'Volunteering' in Chile isnt exclusive in any means.....to giving my time to one area, but also, i am asked to spread my knowledge over and beyond the limits of my school walls...just ask Nicole!
But usually i am quite good at dodging those unwanted questions that make me shiver and hide behind the nearest object..such as when i am asked by random people on the street: "Could you tutor me in English for free?"
However, when Marcela, my newly adopted aunt, invited me to make a school visit to Llico (pronounced geeko), I signed right up.
A group of students from Llico had performed in the debate competitions last month in Curico. Petra, Nicole and I were the judges at the competition. We ALL remember the students from Llico, because their speeches were amazing........ly incomprehensible. Their English was gibberish. I felt terrible about my quiet giggles...i was judge after all! And I wonder how my spanish sounds to so many Chileans!
So I was gun-ho about making this road trip to allow these students the opportunity to hear real spoken English. It was not their fault that their pronunciation was lousy. In rural areas, it is almost impossible to find english speakers to interact with and thus, english teachers lose their english or make catastrophic errors when it comes to pronunciation.
Warren, Emma, Caitlin (all other volunteers from Curico)and I with Marcela drove 2 hrs to reach this bucolic, beach side town, where we were soon welcomed as the visiting english-celebrity-teachers.
We had a nice but awkward day traveling from room to room to share our voices with the students. We were greeted very warmly. The debate team took us on a tour of the town, which lasted about 5 minutes because it was only one street, which dead-ended into a tranquil beach.
And in the afternoon, the students took us to Lago Vichuquen (a lake) on the other side of town. We walked down a hill on someone's beautifully cut garden full of exotic birds to reach the lake water. When we reached the water's edge, i had realized that I had left my swimsuit in the car. Though, a swimsuit isnt necessary when your clothes are drenched...
MARCELA! used her kind words and cute smile to persuade me to walk ankle deep with her into the water. Who would have known? that was when she would make her surprise attack...and dunk me under with all my clothes on! But we had a hellish battle afterwards, with all the Llico students silently watching the two crazies splashing as if they have never played with water before. ...and I somehow tempted the other two girl volunteers to get in!
...You are now probably thinking * "What exactly ARE you teaching these Chilean students, Cori?"....I'm sure i was shrieking in English when I was play fighting with Marcela.
So even though we sometimes look exploited, it never really seems that way. haha. There have been wonderful perks for being an english volunteer.
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