Forgetting how to spell

The last few days my fellow teacher friend A.and I (funny how in Chile I have 3 friends with first initial A) have been talking about our sudden inability to spell in English. We both taught Spanish before coming to Chile and have both been experiencing those moments of...Where am I? What language am I trying to speak? How do I write this word on the white board? I always considered myself to be a decent speller, as evidenced by my success in elementary school spelling bee competitions, of course.
I think these types of episodes normally occur when you are switching back and forth between two languages on a daily basis, but I just started noticing more space out moments where I literally write something on the board, stare at it for a few seconds, and know that it's wrong but don't know how to fix it. It's happening especially with words like "accustomed", where the Spanish equivalent is acostumbrado. The "o's"  and "u's" get all mixed up and then my students just laugh at me and ask if I'm sure I know how to speak English. Yesterday I was teaching a lesson about clothing to 3 very successful business people and I literally couldn't spell the word "pajamas". All I got was the "p" and just couldn't put my finger on what vowel came next! Slightly embarrassing but maybe I'll just take it as a good sign that I've been reading enough Spanish lately to even have this confusion occur.

Bad Weather Karma

If you look at the Weather Channel feed on my blog today and it says rain and 43 degrees Fahrenheit and you think, hmm, that's strange that it's as cold in Chile as it is in Chicago, um well, IT IS STRANGE!. I'm a little confused as to why the Chicago weather of 84 degrees one day and 40 the next had to follow me here. Ok, so I'm being a little dramatic, but this is the second extreme temperature swing that we've had in the last several weeks. When I wheeled my bike around the back to put under the covered patio on Saturday, it was blazing hot and sunny and Ita looked at me like I was crazy for even mentioning the word rain. In fact, I was joking with some friends last weekend that I was starting to get my Fahrenheit and Celsius confused since my Weather Channel feed for Chicago said 26 and it was 27 degrees Celsius here. I rubbed it in that while they were shopping for winter coats, I was sitting at an outdoor patio enjoying a beer. And that my friends, is bad weather karma.

Language Practice Ideas

Today I thought I'd share some general language learning tips. Yes, I speak Spanish, but I'm always working on improving my level of fluency. It's easy to hide out as an English teacher and miss out on the many opportunities that surround me to practice, and I realize that some days can pass and the only Spanish I spoke was to order food or have a brief conversation with one of the secretaries at the institute. I see some of my friends here really putting in such an effort to learn Spanish and it makes me realize how fortunate I am to have come here with such a strong base and it's up to me to really make an effort to further my own learning.

1. Listen
Turn on the TV or radio whenever possible. Become an eavesdropper. I don't have a lot of Spanish speaking friends here in Chile, but I spend a lot of time out in public and on the Metro without headphones on, just tuning in to other people's conversations. I also listen to the news in the morning while I get ready and watch Spanish programming whenever possible. Many of my current students have learned a ton of vocabulary just from watching the English programming that is available to them. Who doesn't enjoy some re-runs of Friends, Two and Half Men, or the New Adventures of Old Christine? To any of my students back home who might be reading this, practice your listening! Even just a few minutes each day really does help.

2. Read
Pick up any free reading material that is offered anywhere and give it a look. I read whatever free newspaper is handed to me on my longer Metro trips, and pick up random free magazines around town when I'm out and about. I also occasionally visit the "magazine man" who sells some of the magazine inserts from older newspapers for 100 or 200 pesos.

3. Find a conversation partner at your level
Here in Santiago there are expat groups and a Spanish/English Meet up group that meet on a weekly basis. Check out this website to find a group in your area. There are also individuals who are always looking for one on one practice. It's helpful to split the time and spend 20-30 minutes speaking one language and then switching to the other. It also helps if your second language abilities are similar so it's more of a conversation rather than a translation fest.

4. Use new vocabulary
I've learned a lot of random Spanish vocabulary from my current students and I've been recording it in my little notebook so I can refer back to it. In addition, I've shared some chilenismos with my colleagues back home. I really make an effort to repeat and reuse these words whenever possible to make them my own.

5. Get out of your comfort zone
Don't be too shy to ask a question or attempt to put a sentence together in your second language. If you're out in a situation where someone needs to approach someone and ask a question, be the one who makes the effort. If someone uses a word that you don't recognize, ask them to explain to you what it means. People are usually happy to meet you halfway if you make the effort.

6. Imitate pronunciation
Pronunciation is very important. I misunderstand my English students a lot since so many English words sound similar. (sheet, sheep, cheap, cheat...) My ears got really tuned into "gringo" Spanish pronunciation from years of working as a Spanish teacher, but now that I'm teaching my first language I realize how easy it is to misunderstand certain sounds.

7. Use the Internet
There are so many resources available online that offer anything from grammar practice activities to pod casts to online pen pals. Take advantage of whatever free resources you can find.

8. Keep a positive attitude
We are always our own worst critic when it comes to judging our language abilities! Keep practicing and soon you WILL notice an improvement!

New Hairdos

Making the transition from an incredibly humid climate to the opposite dry climate has had some disastrous effects on both my hair and skin. I seem to have figured out the skin issue, but my hair needs some serious help. I desperately need a haircut, but the thought of finding someone here to cut it has made me procrastinate even more. I'm also long overdue on highlights and think it's time to just go back to one color. I know that my brown hair isn't going to make me look much less gringa, but hopefully a reduction of chemicals will give it the extra hydration that it needs.
As suggested by some of the other bloggers and several friends here, I joined Groupon and have been receiving some fabulous offers via email. Fortunately, I just purchased a deal on a cut and color at a salon that seems to be rather reputable, so I'll be calling them sooner rather than later to get this hair situation under control. For those of you at home who aren't familiar with the website, check it out. You might find a great offer for a restaurant you've been wanting to try or just find an excuse to head into the city for a night.
It seems that Otto, the family dog, was also in need of his new summer hairdo. I stumbled upon this makeshift doggie salon when I came home from class today. I think his face tells the whole story!
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Long Weekends

One of the first pieces of information that I perused before arriving here in Chile was a calendar with a list of the public holidays. Some of the days are the same as my days off in the US, but others are new to me so I've had the opportunity to take advantage of days such as Dia del Profesor, which allowed me to sleep in on a Saturday, something I hadn't been able to for several months.
Several weeks ago while you folks at home were celebrating Columbus Day, we also celebrated a public holiday here that's is referred to as Dia de la Raza. This day in some Latin American countries might be seen as a counter to Columbus Day, but in talking to some of the Chilean teachers here they said that they prefer to think of it as neutrally as possible and just celebrate the discovery of the Americas.
For this long weekend I ventured about 6 hours north to La Serena, a popular vacation and beach area that sits adjacent to the beautiful Elqui Valley. I wanted to visit before the tourist season, and although it was very cloudy and a little cold, I managed to spend most of the trip seeing some of the clearest blue skies that I've even seen in my life. The skies here are so clear that this area is home to many international observatories, and although this time I didn't have the opportunity to to take a tour, just star-gazing and identifying constellations myself that I haven't seen for ages made the trip worthwhile.

Vicuna, one of the smaller towns that composes this valley is also the birthplace of the famous Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in literature. We had the chance to visit the tiny museum dedicated to her, and almost missed this opportunity since the time had changed the night before and we didn't realize it. The man kept telling us that the museum was closing at one o'clock, and I kept thinking that this was odd since it appeared to only be 11:45.

We also visited Pisco Mistral in Pisco Elqui, stopped in for a tour and tried some pisco, a liquor distilled from grapes, (you can see the vines pictured below) and most famously present here in Chile in a drink called pisco sours. Delicious!

I was so wiped out from that last long weekend that this time I decided to take the opposite approach and spend my long weekend for Dia de Todos Los Santos right here in Santiago. This Catholic holiday is celebrated on November 1st to honor all of the saints, both known and unknown and is marked by mass visits to the cemetaries. This morning I read in the publimetro newspaper that between Sunday and Monday about 700,000 people visited the Cementario General de Santiago. I asked some of my adults students this morning about how/if they celebrate and some said that they always go to the cemetary, others never do, and some usually go but didn't go yesterday since it was so hot.
I can attest to the heat yesterday, as I was out riding around on my bike quite a bit and at times felt a little light headed. It was a great weekend to get caught up on rest, read, spend some quiet time, and Skype since everyone else here at the house was away at the beach. I plan to relax as much as I can right now on the weekends since I'm working so much during the week and save up my travel time for the upcoming summer months!

Happy Halloween

We've had some fall weather here in Santiago just in time for Halloween on this side of the equator. A few days of cooler temps, a night of pouring down rain, and a couple of mornings in the 40's later, I was really feeling like I was celebrating this week of pumpkin carving and costume selecting with all of you at home. I've even been participating in spirit with some Granny Smith apples dipped in manjar, a pretty close caramel substitute that's even available in the "light" variety. It reminds me a lot of my former habit of dipping in the individual Marzetti's tubs. Yum.
The talk in the teacher's lounge this morning was all about the Halloween related activities that we were all doing with our students. Scary stories, quizzes on random Halloween knowledge, and just overall discussion about how/if they celebrate were some of the topics that came up. Many of my teenagers indicated that their celebrating was limited to the possibility of going to party where they might wear a mask, and all I have personally seen is an increase in candy and some masks from the Scream movies. Here's to you Courteney and David, and here are a few shots that I documented with my camera on my bike ride home.

Scream mask or notebook case anyone?

Happy Halloween everybody, I hope you're all enjoying your parties tonight and that all of the kids are dressed up in their best costumes yet!

Teaching Here 'n There, Part II

Today I'm fortunate enough to begin two new classes with students that I had already taught during the last session. I feel very lucky, first because I didn't wake-up with those first day jitters from having to walk into a classroom of people that you don't know, and second because these students requested to have me continue as their teacher into the next course. I think that the level of comfort that students feel in a classroom is really relevant in their learning process, and what I enjoy most about these two classes is how much the students like and respect one another. The group dynamic is positive and fun, and I am just lucky enough to have been assigned to them in the first place.

Teaching adults is something that I'd never done before, so it's been nice not only to have adult classes, but to also to have the experience of teaching classes away from a school or from the institute. For example, I just started teaching a new class of 3 students that meets in the corporate office of a business here in Santiago. One of the negatives that I had sometimes felt about teaching in a high school was the monotony. I envied my friends who had different schedules everyday or meetings that would take them out of the office. Although commuting at the height of the day isn't my favorite thing to do, the positive side is that it gets me out and about in my new city and puts me in contact with new adults in different occupations and job settings.

Another big difference to note is the amount of class time that I spend here with my teen students. At home I was teaching them for 50 minutes a day for 180 days. Here my teen classes only meet once a week for 3 hours for about 4 months. Although I started with them in mid-August, it seems like we really only got to know one another within the last several weeks. It's a lot more difficult to establish that rapport with kids that you only see one day a  week instead of 5. It's also very challenging to plan a lesson for that long of a time period. I was accustomed to doing at least 3 activities with my teenagers at home during a 50 minute time period, so having a successful 3 hour class here requires a really tight lesson plan with an even greater variety of activities. I've already become so used to teaching classes of 80-240 minutes that I think going back to the 50 minute schedule will seem way too short!