Destination TEFL: Southern Chile

Thanks to a nice fellow down in southern Chile, we have another destination TEFL article. This time we are focused on southern Chile. Thanks to a man who gives by the nickname Dayton, we have a great informational article on southern Chile, including the climate, the people, and most importantly a bit about TEFL in southern Chile.

Natural Factors (weather, landscape, etc.)

Rainy. In the 10th region, there are really only 2 or at best 3 months of the year that qualify as summer-esque. The rest of the time its a windy, rainy, and in wintertime cold (*beep* ball freezing cold in the 11th or 12th regions, but I´m a wuss from central California) So be ready for that. Especially if you are coming from the northern hemisphere, as I was, I thought a tad to lightly of taking 2 winters in a row… never a good idea, I would heartily recommend taking 2 summers in a row to ease the transition to a foreign country.

But when the sun comes out, its lovely. A very direct sun, you want to wear your sunscreen, but right now we´re springing into summer, and the verdant green pastures are sprouting wildflowers everywhere. Green pastures, sunny skies, green green green and blue blue blue, blue of ocean, blue of sky, and white capped volcanoes in the distance. Easy to get into the mountains, and there are some beautiful mountains to be explored, lakes to be gazed upon and swum in. Dec, Jan, Feb are key months. Thank god we’re there now.

People

Chileans are a nationalistic, proud people, yet live in a constant state of wishing they were more “desarollado” thinking that because it comes from the US, its better. I can understand, because the TV here shows pleasure and success on the same luxurious and excessive north american terms that I´m used to seeing in California´s inflated economy, but here in Chile we look around and still see a lot of shanty houses made of tin and scrap wood…

They all want to learn english, yet can be off-putting in their approach to gringos. I guess what i mean there is that they are not used to foreigners amongst them, even though the tourism industry is growing steadily. If you are tall and light haired (me) get ready for 100 stares a day. If you are black, or aisan, or have tattoos or piercings displayed, get ready for 100 stares a second.

Drinking is in high swing here, though the good beer costs mucho mucho, but good wine is more affordable, Food is reasonable, but I would not say Chilean Cuisine will ever become world class.
And if you think you know Spanish (I did) think again, Chileans speak a dialect all their own, full of idiom, slang and the like. I now joke that I´m tri-lingual (English, Spanish, and Chilean)
Like all South American countries, punctuality is not a translatable word or concept.

Teaching English

This only speaks to my teaching experience here in Chile, as I haven´t had any other experience teaching. I find these students to be varied, and have been working teaching business people in the salmon farming industry (THE industry in the south) But all are willing to learn, and if learning English was easy, you’d have lines out the door, down the street for miles. I haven’t really tried, but I suspect a proactive sort could develop a good list of private clients here in Chile, as native speakers are hard to come by outside of Santiago, and all professionals are seeing English as pretty much a necessity.

They are shy to produce the language, as a whole, and I’ve found that difficult to combat at times. Even in class, they will write a sentence perfectly, but be afraid of pronouncing it wrong, so they won’t try… odd. Practice makes…..?

You may email the author at daytoncrites@yahoo.com for more information.