New World :: Special Needs in Chile

Susan Vance, a WorldTeach Chile Volunteer based in Quillota, Chile shares an inspirational story about her work with a special needs student at her integrated school.

Working at Colegio Tierra del Fuego in Quillota, Chile has been more of a blessing than even I had anticipated.  As a volunteer English teacher at a school with a population of 900, grades pre-kindergarten through grade twelve, I knew I would meet a variety of students including all ages, abilities and challenges.  Some of the "special needs" include autism, Asperger’s, being paraplegic in an electric wheel chair, having Down’s syndrome, and deafness.

 Susan with some of her co-teachers

  

I could not have a more well-matched assignment.  My background consists of interpreting for deaf children and adults in schools, university, and the community. Needless to say, when I first walked on to the Colegio Tierra del Fuego campus, things fell in motion.  During my "observation week" (first week at school), when I was observing an English class in the computer lab, the lead English teacher informed me of the philosophy of the school, which is an "integrated" school  (inclusive of students with special needs).  Then, she pointed out that the student sitting behind me was deaf.  I turned around and asked him if he signed (signing to him).  He shook his head "no."  With writing paper and pen in hand, life changed.  I wrote notes, and then showed him his name "Juan", the sign.  He caught on right away as to what I was doing.  We mouthed words in Spanish (he reads lips some), gestured, and we had our first lesson.  For the rest of the class period, I worked with Juan as his hunger for visual language was quite evident. 

Juan's  world has changed, unfolded, opened.  Juan is discovering language that he never had before.  He is so eager to learn... we wrote down everything we discussed so that he could review his lesson.  He was surprised at how easy it was to.  We mouth the language in Spanish of course, but I use the official American Sign Language (ASL).  I never dreamed, through any stretch of the imagination, that I would be giving a deaf student in South America visual education, even though ASL has been a part of my life for over 30 years. After this event, I asked the instructor if I could give Juan ASL lessons once a week.  She was very surprised and happy that I wanted to do this, and of course, she said YES!  It is obvious to me why I am assigned to Colegio Tierra del Fuego.  "Seize the Day!"  When you see an opportunity, especially one to help others, GRAB it with all your might!!! 

Our second session was even better.  Juan had memorized everything I taught him at our first meeting--ABCs, numbers, short words.  Next, we studied "how do you say...? family members, feelings, and food."  Juan even told me about his experience with the 8.8 earthquake that occurred in Chile on Feb 27th, 2010!  He described what he had been doing, how his mother was so scared, how is "pololo" (girlfriend) was crying.  Being able to speak opened a door to Juan's world that he did not have before...  I can't express enough how thrilled I am to be an instrument in opening up Juan's new world. 

 Susan at her school

This is Africa

Kyle Gaiser, WorldTeach Rwanda volunteer, writes about a blue-sky day at his site, Nyakarambi.

"Today was one of those days... the good kind... the kind where everything right and everything good reassures you that this time and place is where you're supposed to be. Today the sun was shining and the flowers were a bright pink against the blue sky. My iPod's "random" setting knew just the right music to play - starting with Johnny Cash and Damien rice, and followed by Flogging Molly, Yael Naim, good ole Peter Cetera, and the Fast Cars and Freedom of Rascal Flatts. I am showered and clean after three days of wearing the same thing (sadly, that's not unusual here, although I swear it doesn't happen too often), and smooth shaven. I'm wearing my new black suit coat, which I bought at the market for 9 US bucks, over a fitted anti-wrinkle Van Heusen button up (my favorite), tucked into a pair of khaki colored dockers. I take a 5 minute moto ride from my house to school, a bit quicker than usual as we fly over the holes in the dirt road, making one abrupt stop for an old lady crossing in front of us. I dismount and greet my headmaster and dean of studies. As I walk into the staff room the teachers applaud my new suit and comment on how smart it looks. I indulge in the attention for a brief moment, bowing and thanking them and telling them it's really just a coat. I teach my lesson, 100 minutes of mathematics. I'm refreshed, energetic, and on top of what needs to happen, but flexible and not worried if everything on my list to do doesn't get finished today - one step at a time, start where you are and do what you can.

Kyle's home in Rwanda

On the way home a little boy not much taller than my knee follows me down the road, jumping up and down, naked, and screaming "bonjour, bonjour!!" Others ask "How are you teacher?" or "How old are you?" Some laugh, some smile shyly, a few even cry at the site of a white person. Some run at me full force, arms open wide, embracing me with a huge hug around the knees. My pants now have green streaks of avacado smeared on them. I continue down the hill. Old men and women with canes in hand and baskets on head stop to greet me with a handshake, a smile, and a friendly "mwiriwe." They chuckle as I reply in kinyarwanda, "mwiriwe neza, amakuru?"

This week I will practice a song for church on my guitar with my friend John Paul and I'll invite a couple friends to meet and catch up over a fanta. If I have the time I might plant some vegetables in my garden out back.

This is Africa. This is my life. I'm glad I'm here."

Kyle's classroom

Meghan and Josh's Chile Relief Challenge

Meghan and Josh, two of WorldTeach's former field directors in Chile, have been living in Chile for a combined 8 years and are involved in efforts to help the country rebuild following the earthquake two months ago. You can read more about their "Chile Relief Challenge" at their blog. In the post below, Meghan writes about an Easter weekend trip she and Josh took to build temporary houses in one of the most affected regions of the country. 

Josh and I couldn't have done this alone, and, thankfully, we had the help of volunteers from our FECH (U. of Chile) group, the University of Concepción, VE Global (one of the organizations that our Chile Relief Challenge in benefiting), and our friend María Jose (who went down to Retiro with us for a second time). The first day, we had a 5-member squad to start the construction of a media agua (temporary wooden house). With little or no prior media agua training, our group quickly found out how grueling the first step was: setting the base posts for the house to raise it off what will be a very wet winter ground. We had to fix 17 posts 2 feet deep (not to mention making sure our base hypotenuse calculations were on par- not a fun math lesson). After a day of digging holes in the ground, we finally got the floor placed on the posts when the sun was long gone, and cold fall night had set in.

The following day was a flurry of help from more volunteers who helped us raise the walls and roof. The final steps of hinging the windows and door were so gratifying, and seeing the Chilean flag nailed right above that door was a true victory.

However, for Josh and me, the most rewarding part of the weekend was getting to know the family that will live in the structure we built. Our constant Chilean mother cheerleader, Señora Margarita, took care of our whole crew by feeding us homemade empanadas, fresh fruit and even the evening tea ("onces") that's so typically Chilean.

We had a big photo shoot with the family on Easter afternoon when the house was finished, and Margarita even invited us to celebrate her son Pablo´s 13th birthday. Mom, Dad, their 3 children, Grandma and even the neighbor gathered around the birthday table with us- the few members of the first day building crew- and shared their earthquake experience.

Despite the scare of the quake, they are full of hope for their plans to continue living in Retiro and eventually build a permanent home when government grants come through. However, no one is sure when that day will come, so this Easter and birthday afternoon, the celebration took place beside 2 temporary shelters- one that Señora Margarita had built to last just as long as the fall sunshine, and one we had build to last the winter. We hope that this gracious, gracious family will be able to celebrate Pablo's 14th birthday in a permanent, earthquake resistant house. For now, at least they have a rain-resistant alternative to get by.

The relief situation in Retiro continues to be complicated by a lack of organization in carrying out reconstruction projects. Though there are many willing hands to help on long holiday weekends like this past one, organizing this help in an effective way in a daunting task, and will continue to dictate how quickly affected towns like Retiro can recover. Now, a month and a half after the start of the school year, some Retiro children still haven´t returned to classes due to damage to school buildings. Even though temporary locations for classes are being established, parents are apprehensive about sending their children to school. One mother of 7 girls told me she wouldn´t send her kids to school until she had personally inspected the classroom.

However, some kids are already back in class and are returning to their normal rhythm of April life. Thanks to volunteer work, media aguas have popped up on various house lots around the town now from which rubble was cleared, including 2 lots we removed rubble from 3 weeks ago. These media aguas are a sign of hope, albeit temporary. It's a sign that volunteers has stretched out a hand to Retiro and actually helped.  Oh, and the little chocolate Easter eggs we passed out to the kids didn´t hurt either.  Happy Easter, Retiro.

"Change Gonna Come"

Tamara Webb, a current WorldTeach volunteer in Keetmanshoop, Namibia, shares her thoughts on basic teacher training.

The Namibian BETD graduates of 2010

Ever since Namibia's independence in 1990, education reform has been a top priority. Education spending consistently represents the largest percentage of the budget; yet, many obstacles to quality education remain. The reform process is consciously a gradual one. Teacher education and equitable distribution of qualified teachers are two areas that constantly receive attention. The presence and expansion of the role of WorldTeach volunteers in Namibia speak to these facts. WorldTeach volunteers are typically placed in areas, mainly rural areas, where there is a severe shortage of willing and qualified teachers for the number of learners needing to be served. Also, whereas WorldTeach began as providers of English language teachers, WorldTeach Volunteers can now be found teaching across the broad curriculum, and in special placements such as mine.

According to a United Nations report, "the situation at Namibian independence was that 36% of the nation's 13,000 teachers had no professional training." 10 years later, the government reported improvement, with just about 15% of the nation's teachers lacking formal teacher training. One glaring problem, however, is the distribution of the qualified teachers around the country. In 2001, the Kavango Region in the north, for example, reported that over 30% of their teaching staff were unqualified.

One tool designed to help bring current teachers to standard is the Basic Education Teacher Diploma (BETD) In-Service Education for Teachers program. It is a comprehensive, four-year professional development initiative for unqualified and underqualified teachers in Namibia's primary and secondary schools.  This week, I was able to witness the formal culmination of their work, their graduation.

The BETD INSET graduation was a very nice and regal affair, which went on without any noticeable hitch or problem. I was the DJ, so the music was especially enjoyable - Hugh Masekela, the Mahotella Queens, LadySmith Black Mambazo, Bob Marley, Bill Withers, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Classical symphonic orchestras (not sure from where), and Michael Jackson (by huge request), to name a few. Someone even asked for my card and whether or not I did weddings; iPods do magic!  Missing were the invited governors, mayors, and politicians, but their absence did not cast any shadow over the excitement and pride felt by graduates, family members, tutors, and staff.  Of course, I enjoyed the free food. Eating is important, I'm told. I also enjoyed seeing individuals with whom I have worked receiving their diplomas - and gaining everyone's respect and inspiration was the oldest graduate, in his 60s.

The oldest BETD graduate of the year!

As I have shared from day one and will continue to share until education reform is a reality, I do sincerely hope that WorldTeach will eventually outgrow its purpose in Namibia. This will mean that teacher shortages have been eliminated; English education is sound; all schools are staffed with fully qualified teachers; quality teaching practices have become the norm; and all subjects will be supported by eager, willing, and highly competent educators from their home country. As Otis Redding prophecies, "change gonna come."

Left to right: Tamara, current Prime Minister and former Minister of Education Nahas Angula, and just-retired Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Libertine Amathila

WorldTeach Chile Year: Day 1 On-site (and already on TV!)

On their first day at their placement sites, WorldTeach's Chile Ministry Year volunteers made it on to the news! Check out the news clip here (the story, for non-Spanish speakers, gives an introduction to the WorldTeach Chile program and the benefit of having native English speakers in the classroom).  Below, WorldTeach volunteer Jeremy Gould shares with us some of his thoughts and reactions as he settles into his first week at his new home.

"I have always been a person with both a desire to explore, as well as a desire to give of myself.  Chile had been a country which interested me for quite some time when I discovered WorldTeach and the “Ingles Abre Puertas” program almost three years ago.  Being a country that is considered to be the most advanced in Latin America, that stretches from the Atacama Desert region to the Antarctic glacier region, that endured a brutal dictatorship for nearly twenty years, and that produces some of the world’s finest wine, Chile was sure to be a place with a vast array of culture to explore.  Fortunately for me, Chile also has a need for English teachers.  I decided to take the plunge and apply for the program this past summer and was accepted the day before I graduated from college in December – perfect timing, right?  Throughout the next few months there weren’t many moments where I ceased to think about the adventures and encounters that were to come over the course of the next year.

I arrived in Santiago in mid-March to discover a smog-covered city filled with well-fed stray dogs as far as the eye can see.  Despite the pollution, Santiago is a beautiful city with very distinct little pockets, each offering a completely different atmosphere and pace of life.  After three weeks of training and endless anticipation as to where we would be placed, our placement sites were finally revealed to us a few days before we departed.  Ventanas is a tiny, charming “pueblito” located on the coast of the Valparaiso region with a population of around two-thousand.  It is both a quiet fishing village as well as the location of a handful of industrial power-plants.  Although my teaching placement is considered to be a “problem-school,” I can’t even describe the sense of purpose I feel when I leave the premise everyday. 

I live on top of a hill overlooking what I joke with my host father to be the “grand metropolis” of Ventanas.  Another WorldTeach volunteer and I were very warmly received by the sweetest host family one could imagine.  Bernardo, our host father, is a jovial and portly man whose kindness is only surpassed by his sense of humor.  He literally doesn’t ever stop making jokes. Literally!  (I can actually hear him right now in the living room goofing around and laughing with our usual ensemble of evening guests.)  My personal favorite would have to be when he says “Come on, baby!” or “very good” with a strong Chilean accent - two of the only things he knows how to say in English. My host mother is a loveable woman who takes great pleasure in making me feel welcome and comfortable.  My “guata,” or stomach, seems to have grown considerably in the few days that I’ve been here as she really is a tremendous cook.  After spending so much time anxiously wondering what everything would finally be like when I settled into my new home, I have to admit that everything is truly “tranquilo.”  Although it is not wise to assume prematurely, it seems as though this may end up being one of the most meaningful and fulfilling years of my life."

"Slower, please..."

As her year-long adventure in the Marshall Islands draws to a close, WorldTeach volunteer Sarah Lipson reflects on the year behind her, the departure ahead of her, and the difficulty of leaving a new-found home.

"All I ever needed, wanted or sought after existed within a ten-mile radius of my childhood home (from basic needs to entertainment to education) and as such, I never knew the reality of life without love unconditional, support unending. Visible, audible, tangible, intangible love and support. When I moved to Rita Village in Majuro, one of the most densely populated areas in the Pacific, I was, incongruously trite as it may seem, alone. My happiness, my sadness, my bewilderment, my disorientation were mine alone to grapple with. No one within 7,000 miles really, really, cared about me. This simple fact was justifiably overwhelming. Now, 9 months after I arrived in the Marshall Islands, I am overwhelmed by the reverse reality. The knowledge that there are Marshallese people who genuinely care about me is both my greatest comfort and the chief source of my distress. Approximately one year ago, from the comforts of Hurlbut 305, I was researching this emaciated archipelago with certain dubiousness; does this country truly exist? This “Marshall Islands”? If I write a book about this year, the first chapter will be titled “Suspicion” because that, very honestly, is how I began this adventure: laden with doubt. I knew nothing. That was then and this is now. Friends from a landmass barely visible on a standard map or globe, have changed me, inspired me, redefined my philosophies on even the most basic concepts (ownership, privacy, sympathy, family, success, time).

“Eight weeks til you’re home!” my mother cheered at the conclusion of our phone conversation this week. Eight weeks. There was a time when I would have paid good money to accelerate progression towards departure but now I would shell out cold hard cash for a little slow motion. Every hug from the children at Abacca’s house, every success with my students at Marshall Islands High School, every brunch with Mona, every aerobics class, every day, every night, every adventure. Just a little slower, please. Ever so slightly slower, please. That’s just what I thought this week, one of my best ever in the RMI.

On Friday night I attended a fundraising concert sponsored by and starring Abacca’s immediate and extended family. The concert, typical of this vivacious, effervescent clan in scale and energy, was scheduled to begin at 7pm. I showed up at 9:45pm; perfect timing. The event easily drew a crowd of 400 plus and was held at a large outdoor venue in downtown Majuro. The first act had just begun when I turned up and I took a spot as close as possible to the stage, cheering for the young performers. The first dance was a partner routine with 5 couples, ranging from age 4 to approximately 12. The four children I tutor at Abacca’s house every Saturday comprised nearly half of the ten performers (Yuli/KNC, Neibol, Hayden and Jabolik). The older dancers (Yuli/KNC, Neibol and Jabolik) noticed my presence almost immediately and smiled elatedly, never missing a step. I cheered loudly, impressed by their dance and thrilled to see their happy faces. Hayden, the youngest and smallest of the 10 performers, noticed me well after the others. When he did, he dropped his partner’s hands, mid-performance, and waved enthusiastically, rising from flat foot to tiptoe over and over in his excitement. His partner continued to twirl and side-step but Hayden just stood there waving as I waved back to him, laughing from the crowd. Slower, please.

This week Hayden and I are going to work on identifying the letters “S”, “T” and “R” at our weekly tutoring session but honestly how can anyone focus around this level of cuteness? He could barely spin his partner (adorable in her own right – see first picture of this entry) because of their height difference. 

On Saturday night, I attended a kamem (first birthday celebration) for little Peaches. After celebrating her birthday for at least three consecutive nights, the culminating event was an enormous party at a large hotel/banquet hall, which was extravagantly decorated in the event’s color (purple) and theme (‘Dora the Explorer’). At one point I thought, surely we’ve reached capacity. And at this point, I was oh so wrong. The guests flooded the banquet hall by the hundreds (the total attendance was well over 1,000). Mona and I were in charge of dishing out dinner for the small army of children, including the obvious kamem crashers (kids from the local neighborhood who arrived dirty in search of dinner). “Eat and shower”, we instructed them in Marshallese (by now, with the driest of El Nino behind us, most families have enough water for weekly, if not daily, showers). The kamem began around 7pm and lasted through the early hours of the morning. At 2am, I accepted a ride from a few friends heading to Rita and over our 40 minute journey we blasted some Marshallese remixes with no regard for the hour. “My Sweet Sixteen” could easily be redone RMI-style as “My Kick-Ass Kamem”. Peaches’ first birthday celebration would incontestably be the season finale. "

A Reluctant Role Model

Jolie Lee, WorldTeach China Hunan volunteer, writes about her unexpected and at times challenging status as a role model for her students.

I think I am pretty normal as a person goes. I don’t have any amazing skills, haven’t any out-of-the-ordinary experiences (besides, perhaps, teaching in China) and my personality is, well, normal. Yet my students are very curious about me. To them, my life and everything about me is out-of-the-ordinary. That is, out of their ordinary. As the foreign teacher, I am a vision of another (probably better) life.

Mostly, they want to know about the United States. What is school like there? What do students do in their free time? Sometimes the question is simply: Is America great?

In Chinese, America is mei guo, which literally translates into “beautiful country.” To my students, everyone is rich and beautiful and happy in mei guo. Some students questioned why I would come to China. In their minds, it is silly to live here for a year when I already had the life most of them would only dream about.

Through my embodiment of their dream, I have also become something else: a role model. I have become a role model more for the ideals I embody than for who I am individually, but nonetheless I am one. I am not just an American, but the American. What I say and do becomes an example of what all Americans say and do. That means I must be very, very good in every way.

To be a role model at a high school in small-town China is to be watched carefully. During class, I notice their eyes wandering to the clothes I wear and the bag I carry. (“So fashion!”) When I walk down the cramped aisles, the students’ eyes are not on the blackboard or even on my face, but down at my feet to see what shoes I am wearing. (I have received two e-mails from two different students suggesting I wear more beautiful shoes. Apparently flats are not “so fashion” here.)

Looking good, or at least put-together, is a small problem. A bigger challenge is being good. By good I mean these traits: patient, friendly, warm, engaging, outgoing, fun, funny, generous and very smart, teacher-smart. Plus, I must be all of these things all of the time; in other words, I must be perfect.

I didn’t take on this responsibility of being a role model. It was thrust onto me when I stepped into the job. To be honest, perfection is a pain. I do the things I may not want to do but know I ought to. When I have talkative students in class who refuse to shut up, instead of throwing a broomstick against the wall as I would love to do, I calmly remind them of the class rules and consequences. When all I really want to do is switch into hermit mode and burrow myself in my apartment, I patiently stand in the hallways for a few minutes to talk to students between classes. In general, I talk more, smile more, laugh more. I am quite fun to be around.

So, I wonder, Can I actually become this better version of myself? Could this be a self-realizing prophecy? If others believe enough in this better version of me, could it become true?

The short answer is no. I can be that better version of me only sometimes and inevitably slip backwards at other times. But, I think, the point is not perfection. It's the wanting to get there that counts. I never thought about what it meant to be a better version of me, and then my students came along.

"Why Chile?" :: Meet Field Director Allyson

Allyson Caudill, WorldTeach's awesome Field Director in Chile, has had a tumultuous but thankfully safe first few weeks in-country and has recently welcomed a group of Chile Ministry Year volunteers (we still have placements remaining for our Chile Semester program, departing in July). Below, she shares with us a touching reflection on her experience in Chile in the aftermath of the earthquake, her love for her new home, and her transition from WorldTeach volunteer to WorldTeach field staff.

"In the beginning of time, God created the wonders of the world. When he was finished, however, he saw that he had many leftover pieces. He had parts of rivers and valleys, of oceans and lakes, of glaciers and deserts, of mountains and forests, and of meadows and hills. Rather than to let such beauty go to waste, God put them all together and cast them to the most remote corner of the earth. This is how Chile was born." –A Chilean Legend

Amidst the aftermath of the historic 8.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile just a few weeks ago, life continues to move forward. Aid has arrived to the most disaster-stricken areas, and here in Santiago, the last traces of the earthquake are beginning to disappear. Though no one will forget what occurred, if there is one distinct characteristic that all Chileans possess, it is that they protect their own. Eight days following the earthquake, the Chilean government held a telethon to raise money to rebuild homes in the most affected regions. In just 24 hours, Chile itself raised 29 million USD to help her people. In Santiago in the weeks following the quake, young Chilean boys stood at streetlights and offered to paint “Fuerza Chile!” (Strength Chile!) on car windows for a 50 peso donation. Volunteers stood outside grocery stores with carts asking customers to buy non-perishable food items and donate them to send South. Mounds of clothes were donated, packed, and sent south with the bomberos (firefighters). Chile is united with the passion, drive, and determination to progress even through the most crippling circumstances. ¡Adelante Chile!

If someone had tried to tell me I would live through such an event I would have called them loco! When I first told my friends and family that I had decided to move to Chile and teach English with WorldTeach the most common response was: Chile? Why Chile? That’s in South America, isn’t it? Is that the long skinny one? Why do you want to go there? And, honestly, at first, I had trouble answering that question. I mostly blamed it on wanting to learn Spanish and the fact that I had never been to South America before. But now, after many months spent teaching English in a small town in the south with a wacky host mom and 320 Michael Jackson-worshiping students, I have a list a mile long with answers to that difficult question. The real question is: Why NOT Chile?

Allyson with WorldTeach Chile's fearless volunteers

I have been here in Chile going on 9 months now, first as a volunteer, and now as Field Director. I returned home to the states for Christmas before deciding to return to Chile as part of the WorldTeach field staff. Why did I return? Who can resist dancing the Cueca at every turn, the besos, learning new Chilenismos everyday, the musical stylings of Ámerico and La Noche, always feeling out of place but at the same time right at home, and being a part of the ever-expanding WorldTeach Chile familia? I must say, moving from my little pueblito, Angol, where I taught, to the overwhelmingly big city that is Santiago has been the most drastic change, but I am Chilean at heart and want nothing more than to share this extraordinary, and sometimes ridiculous, experience that is Chile! From the Andes to the glaciers of Patagonia, there are echos of Chilean students screaming “AWESOME!” as they run down the halls. ¡Viva Chile!

Apply today to serve in Chile through our semester program, departing in July. Application deadline April 20th.