TEFL Institute Partner Programs

TEFL Institute Partner Program: Chile Ministry of Education Open Doors Program

Teach English in Chile for the summer or for a school year.

TEFL Institute and the National Volunteer Center of the Chile Ministry of Education have partnered to offer an opportunity to teach in the public school system of Chile.  TEFL Institute offers a structured summer English teaching program. The program is geared to college students, recent college graduates and professionals who would like to spend the summer in Chile. In this program you will receive total immersion in the culture, language, and customs of the country. Students will complete their TEFL training course that prepares them to teach English abroad. Students will complete training in the areas of class lesson planning, classroom management, finding and ESL job abroad, and preparing to go abroad to live.   The Chile Ministry of Education also has volunteer positions available for college graduates starting in March through November.

 

You will work as a volunteer English instructor working mostly in the small villages and towns throughout Chile. Instructors can expect to teach English about 20 to 25 hours each week plus spend 10 to 15 hours on activities outside of the classroom. Each class period is about 90 minutes and there are 40 to 45 students in each class. Students may go abroad for the summer, six months or a full academic year. You must be a TEFL Institute student, graduate, or alum to participate in this program through TEFL Institute.

The Chile Ministry of Education provides all course graduates with:

• Experience that enhances their resume with real international work experience
• Opportunities to build their language and cultural skills through total immersion
• Save them thousands of dollars versus typical study abroad programs because their school employer would provide housing with a host family while the English Opens Doors Volunteer program would provide a program completion bonus of approximately US$170.
• Housing and meals while they live with a host family plus a small stipend to cover the cost of personal items outside of the home.
• An appeal to alumni who wanted to take a year or two to travel and experience a different culture before embarking on their career back in the United States or elsewhere after graduating

Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” In response to the increasing desire to help others, volunteers are turning to a number of international organizations that offer rewarding experiences abroad. Volunteering with the English Opens Doors (EOD) Program is unique because it gives you the opportunity to collaborate with the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Programme-Chile. By volunteering, you will join a team of native English speakers from around the globe and contribute to the important goal of improving English teaching and learning in public schools throughout Chile.

The EOD Volunteer Program offers you the opportunity to teach within the Chilean education system. You will learn to coordinate classes with your host English teacher and also teach independently by running your own classroom. By bringing your unique cultural experiences to Chile, you will increase your students’ interest in English and help them gain personal contact with people from other nations. Moreover, arriving as a volunteer for a reputable government program, you will have the credibility to make a lasting impact.

Recognizing that learning Spanish is often a primary motivation why volunteers choose Chile, the EOD Volunteer Program has developed an innovative e-blended Spanish course, the first of its kind in Chile, to provide you with program-long Spanish lessons. These lessons complement and reinforce the language-immersion experience afforded by daily communication in Spanish with your host family and community members. The host family stay will also allow you to engage in family activities, like asados (Chilean barbecues) and provide insight into local culture.

As a teacher in the public school and a member of a local family, you will play an important role in the community. With your own initiative, you can lead activities like a rugby team, cooking classes, a town cleanup or a radio station to motivate interest in English. Moreover, your language skills will allow you to more actively interact with the local community, meet new people and build lifelong friendships.

Being an EOD volunteer is a challenging task; however, throughout your stay in Chile, you will receive ongoing support designed to ease the transition to your new environment. In addition to providing a cultural orientation and teaching strategies training in Santiago with other volunteers, the EOD Program arranges your teaching placement, housing placement and Temporary Residence visa in Chile. The aforementioned support fosters rewarding experiences. As Aileen Horgan, a 2006 volunteer, describes her time in Chile, “I couldn’t have imagined all that I would receive from my students, host family, and other volunteers. They have opened my eyes and my heart to another culture and allowed me to share in their experiences that I will never forget.”

Program Highlights Include:

· Program reputation:The English Opens Doors Volunteer Program is run jointly by the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Programme-Chile.

· A complete package: you will have the chance to teach English, learn Spanish, live with a host family, gain insight into Chilean culture, and travel its breathtaking regions.

· Teaching placements in different regions of Chile: Volunteers are placed in all regions and in cities of varying sizes, ranging from the quaint snowy Patagonian town of Aysén to the bustling desert metropolis of Antofagasta.

· A support network:The English Opens Doors Program provides regional coordinators to ensure that assistance is available to any volunteers who require it.

· Opportunity: Leave an important mark in Chile and develop skills that will strengthen your ability to participate in a globalizing world: cross-cultural communication, leadership, flexibility, and knowledge of Spanish.

Learn Spanish

English Opens Doors Program volunteers participate in an innovative e-blended Spanish course designed for those with a basic-advanced level of Spanish. The course is the first of its kind in Chile and involves:

1) online lessons

2) teacher support via Moodle platform

Volunteers begin their online lessons before departing from their home country, allowing them to begin to build up or refresh their Spanish skills before arriving to Chile.

Throughout the length of their program, all volunteers continue with their online lessons, supported by internet tutorials. The tutorials are conducted by professionals who are specialized in teaching Spanish as a foreign language.

A Brief History of the English Opens Doors Volunteer Program

Realizing the significance of the ability to communicate in English in a globalizing world, the Chilean Ministry of Education took the initiative in 2003 to establish the English Opens Doors (EOD) Program, an innovative program devoted to improving English teaching and learning in public schools throughout Chile. One of the program’s main projects is the EOD Volunteer Program, which was founded in 2004 as a joint effort between the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Programme-Chile. Since its founding, the EOD Volunteer Program has facilitated Chilean students English language learning by giving them the chance to interact with a native speaker.

During 2004, the EOD Volunteer Program piloted a Full-Time Volunteer Program, designed for recent university graduates and/or professionals who desire to make a difference in the classroom and become involved in a school community through an immersion experience lasting several months. That same year, the Full-Time Program placed 15 volunteers in Antofagasta. In 2005, the Full-Time Volunteer Program placed a second group of 15 volunteers in Antofagasta.  Also in 2005, the EOD Volunteer Program launched a Part-Time VolunteerProgram, which was conducted in two urban regions, and with the goal ofproviding the 120 participating international university exchange students with theopportunity to assist in Chilean public schools.

The success of the pilot programs led to dramatic program expansion in the following years. In 2006, the Full-Time Volunteer Program expanded to seven regions and included sixty-two volunteers. In 2007, this number increased to 181 Full-Time Volunteers as the EOD Volunteer Program continued to partner with other recruiting organizations in order to bring volunteers to all regions of Chile. In 2006, the EOD Volunteer Program also piloted a Summer Volunteer Program with five volunteers from Utah State University and, due to its success, expanded the program to almost fifty participants in 2007. Recently, this program has gained more momentum with the addition of an academic credit option through a partnership with Montana State University. The Part-Time Volunteer Program has also enjoyed sustained growth, with 287 exchange students participating in 2007.

Since its founding, the EOD Volunteer Program has brought more than 800 volunteers to public schools throughout Chile. The importance of this Program in contributing to Chile’s future is evident from strong governmental backing from both the Ministry of Education and President Michelle Bachelet, who supports the EOD Volunteer Program through her Presidential Initiatives. Thanks to this support, the Program plans to confidently move forward and ambitiously expand in the upcoming years.