It was at the Chileno- Norteamericano binational institute in Santiago that Fulbright Scholar, Professor Alyse Schoenfield, gave her “Games Presentation” for their teachers of English at the Moneda Campus, last September. There were approximately ten participants and these are some of her impressions:: “It was an extremely successful, interactive, hands-on workshop, showing teachers how games could and should be employed in class to meet educational objectives while motivating and energizing  students of all ages. It was a fun-filled, win-win situation with activities for all involved.

The results of their evaluation form produced excellent responses with regard to the workshop’s content, materials, usefulness for the teacher, as well as the competence of the presenter and capacity to convey the message. The school is now going to ask the Ministry of Education if this same event can be given to teachers for credit in the future.”

Fulbright Scholar, Professor. Cathy Pohan (below), was posted at Pontificia Universidad Católica in Valparaiso. Her work focused on building capacity among university faculty in education and P-12 teachers, in order to strengthen the programs of initial teacher preparation at the university. “It is through stronger associations between schools and universities that we can improve the development of teachers, and the quality of education provided to P-12 students,” she explained.

Dr. Pohan is providing professional development workshops to school-based teachers throughout the region, assisting university-based faculty with curriculum development projects and with the development of a diploma course for teacher- mentors (those who work directly with teachers in formation). The photos here are of a professional development workshop with teachers at Jose Cortez Brown-Recreo in Viña del Mar. The title of this workshop was “Por qué los Estudiantes no Participan: Estrategias para Mejorar el Aprendizaje de Todos los Estudiantes.”

In yet another activity, Antonella D’Eramo, a Fulbright teacher had also a valuable experience as part of her Distinguished Award program in Chile. In her words: “I was invited to present at a Symposium on Cooperative Learning for 3rd, 4th, and 5th year university students training to be teachers of English as a Foreign language at Universidad Alberto Hurtado.  The symposium was hosted by the English Pedagogy department and there were about 100 students in attendance. In addition to my presentation, two other Chilean English teachers presented as well. We spoke about the benefits and parameters of implementing cooperative learning activities, as it is one of the students’ areas of interest and a methodology that is not commonly practiced here in Chile, yet.  Again, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here in Chile as a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher, thank you! “