Author Archives: nnoa

Patagonia

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One of my greatest adventures while I was in Chile, was my trip down to the very tip of Patagonia. A friend and I flew all the way down to Punta Arenas, and then took a three hour bus ride to Puerta Natales where we had booked a hostel. When we got off our bus and we found ourselves in a tiny town in the middle of no where. It was freezing and windy and we had absolutely no idea where we were going. The woman inside the tiny bus terminal explained in very fast Spanish where we had to walk to find our hostel and then we were off! After wandering around aimlessly for about 45 minutes we finally found it. Continue reading →

Spanish and Education

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If you are studying Spanish and are also interested in pursuing a career in education there are a few different paths you can take. One of which is teaching Spanish at the middle or high school levels. However, what has begun to interest me is dual language education. After coming back from being abroad my language skills have been greatly improved and I was much more comfortable speaking Spanish with teachers and peers. With this new found language confidence I began to think about my passion for teaching from a foreign language stand point. There is a school in Holyoke called the Metcalf school and they are beginning to implement Spanish dual language programs. I am currently working with a dual language first grade class, and it has been an absolutely incredible experience. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how a program such as this one works, children receive more or less the same instruction in both languages each day, but in separate classrooms. Continue reading →

Santiago, Chile

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I’m not sure if it is possible to sum up; the incredible experience I had, the friends I made and culture I came to love, in one blog post. However; I’m going to share a little bit of my experience with all of you. I spent fall 2014 in Santiago, Chile living with a beautiful and amazing chilean family. This is the first thing I want to talk to you about is my living situation. I lived in a little apartment in Santiago with my host mom, dad and two sister who are ten and fifteen years old. These are kind, generous, loving people who included me in all aspects of their lives (and honestly those words alone do not do them justice).

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Getting Ready to Go

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I transferred into Umass this fall as a sophomore, as an early childhood education major with spanish as my secondary major. When I decided that early childhood was’t the best fit for me, spanish was pushed up to my primary major. I have always like spanish, and I fell in love with the idea of being able to to one day speak another language fluently however, learning spanish has never been something that comes easily to me. For as long as I have taken it it has been something I have had to work at. Last semester I wasn’t thrilled about the spanish class I was taking, but after this semester I have really started to enjoy them. I came into this year wanting to study abroad in Argentina, mainly because I had already been to Spain and thought, when will I ever get to go to South America again? When I met with the abroad office and looked at the programs in Argentina, and surrounding countries I realized that all of the programs started in July. This was just not an option for me because I need to work all summer in order to be able to afford my trip. Then I found out about a program in Santiago, Chile. Continue reading →