From application to end of service, great program

The EODP program was everything I was looking for in a volunteer experience. They gave a stipend, provided a host family, and even provided travel health insurance and the visa. I hoped to get some practice in on my Spanish skills and do what I love -- teaching EFL -- at the same time.

My host family situation was ideal. They didn't live far from the school, the host mom was a retired teacher from the school I was working in and she also happened to be an excellent cook. She had children my age, which was helpful for making acquaintances.

My (2) fellow English Teachers were welcoming and helpful. I plan on being in contact with them far into the future. With my head teacher, were both teachaholics and spent a lot of time planning activities and lessons for our classes. Both of the English Teachers were a big help in the beginning when I wasn't so confident in Spanish and we helped eachother with our language learning endeavors.

I was in a public school in a fairly urban environment. Many of my students came from vulnerable backgrounds. They had single parent homes, problems with abuse or neglect, alcoholism or drug addiction in their family, and I had many students who were either parents or who were expecting, many of them also got their main meal everyday from the school cafeteria. They had various behaviour problems because their home lives weren't the easiest. On top of this the Chilean classroom can best be described as...chaotic. Cellphones, tablets, headphones and side conversations are normal fare.

Even so, my students were my favorite people. I spent all day with them in the classroom. I saw them in the halls and sometimes saw them in town. They played tricks on me, they made me laugh, the majority of them gave English a try in my classroom and we had a good time. I had very few problems with behavior, the majority of the problems were in the beginning when students test their new teacher.

If you are interested in Teaching EFL, working with teenagers (particularly teens with difficult home lives), becoming part of a community and discovering a different culture, this program could be for you!