George Washington Carver High/Birmingham City Schools

The city of Santiago from the top of Cerro Santa Lucia is breathtaking. 

The Learning Adventure of a Lifetime--Project Summary:
On June 3, 2014, I departed Birmingham, AL for Santiago, Chile to set forth on the learning adventure of a lifetime. Ten hours after leaving Birmingham, I arrived at my gracious Chilean host family's door. For the next five weeks I lived and breathed the Spanish language, Chilean culture, and Peruvian culture -- a dream come true for this high school Spanish teacher!

My first four weeks were spent in Santiago. I began my mornings in a language school where I worked on my fluency by having conversations with people from all over the world. We spoke in Spanish about current world events and compared practices in our home countries.

Once a week I co-taught in an English as a Foreign Language classroom. I still get a rush of excitement when I think about my time with the students at Escuela Luis Matte. 

When I was not in a classroom, I spent my time in the streets of Santiago observing life and visiting museums to gather more knowledge about Chile. I will never forget the power of visiting the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. Although it has been almost 25 years since the Pinochet dictatorship, it is still very much a part of Chilean life.

After my time in Santiago ended, I was off to Peru to learn about the Inca Empire. I started in the once Inca capital Cusco. Next, I was off to Machu Picchu. After climbing Huayna Picchu, I took a tour of the ruins and was briefed on the purpose of each area. My last stop was Lima. Here I learned about the era of time in Peru known as the Internal Conflict. It was truly an incredible five weeks of professional and personal growth.

 

Blog--Summer in Santiago

Cultural Ambassadors to Costa Rica

PowerPoint--presentation

Article about Rebecca's program 

Educator Spotlight: Rebecca Blumenfeld, Spanish teacher, G.W. Carver High School

Last modified: Friday, April 3, 2015, 1:50 PM