Come se dice "oops" in english?

After attending teacher training sessions for seven days in Santiago, completing an online teaching course, and one week of classroom observations in Osorno, I finally stepped in front of the classroom for the first time this past week and it could not have gone any better. Well maybe if the student in the back of the classroom took his headphones out, but don't worry he'll be reprimanded. Somethings about my classes: four classes of 9th and 10th graders, one class of 5th graders, just under 20 hours a week and Wednesday-Friday I only work in the mornings! I teach roughly 18 students for 45 minutes then they go back to their Chilean English teacher who sends me the next 16-18 students. They all enjoy soccer and listening to music particularly Metallica, Pantera, and Justin Bieber. One student when I asked her what she likes to do responded with, "I like to smoke, drink, and go dancing." She is 15 years old.

To paint a picture of where I work, imagine the upper part of a church. The roof angles in towards the top of the building. My classroom is the same. The walls carve in so nearly every time a student sitting along the wall stands up they hit their heads. However small it may be and smaller it may seem with 18 students in the room with me, it is my own and they even bought a califant (heater) for me. Great because my first day it was -5 Celsius in Osorno.

The first day of class after I presented a PowerPoint about my life in the USA ("Your family and friends are so pretty," said one student), I had the students make posters for their class to help decorate my room. One group of girls drew a heart, wrote my name in it and after putting lipstick on, kissed the poster leaving sets of red lips all over the poster. Oh, and another wrote, "I love you Robert". Madness I tell you. In addition to the student-made posters in my room is the beautiful state flag of Texas. Google image search 'Chile flag' and you will see the crazy resemblance between the two flags. All the students said "Casi iguales!" or "almost the same" about the two flags. I even taught the class the phrase, "Everything is bigger in Texas," and we listened to "My Hometown" by Charlie Robison, a country favorite of mine.

My first real lessons were vocabulary words to use when traveling. Sleeping bag, sunscreen, watch, guidebook, and the sentence structure 'We are going ______' and 'We are bringing ________.' With the 5th grade students, I taught them classroom instructions such as sit down, raise your hand, be quiet please, and stand up. We played a game of Simon Says with these instructions and they loved the game so much that they were playing it when they went back to their homeroom.

Wednesday we started class late as Chile was playing in the World Cup for the first time in 12 years and they WON (1-0) to give them their first World Cup win in 48 years. Cars were driving down the street honking their horns and all the kids were singing, "Chi-Chi-Chi-Le-Le-Le, Viva Chile!" and blowing their vuvuzuelas (sp?). The teachers even set up a projector screen to watch the game and made coffee and sandwiches for us. Then also served beer..at 7 am before class!

Finally, the title of this entry comes from a seven-year old girl named Camilla who kept sneaking into my classroom wanting to play tag, hide-and-seek, or some combination of the two. When she dropped a marker, I said 'oops' and she then asked, "como se dice 'oops' in ingles?" I kept saying 'oops' and she kept asking the question not understanding that the word 'oops' is a universal term spoken by many different languages. Or so I assume. It was a classic exchange between two people who know un poco sobre otras lenguas.

Later today I'll post an entry about my weekend in the wonderful, touristy city of Puerto Varas. Happy Father's Day to the best dad. I love you Pops! Hasta Luego

Pictured:
1) On a puente (bridge) with my Chilean sister. The bridge shakes like something you would see in an Indiana Jones movie.
2) Pictures taken last Sunday on a hill at the top of Osorno. It's an hour from Puerto Varas, the beach, and the Andes.

Sidenote: We are thinking about making t-shirts that say 'BROsorno' and 'gringo naranja' tambien. More coming on the gringo naranja part!