What are you doing this weekend?

I have yet to blog about what teaching has been like. I envisioned this great blog post delving into the lives of these out of control and undisciplined Chileans who will probably never see anything outside of this small town or the insides of a mine. But the truth is this whole writing thing is actually quite difficult for me and I'd rather keep things short and hopefully entertaining. Maybe the deep, moving, and philosophical writings that this trip can easily inspire will materialize another day.

Anyway, I teach at a technical high school. The students come after grade school and the age range is 13 – 18. After two years students must decide between Industrial Engineering or Administration. Most boys chose Industrial Engineering and the girls Administration. We have three large classrooms for shop where students can be heard sawing, welding, and building things all day. Engineering students graduate and move on to apprenticeships at local mines. This is where they start the work cycle that my host-dad follows of seven for seven, or siete por siete as they call it. Families encourage this life choice as university is expensive and the time spent at university can be used earning money at a mine. Administration students learn different computer, writing, and communication skills and will graduate on to jobs at banks, offices, and government buildings through out the country.

This is one of the main reasons that the students are very difficult to teach. Their lives are seemingly decided the minute they enroll in Liceo Politecnico José Miguel Quiroz. So what’s the point of learning English? That is the attitude and environment that I have to deal with. On top of this, most fathers are away 7, 10, or 20 days at a time; and mothers baby their children their entire life. This is the culture of all of Chile, not just the north (it is common for children to live at home until they are married). They are not given responsibility because the mother does everything for them. All this is reflected at school.

Point is, teaching these little terremotos is not easy. However, it can be pretty fun and very funny at times. I will leave you with one of my favorite stories. The day was Thursday and I thought, how about I teach these them to ask about the weekend. What are you doing this weekend? I wrote the question on my dry-erase board and began the normal theater performance to try and get my students to understand. Rather quickly this time I had one student raise his hand very enthusiastically with that sinister Chilean teenage grin on his face. But, with his hand being the only one raised, I said what the hell, let’s hear what this payaso has to say. The following teacher-student dialogue proceeded:

Me: Yes Brayan, What - are - you - doing - this - weekend?
Brayan: (loud and clear) Puro sex profe, puro sex!!!! (arm and hip thrusting in chair)

I could not restrain myself and I lost it and laughed uncontrollably. The fact that he knew what I was asking along with the combination of the Spanish word puro (close to pure) and the English word sex (close to sexo) while he was thrusting his body like the hormone driven fool that he is was hilarious.

So that is what I am working with hear. Who knows what second semester has in store for me? I’ll find out in August when classes resume once again. For now, I am off to Peru.



Shop Classroom



The students are usually in uniforms, but this was the day of the Chile v. Switzerland game.