'English Opens Doors,' part 2

So now that the general job description is out of the way, let me share some observations/other specifics.

- Chilean high school students are not much different than American high school students. There's a huge range of age and maturity levels (both physically and emotionally), they appear to live in their own world, and are generally concerned with the the day-to-day dealings and drama of their friends, peers, and especially the opposite sex.

- Especially in the first 2 weeks, we spent time having the students getting to know me, and to do so the teacher had a sheet with questions in English, such as 'what's your name,' 'where are you from,' 'what do you think of Chile,' 'what kinds of music/sports do you like,' etc. Being that Chile is a very relationship-oriented country and everyone seems to be joined at the hip to their long-term significant other, the top 3 questions I was always asked were:

1) Do you have a boyfriend?

2) Would you like to have a Chilean boyfriend?

3) What do you think of Chilean men?

My answers, respectively, are:

1) No
2) I'm not looking for one, but if I find one ... (insert shoulder shrug here)
3) I think they're nice and very friendly and like to dance, which is a good thing (and unlike their American counterparts).

- The linguist in me is very interested in observing what English sounds are difficult for a Spanish speaker. In general, it's vowels because Spanish only has 5, while in English, even though there's 5 letters, there's 10-15 vowel sounds. As a result, Spanish speakers have a hard time hearing and making the difference in similar vowels. Such as:

"Hungry" vs. "Angry" (complicated by the difference in pronunciation of /h/)

"Like" vs. "Live" (verb)

"Stand" vs "Instead"

The phrase "I'm an engineer"

- I noticed an interesting cultural difference last week as I was reviewing with the class basic conversation structures and they were having trouble with the difference between "Where are you from?" and "Where do you live?" Although the two have different Spanish translations and are easy to explain, I realized that for the students the answer to both questions is the same and probably always will be same - ditto for their friends and family members. Whereas in the US it's common to be from one place and live elsewhere, most Chileans live their whole lives in the same place, especially if that place is Santiago, so it's not difficult to see how two questions, even if their straight semantic meanings are different but usage virtually the same, could cause confusion. Luckily I am there to provide a clear example of the difference between the two.

- Lastly, the following is a list of some words/phrases I have taught the students, often without planning on doing so:

Jump the gun

Pull some strings

You wanna mess with me?/Don't mess with Texas

Feisty

What's up?

Catcalls

Flash drive (here they say 'Pen drive')

Doo-rag

Useful stuff, eh?