TeachingChile

Bruce, I just want to thank you for all of your help with my transition to Chile. I think that you and your colleague, Andrea, go above and beyond for the teachers you bring to Chile. There is a big difference between people who care and those who don't. It is very evident that you really care about the schools which you work with and the teachers you recruit. I want to wish you and TeachingChile the best of luck in the future. I know that with the care and dedication you show, you will have no problem keeping this program a success. Also, if you ever need a reference for an incoming teacher, please feel free to contact me. I would gladly recommend this program to anyone who is interested.

I am so appreciative for the ease with which TeachingChile introduced me to this unique country. I was thinking recently how much more authentic and impactful my experience teaching real university students is compared to an Institute. Without all of your effort, this exchange would have been impossible. Thanks so much.

Thank you so much for bringing me to Chile. Your program is so wonderful and I never doubted the authenticity of the program. I always had complete confidence that I would be taken care of in the 'foreign land' from the very beginning. I have had a wonderful experience and could not have asked for a better method to get me here. I wish all the luck to TeachingChile and all of its future projects. It has been a pleasure, and thank you again.

Having had visited Chile on a previous trip, I had a great desire to return not simply as a traveller, but in a capacity that would allow me to learn about the people, culture and community - first hand. After exhaustive searches both online and via organisations, I came upon TeachingChile. Upon contacting TeachingChile I was instantly impressed with their professional, up front and honest manner. Once I made the decision to go with the organisation I was led through what can be a painful visa process with the utmost ease. From the first contact I made from home in Sydney to the last day of semester I felt secure in everything that TeachingChile provided for me. The position I was granted teaching in the south of Chile was perfect for me. Not only was I teaching middle class Chileans and experiencing everyday life, but I was also living alongside some of the world's most beautiful nature reserves, mountains, rivers, lakes and beaches. As a keen surfer and lover of the outdoors I found myself with very little to complain about. Apart from the water - it's pretty bloody cold.

I just returned from a semester teaching in Chile through TeachingChile, and I wanted to write to share what a positive experience it was for me. As a program, TeachingChile is rock solid. Bruce Thompson--who runs the program as a volunteer -- is professional, helpful, and extremely attentive to details, in addition to being a wonderful and caring person. I enjoyed working at DUOC because it gave me contact with 18-25 year old Chileans in a real school environment. The most rewarding part of the experience was getting to know my students in and out of the classroom. The biggest frustration for me was that my students, kind and hilarious though they were, were sometimes pretty unmotivated to learn English. A word about finances: I survived pretty well on my 300,000 peso monthly salary. My apartment was on the cheap side, 100,000, and I would spend less than 50,000 on food and transportation, so I would have 150,000 left over for going out, going on weekend trips, etc, and I only occasionally dipped into my savings. Overall, I had a great experience in Santiago, and I recommend TeachingChile highly.

I have just returned from Vina del Mar in Chile. I taught English at DUOC and my placement was organised by TeachingChile. TeachingChile participants received a training session for 10 days in Santiago before moving to the various sites. This provides a good opportunity to meet your fellow teachers and subsequently have a contact in many of Chile's cities. Once on site, all recruited teachers are treated comparably to local teachers. Local teachers are paid by the hour and the wages are low. I found the TeachingChile program flexible in terms of accommodation and on-going obligations. Bruce Thompson (the TeachingChile coordinator) was efficient and helpful. He organised my placement, visa and sorted out any issues I had with DUOC during my stay. The advantage of going through one of these organisations is the access to places like DUOC and the stamp of approval your application gets. It is difficult to get a student or work visa in Chile from abroad without an institution to sponsor you and for me this justified a good part of the fee. On a lighter note, the TeachingChile placement allowed me to travel from Vina to Ushuaia and back through Argentina in a beaten up old Nissan. We had a great group of 10 English teachers in the Vina/Valpo area and together with our Chilean friends it seemed like one long party in those colourful bars that hang on the hills overlooking the bay of Valparaiso.

Teaching English to high school students in Santiago was by far one of the most rewarding experiences of my lifetime thus far, and I could not be more grateful to have acquired this job post-graduation. The challenges and joys of teaching students a foreign language are incomparable to anything else. The TeachingChile program is incredibly well-organized due to the tremendous efforts of Bruce Thompson and Andrea Rodriguez. They were both so helpful and available before and during my time in Chile. I cannot thank them both enough for their personal attention and concern for every aspect of my stay, from getting around and living in Santiago, to planning weekend trips, to genuine moral support. Throughout my five months living 6000 miles away from home, never once did I feel like I didn't have someone available in the same city to ask questions about anything. I taught 5 days a week, but spent the weekends and national holidays experiencing the gorgeous country outside Santiago. One of the greatest experiences was piling in a little white rental car with an Aussie, a Brit, an American, and a tattered Lonely Planet book. Paving our own paths through 500 miles of Chilean countryside and coastline, we attempted the use of our sub-par Spanish, discovered many isolated parts of Chile, and immersed ourselves in Chilean culture for a very memorable holiday weekend. Teaching English is one of the best ways and reasons to travel, and I would highly recommend this program to anyone considering such an incredible opportunity!