Program Reviews

This program was a wonderful experience! I was placed in the Los Lagos region of Chile, which is in the South and what I listed as my first preference on the application. My host family was wonderful. They were some of the most kind people I've ever met and very welcoming.

The teachers I worked with were nice and the school I was placed at had great kids. It's a unique, challenging and fun experience overall. It won't all be easy and there will be times where you feel a little lost or lonely, but if you keep working at it and expect the unexpected, you will have a good experience.

Orientation: As someone without a teaching background, the program had very useful examples of teaching techniques and gave us a day to plan a lesson. I definitely used the ideas from orientation in my day to day teaching.

Be prepared to jump right into the program at orientation. This isn't a study abroad program, it's a job with the benefit of being in Chile and experiencing a whole new way of living. I think the program tries to make that clear at orientation. As with most orientations, there is a lot of administrative talk that repeats what you will read in the informational packets you must read before coming to Chile. I can definitely see why it's necessary for the program to repeat key points, to make sure everyone is on the same page.

You won't find out your exact location until right before you leave, on the last day of orientation. This is not a joke, you really won't know until right before you leave. It will be noon on the day you are supposed to leave and you will still need to find out where you are going. If you go in expecting this, you will be okay. In the online materials for the program, they state that you will find out your placement during orientation in Santiago, what they really mean is you should expect to find out your placement almost right before placing you on a bus or plane to go to your placement, at the end of orientation.

Packing: It was extremely hard to pack for this given the uncertainty of locations. When in doubt, bring layers. I found that Chile has a ton of re-sale shops with American style clothing so don't worry too much about it and leave a little cash aside to buy clothes appropriate to the location when you arrive. There are a few clothing items I definitely would have brought with me if I knew my exact location but I figured it out.

One key to remember is that Chile does not have central heating, it will be cold if you are in a southern region. It's completely normal, and expected, to wear a winter jacket indoors during the school day. If you preference a southern region, bring a comfortable winter jacket and rain coat to wear all the time.

Cell Phones: I think the program requires you to get a cell phone before you go to your placement. BUT, this did not work out well for me since my phone barely worked in the city I ended up in. Much like the USA, Chile has a few different major phone carriers and their service varies greatly depending on location. If possible, wait to buy a phone until you get to your placement or just get the cheapest one possible with the least minutes you can to start.

Program Staff: I loved my regional coordinators. They were really amazing and helpful. I think they really cared about what they do and want to make sure the volunteers are doing well. Definitely reach out right away if you have any questions or problems. If you have a major issue and can't get help from your regional coordinator, reach out to the Santiago staff because they want to help too. The key is not to let any problems fester too long before reaching out for help. I knew of some people who left the program early and it seemed like a lot of it had to do with host family issues. It is definitely important that you have a decent host family and safe/livable place to stay. You can't expect any perfection from your experience, but, reach out to staff if you have any issues, they might be able to make your situation better.

Host family: My host family was really sweet and amazing. My host mom made wonderful food and I bought a few things to eat I personally liked on my own each week. Be prepared to eat lots of bread, butter, and potatoes and supplement your own food if you have picky preferences.

I felt really lucky because my host family had a beautiful house, with an ocean view, in a nice neighborhood, with wifi, cable and a dryer! At the same time, like almost all Chilean houses, the only heating was through the fire place/stove thing and it was very cold at night and when it stormed the fire would go out. I learned to sleep with 5 thick blankets and my coat on when I needed to.

I ate lunch with my host family every day since it was a short walk from school. They only spoke Spanish and living with them was the main way I improved my Spanish during my time there. It took a lot of adjusting to get used to the Chilean accent and trying to communicate all the time in Spanish. My host family was very understanding with my bad American accent and tried really well to include me in their lives.

School: I was placed in a semi-private school and my students were very nice and fun to see every day.

Most of the kids weren't super interested in English but I think they thought I was kind of entertaining as the strange foreign girl who tries to make them play games and speak in English. My 5th grade class was a challenge because they were literally jumping around the whole time and trying to hit each other with various objects. I tried to integrate really active English games to use the energy they had but I couldn't quite figure out how best to work with that one group.

I had the opportunity to coach the English Debate team for competitions and I made a great connection with those students. While one of the keys to enjoying this program is being "open minded" and "flexible", it's also important to hold on to the qualities that work for you. In the case of coaching the debate team, I really had to push (in a polite, professional way) to get time to work with my debate team. The kids had "free" periods when theoretically they could work on the English Debate, but, the school and students put a big priority on events and other activities and would usually assume the kids didn't need much time to prepare for the debate. I ended up working out times for my debate team to practice and we went on to win the regional competition. My kids had a great time and loved the debates and my school was very happy, after we started winning. I guess knowing the difference between being "flexible" and a push-over is important in this, as in any, experience.

I would definitely start any review of my time in Chile by saying that I had a FANTASTIC time!! I was placed in Los Andes, which about an hour North of Santiago. I found the experience to be the most incredible, life-changing thing I have ever done, no matter how corny that sounds, and although it was certainly a challenge, I will be forever glad that I embarked on it. I feel I have made friends and connections on the other side of the world that I will treasure forever.

One important thing I will say is this: every volunteer experience on this programme is different. There are so many factors that can affect your time in Chile (the school, co-teacher, family, location etc). I think that most people might have a mix of positive and negative elements, for example a good time in school and not such a great family time, or vice-versa. No one I knew had a really terrible time. I had an overall very positive experience, so I guess I was lucky.

The main thing I would therefore say about the programme is that you have to be flexible and go in with an open mind!! It really isn't for closed minded or fussy people!! I met some people on orientation week who were nervous because they were worried about living with a host family - they shouldn't have been doing the programme if those were their fears. A lot of the reviews point out that you often don't find out your placement city until a few days before you leave to go there - true, but if you are chilled and happy to go with the flow, there really isn't any genuine problem with this!! I didn't know ANYTHING about my family or my town on the day I left Santiago. I was dead nervous, but ready to head off into what I saw as the biggest adventure of my life.

My town was very quiet. There was not a huge amount to do, and as I am from London, I initially found this very hard. But by the end of it I really had fallen in love, and had learned to see the beauty of where I was (right in the foothills of the Andes). I had a few weekends where I could travel and see other more touristy parts of the country. I also threw myself into town life and took up Arab Dance classes in the local community centre. I made friends with some of the teachers from school and we did quite a lot together on the weekends. I hadn't come to Chile to party and go out all the time - obviously that helped to make me feel at home, but I didn't need it in order to make my time there better.

My family life was also very quiet, as it was just one couple and the husband worked and studied in Santiago so he wasn't around much during the week. I come from a big, loud family so initially also found this hard, but by the end we had definitely made our own special bond, and we are still in email contact (if fairly irregularly!)

I would say that it is important to have a decent level of Spanish before you come out - it's not very suitable for beginners to be living with a family, as you have to have the basics before you can start speaking conversationally. I had a pretty good level and found that it enabled me to have much deeper and more meaningful relationships with the people I met - I also learnt a huge amount and improved massively as immersion really is the best way to learn another language!

My school was good so I was lucky, and my kids were amazing. Leaving was very hard and I am still in touch with many of them. I was supported and looked after by my co-teacher, who was incredible, and will be a good friend of mine for life.

I met so many other volunteers as well, many of whom I still see and keep in contact with. The beauty of the programme, which makes it fairly unique, is that you are part of a huge network of contacts and volunteers throughout the length and breadth of the country. We had a facebook group and every weekend people would post their travel plans and ask if there was anyone placed in their destination city, or if anyone wanted to travel with them. I went to San Pedro de Atacama with a group of about 8 other volunteers, all of who I had met in orientation, and I had another volunteer who I had met in the winter camp stay with me and my family for the weekend. You do feel like there are plenty of others to contact for advice, tips, or even just travel recommendations.

Chile is a beautiful country with beautiful people. I would recommend the English Opens Doors Programme, although only to someone I knew with an easy going and open minded nature, as I am aware that I had a slightly atypically positive experience. For me it was a very powerful thing to move to another country and immerse myself in another country, and sometimes by being pushed and thrown out of your comfort zone, that is how you learn most about yourself.

The most important thing to know is that the program is a gamble. For me, it was an amazing experience and for most of the people I know, it was positive overall. However, there are the odd horror stories. Given the nature of the schools you are teaching in, kids,teachers, etc. can be extremely difficult.

If one of your main goals is to learn Spanish, then EOD ticks the box. There's an online Spanish course that you can do as part of the program. But much more helpful than this is the fact that you live with a Chilean family, so you will definitely be speaking Spanish every day. Having said that, if you don't know any Spanish, you will be pretty lost for the first couple of months and will have no idea what people are trying to say to you (Chileans speak particularly difficult Spanish).

I had a really cool host family. They were really sweet, made great food, introduced me to their friends and generally I loved hanging out with them. But I can imagine that it could be a intense living with a family that you don't get on with - basically like having parents you hate.

Undoubtedly the best part of this program will be your students. Most of the lessons these kids have a ridiculously boring and basically rote learning. So they love the fact that they can have a fun lesson with games, music, etc. Obviously there will be some kids who couldn't care less and a few who will try to disrupt your lessons. But it's incredibly rewarding when you get through to some of them. There should be low expectations on the degree to which you can improve their standard of English given the time constraints but making any kind of impact is great. You can make much more of a difference with kids who are keen to learn and participate in Public Speaking and Debate competitions.

Finally, choose wisely when you opt for location preferences and prepare to be very adaptable. Chile is geographically very diverse. The South gets freezing in the winter, whereas the North is a desert and obviously your experience will be very different depending on whether you're placed in a tiny, rural village or in Santiago.

Overall, as I said, being an EOD volunteer a risk, but chances are you won't regret doing it.

My experience with English Opens Doors (EOD) has been great. I jumped at the opportunity to come here and I didn't do much research about the country before hand, and upon arrival I heard quite a few negative stories, which began to worry me a bit.

However, having experienced it myself now, I couldn't be happier. The training we received in Santiago, gave me the confidence and tools I needed to teach. My regional representative always responds to my E-mails within a day or two (as well as the National Volunteer Center). My host family situation, is better than ideal; I feel very safe and comfortable, we couldn't be more different in the types of things that we like to do and eat but we get on very well and I really enjoy their company. The school I volunteer at is great. The teacher, staff and students are all very welcoming; they always greet me and make sure I feel comfortable. The students enjoy learning English and are very attentive!

Personally I had a pretty good experience with the EOD program. My host mother was a warm person, great cook and provided me with everything I needed. She introduced me to her family and friends and made me feel welcome. I should say she didn't have internet though. But, there were internet cafes in my town and my school had internet.

I taught in a public elementary school, 5th - 8th grade. I've never taught before and had very little training. The program provides you with 1 week of training before you head out to your school. Needless to say this part was a challenge for me. Chilean students are known for being difficult to manage in class and my kids could be pretty disrespectful at times. English is not a subject that is focused on heavily in public schools. Example: my students would have 6 hrs each of math and language a week but only 2 hrs of English. It could be hard to motivate them. Definitely be firm at first. I made the mistake of trying to friend them right away and it was tough to regain control of the class many times. That said, they could be lots of fun, they're kids afterall. They're very competitive and love playing games. Bring stickers, they love them. Maybe buy some candy from time to time as well, they love that stuff. The kids were very warm and affectionate. In some ways they'll treat you like a celebrity. Always asking you questions and coming up to say hi and give you a hug. I will miss them. Just lower your expectations of what they will learn with you.

Overall, I had a pretty good experience. I heard about some volunteers who had host families that would take them out traveling and give them the family car to drive and others who had host families that wouldn't even feed them. Some volunteers taught in nice private schools where students knew a good amount of English and were more disciplined and others taught public schools in rough areas where the police would show up on a regular basis. I always got paid on time, but others didn't. Note: Save up some money before you come down, don't depend on the program money.

Because this program is a gamble I would not recommend it to a friend. I'd feel terrible if a buddy of mine didn't get fed and wasn't appreciated at his school. However, from all the volunteers I talked to, I'd say at least 60% had a solid experience. Most volunteers had a decent host family and decent situation in school. Maybe 20% had it real rough, but even then not all of them quit the program.

I should begin by saying that I was one of the lucky volunteers who ended up with a great host family, a nice house, and a decent school. However, the program was so, so disorganized, and I heard so many horror stories from friends in the program, that I don't know that I could recommend it to anyone.

A few examples of the disorganization of the program that I experienced.
- They don't tell you what city you're going to until the middle of orientation week in Santiago.

- My host family didn't know I was coming until the day before I arrived. I didn't know anything about them until I met them at the airport. Luckily, they were great, but many volunteers did not have a good experience.

- My first co-teacher was not prepared for me and did not communicate with me. This seemed to be common among the volunteer I knew. He often threw me in front of the class without warning or preparation and sat in the back of the class making noise and contributing to the mayhem in the classroom. I was able to switch to a second co-teacher who was much more organized, welcomed my help, and from then on, I enjoyed my time in the school.

- The 60.000/month is almost nothing, and generally arrives at random times. If you want to go out, buy anything, travel, or do anything extra, this will not get you very far. If you are placed in the northern part of the country, there's really nothing nearby, so traveling involves a long bus ride or a flight. Be prepared with a lot of savings if you want to be able to fully enjoy your time. Also, with all the disorganizaton, the potential issues, having to insert yourself in a school, etc., they really should be paying you more.

I decided to leave the program early because I wanted to work and earn some money. The office in Santiago did not respond positively to this news.

If you're really brave, super flexible, have a lot of savings, good luck and a back-up plan, this program might be a good way to try living in Chile. But, I'd recommend starting with the shortest volunteer service and extending if you're having a good experience. Be prepared to face a lot of challenges!

I found EOD through Teach Away Incorporated, who support a variety of different volunteer teaching programs abroad.

I did unfortunately get the short end of the stick
as far as the program goes. I'm going to be completely honest (don't be scared): the program is unorganized and very slow with getting things done (example: each volunteer is supposed to be given a box of school supplies; this box is sent from the main office in Santiago to wherever the volunteers are-- as they told us in our orientation week, it is not uncommon for a volunteer to receive the box with a week left of teaching or not receive it at all). Though in theory I think the program is a great idea, there is a lot of miscommunication and still a lot of issues to work out.

Each city or pueblo a volunteer is placed in has a regional representative-- someone who is your direct contact person and is sort of your middle man with the office in Santiago. The regional representative is in charge of checking out potential host families for suitability. As far as I can tell, there is no standard the houses or the families are held to. Of course no one is expecting a mansion or anything, but in my opinion, there needs to be a standard of cleanliness. I'm no stranger to South American travel, however, this program works directly with unpaid gringos who are here voluntarily... they should place them with the thought in mind that they are indeed here voluntarily and don't have to put up with ridiculousness; the house I was placed in was overrun with cockroaches. I kid you not, I had roaches crawl over my hand while I used my laptop, I had roaches fall on me when I opened doors in the house, they were in my room, they were in my food. I let my regional rep know about this and she delayed for 2 months finding me a replacement family, all the while blaming the delay on the office in Santiago (which I know from the experiences of other volunteers in my region was not the actual reason for the delay-- this woman hung onto some of the other volunteers' passports for 2 months while "helping" them process their visas. When the volunteers emailed Santiago to ask them why it was taking so long, they were informed that the passports had never arrived in Santiago... they'd been sitting on the regional rep's desk the entire time.). Ultimately, she didn't even find me a new host family and I ended up moving in with a teacher who worked at my school.

And this segues into another sore subject: the school. I don't know who exactly is in charge of explaining the goals and teaching model of the program to the school-- the regional rep or the program itself? Either way, my school never fully understood the aim of the program, so needless to say, they didn't really understand my purpose either... no matter how many times I explained it to them and showed them excerpts from the program manual. I spent a lot of time sitting around feeling completely useless and frustrated. I stuck it out for
as long as I could because I loved the kids so much but ultimately I was sacrificing my sanity, dignity, etc. etc. and had to leave the program. I remained in Chile and found paid teaching work elsewhere so I did ride out my stay there as planned, just not with the program.

Now, I'm not trying to be super intense or bitter or anything (believe it or not, this the condensed version of my rant), because, hey, I got to be in Chile, and that's awesome. I know some other volunteers who had
problems like mine, or different but still enough to make them leave the program (I had a friend who arrived at his host family's house and they decided they didn't want to host anymore. The program set him up in a boarding house filled with Chilean sailors and he didn't have a lock on his door). On the other hand, I have friends who had a completely different experience-- wonderful host families, competent and enthusiastic co-teachers, the works, really. One of the former volunteers in my region even went on to work for the main office in Santiago.

In closing, this program is a complete gamble, personally one I would not recommend. I'm sure you can find a similar program that maybe has been around for a bit longer and has some more of its kinks worked out.

This can be a wonderful experience, as it was for me, however, it is imperative to keep in mind that it is not this way for every program volunteer. There are a number of uncontrollable variables that heavily influence the participant's experience with the program. I.e: host family, co-teacher, school, location and regional representative. Essentially, the bulk of one's experience lies on the cards one is dealt.
I can, however, say that an open mind, patience, positive attitude, and not asking too many questions will greatly improve the participant's time in Chile. Chile is an incredible country; it is physically stunning, culturally interesting, and the people are warm and welcoming. This was no doubt a life-changing and positive experience for me, and I know many others who are choosing to continue their lives in Chile past the program. I would recommend this program to someone who is very flexible, doesn't mind feeling confused or frustrated, likes learning a new language (Chilean is its own dialect of sorts), has a go-with-the-flow attitude and is up for a challenge.

From the people I have spoken to, the program has had mixed reviews and volunteers have had diverse experiences. A friend came up with the "two out of three" rule, that for most of us two out of three of the elements (the homes situation, the school situation and the town or city we lived in) we were enjoying. For me, it was my home (my host mum was amazing) and my school (elementary school kids are hilarious and so fun) but my town is super boring. Which brings my on to my first piece of advice, unless you are really, honestly not bothere about where you end up, choose carefully where you want to go (North/South, rural/urban). Not everyone got what they wanted, but most did, and remember 6 months is a long time to be living somewhere you dont want to be.

Take the program say they offer you with a pinch of salt, I never received a carnet or a visa for a year. It depends on your region. From what I've heard by and large the regional representatives leave a lot to be desired. Ours wasnt great, she rarely responded to our emails and misinformed another volunteer about a visa which lead to some problems.

Remember that this program isnt easy, and the teachers have jumped through a lot of hoops for you to be there and when a volunteer drops out, it does put out the school quite a bit. If you are not serious about it, its better not to do it.

Overall I had a positive experience of the program, it is extremely rewarding and a great opportunity to get hands on experience teaching.

The most important thing that I can say about this program is that *everything* varies. The program works with schools all over the country. You can be surrounded by snow or desert, working in a poor or well-off school, in a tiny country town or a huge metropolitan city. That being said, I had a fantastic experience and really wish I could have stayed longer.

I love my students. I love my host teachers. I love being a teacher. My Spanish has improved in leaps and bounds. I willingly work many more hours than I am required to simply because I hate seeing the looks on kids' faces when the teachers would tell them that one sixth grade class would get to work with me and the other wouldn't (or the elementary school kids looking defeated since the program officially works with older students). The enthusiasm of the kids for having a gringo/a in their school is unbelievable, and if you put the time and energy into creating fun lessons, the kids will love you back times a hundred. Considering that a normal class size here is 45 students, that is a lot of love. I can't walk into the elementary school building without being mobbed by kids :)

It is important to remember that this is a volunteer program so you will not make money, but all of your needs are taken care of when it comes to housing and food, and the bonus covers any other basics. So, you basically get to live in a foreign country for a couple of months for the cost of flight tickets, which is pretty cool. There is plenty of time to travel if you are adventurous, and oftentimes your host family or host teachers will make a point to bring you to local tourist attractions. We have found that there are some differences as to how the visas are processed in different regions, but most are good for a year so you could decide to stay and travel or find a job at a private English school.

The most important warning I can give, however, is that you have to come to TEACH. If you come thinking that you will try it out and use it only as an opportunity to travel, you very well may not survive the experience. On the other hand, if you have a passion for children, it is a fantastic life experience to add to your repertoire.