Teaching in Temuco

To start with, the orientation in Santiago was really fantastic. I didn't expect to really learn a lot during a single week's orientation but it exceeded my expectations and did genuinely prepare me for my teaching experience in Chile. I'd done a 120-hour TEFL course in the past and this orientation left me feeling much more prepared for EFL teaching than the course did (maybe that's a bad sign about the course I took though!).

I was assigned to teach in a public school in Temuco in La Araucanía region for 3 months and lived with a warm and welcoming Chilean family. Since I didn't find a lot of information about living in Temuco before arriving and in case someone is heading that way, it's quite a useful place to live in (big enough for all the stores/cafes/bars you'll need) but not particularly exciting! The nice thing about living in the south though is that you're never far from a beautiful national park or the coast. As for the teaching, I found that I had all of the preparation and materials that I needed and I really enjoyed working with and getting to know my students. Sometimes it's frustrating working with Chilean schools since they can be very poorly organized and plans change at very short notice, but when I was actually in my classroom teaching I enjoyed it much more than I expected. Again with living with a host family, there are times when the adjustment is difficult/frustrating but that's also part of the fun and what you should expect from living with a family in another country. One of the great things about this program is that you're really immersed in Chilean culture and you have no choice but to really improve your Spanish (I had friends who went there with no Spanish and they did fine as well, don't worry).

Overall, there definitely are difficulties associated with living and working in Chile but the EDOP offered consistently good support and advice throughout the program. I was also placed in a school where I felt like I made a difference and I formed really strong relationships with my Chilean host-family and students.