English +

Stereotypical sopaipilla haircut of flaites.
We've discussed flaites to question the stereotypes.

I would like my students to walk away from our semester together not only with a better knowledge of English, but also as more open-minded, conscientious, and empowered human beings. As I strongly believe that the images we are exposed to can affect our attitude and sense of self-worth, I try to promote diversity and confidence through the ones I use. For example, I avoid using photos of women with heavy make up or of model-like people. Since I have not seen any Asians and only a few black people in Osorno, I choose images with racial and ethnic diversity. I regularly show them videos and photos of Nepali culture to expose them to countries beyond the Latin American and English-speaking worlds.

To get their minds working harder, I showed one of my classes, for a lesson on traveling, a video of an Amazonian tribe that had never been exposed to the world outside their own. I explained to them that the speaker in the video feared that logging around that area would lead to environmental destruction and the wiping away of the isolated tribe. We then discussed, in simple and broken English, if we should make contact with these people. I was impressed with the teenagers' ability to consider the situation from various perspectives. 

The swastika used as decoration for a Hindu wedding.

While many of my kids are open to thinking critically about the world, I sometimes have to nudge them in the more tolerant and sensitive direction. When a student calls his or her fellow classmate gay I tell the students that there is nothing wrong with being gay and that I have plenty of gay friends. Another issue that I hope to have effectively dealt with by the time I leave is the swastika in reference to Nazism. When I first saw it drawn on a whiteboard in school, I approached my host teacher about it. He told me that while the kids knew about World War II, they may not have understood the extent to which people suffered under the Nazi regime and the twisted usage of the Swastika (an auspicious Hindu symbol, as well as other peaceful symbols in other religions). I am planning to integrate the concept of religious tolerance and cultural diversity and information about the holocaust into a lesson or two.

In the meantime, I have been addressing the issue as it comes up, such as when a student jokingly wrote the word ''Nazi'' as one of the words for a game of Bingo. I've been wary of this class since seeing the swastika drawn on the whiteboard of its homeroom. I paused the class and tried to have a discussion about WWII with the students. They thought it was irrelevant to them because Jews, people they probably never come across, were murdered. I told them that other people died as well, but giving examples of such people on the spot wasn't easy. For example, to kids who say that being gay is gross, the torture and murder of homosexuals may not be something that hits home to them. Last week, some of the students from this class requested to watch a movie in class. Perfect. I am going to show them a movie about the holocaust or videos on how the Nazi regime tried to obliterate not just Jews, but also other groups of people, people my students could potentially relate to.

Another time, I approached a middle school student when I saw a swastika drawn in his notebook, hoping that he didn't understand what the sign meant. But when he told me he knew about WWII and the holocaust, I called for all of my students' attention. I explained to them that the swastika was not a sign they should draw because its usage led to the murder of more than 6 million people. I wrote out the number so that they understood just how many people were killed—numbers in English are hard for the kids to get. I explained to them that different kinds of people were killed, lest they thought only Jews were and therefore the holocaust was irrelevant to them. To drive the point home, I told them that people like them were killed too just because they weren't German. This point caused some tension between the students because a reference to Germany and Germans is tricky in Chile. Germans to my children meant those of German heritage living in their own city. They accused the ancestors of one such student of participating in the holocaust. She defended herself, saying that her family had told her about the genocide and that it hadn't supported the Nazis. But they continued attacking her. Because the students' conversation was in rapid Spanish, it took me a minute to clearly understand what was happening. I then stepped in and explained that the holocaust happened in Germany, not in Chile, and if the girl said her family was not involved in it, we had to believe her. Looks like I have a lot more explaining to do than I thought.

Apple strudel made by my host father.

The German population here isn't linked with World War II as far as I can tell. The biggest wave of immigrants came beforehand, from the 1850s to the early 1900s. One conspiracy theory is that Adolf Hitler escaped to and lived in Chile. I'm not sure how many people actually believe that one. Since things on the political and historical front are a bit fuzzy for me, I'll focus on what I do know about German ancestry here: pastries. There are a lot of pastries to be had, such as berlins and strudels. My host father's side of the family is of German heritage, and he, as well as my mom and sister, makes the most amazing apple strudel. Like, I'm obsessed. I dream about it. I await with anticipation the day I can have it again. It's so good it's even made a name for itself at my school, where my mom works and my sister studies. Other German influences include schools. There are German schools scattered throughout southern Chile. I don't know if anyone speaks German except for those who attend or attended German schools. My host father and his side of the family can—hence the family singing Happy Birthday in German for all birthdays in the family. My host father and his family have told me that when they want to translate a word for me in English from Spanish, they first think about the word in German to figure out how to say it in English. Maybe I'll learn German on the side. Maybe.