Todays world is increasingly globalized, and this is reflected in a way that now

we are interacting across different cultures as we never did before. In such

world, to learn a second language becomes a high priority to adapt yourself to
this new context. Another consequence is that if you learn a second language
in todays economy, you may target new markets around the world that you
may have never taken into consideration. It also helps you to address
customers in the language that they understand best and in which they are
most comfortable communicating. Additionally, learning a second language has
become a must since the different cultures among the world and the different
range of people that are willing to share their experiences and teachings.
Another reason that reinforces the idea of learning a second language is that,
scientific studies have shown that learning a second language improves brain
function and stimulates creativity. When you start learning a new language, you
begin to see connections that have never seen before because every language
has a different towards its reality. Therefore, you have the chance to
understand the world from another point of view and appreciate better the
diversity of humankind. As a consequence, the importance of learning a second
language is again reinforced. You become not just equipped to communicate
across cultures but empowered to understand others points of view.
In our country teaching and learning English has become an increasingly
important matter. A few decades before English was basically off the table,
there was no need of learning neither teaching it. But the landscape has
changed; the government is making huge investment to improve our current
level of English. For example in 2004 the Education Department releases the
program Ingles Abre Puertas which is a program that gives diagnostics tests,
professional development for teachers and support to schools in their reality.
The annual budget was five folded from 1 Million of dollars in 2004 to 5 millions
of dollars in 2005. Also the program fosters the use of modern technology
based on internet and interactive softwares which is highly motivating to
students. Also the creation of different scholarships for teachers to travel
abroad has been created in the last few years, summer camps for teachers,
which is an activity done with the embassy of the united states where teachers
are immerge in a one week of English reality in their own towns. Another
example is the creation of a future national test that will measure the level of
English across the whole country has leaded us to rise our approach towards
English and its teaching techniques. Teaching English has become highly
important in our educational system, thats why the numbers of English hours
in the curriculum has been doubled.

All of these measures are a clear example of how English is becoming an

important matter to get better chances in life, therefore becomes a duty for
teachers and government to create and apply constantly better ways or
resources that awakes peoples interest towards the acquisition of a new
language.
In our region the acquisition of a second language becomes even more
important. One of the main resources of our economy is tourism, which is
seasonal, begins in October and ends in April, the streets of Punta Arenas are
filled with tourist that most of them speak in English, which is an excellent
opportunity for students or anyone that knows English to practice and to create
new links. The main attractive is the beautiful mountains of Torres del Paine
that a few months ago has been declared as the eighth natural wonder of the
world. In this context English is an excellent tool to generate opportunities to
students and adults and is the reason of why this language is key to our reality.
The institute that I am attending is la Araucana Educa S.A, which was
founded in 1995. The vision is based on respect to human rights, where
education must be pluralistic, respecting the religious, moral and ideological
convictions of students and their families, while the teacher is neutral in the
educational activity, not persuading and rejecting all kinds of dogmatism, but
at the same time encouraging conversations, debates and inquiry skills for
finding many controversial arguments. The mission is to promote democratic
values, starting with improving respect for others, their similarities and
differences, through constructive dialogue between all teachers, youth, adults
and local community through conferences, forums and roundtables always
trying reach a consensus, between all levels of the educational community,
always looking at developing the students' critical thinking.
This institute has the characteristic that gives a special program where
students of high school can pass two years of education in just one. Mind while
in adult teaching the purpose is to level their studies or to finish their high
school level. The schedule is as it follows; from 9 AM to 14 PM high school
student attend to their classes. On the other hand from 18.30 PM to 22 PM
adults attend to their classes.
Constructivism is used as the main pedagogical trend which the constructive
activity of young and adults is the decisive factor in the performance of
learning. It is the student who ultimately modifies and reworks knowledge
schemes, building their own learning based on their own research activity,
observation and analysis. In this process the teacher acts as a mediator to
facilitate the construction of meaningful learning that establish relationships
between prior knowledge and experiences and bring the young and old and
new content.

The building has 5 floors and most of the classes are done in the upper floors
which is a good idea to avoid noisy sounds during classes. The materials that I
have to get my classes done are a whiteboard and a projector. During the last
year there were not good marks in the adult program, in fact most of them
failed the course, but it was caused because the English teacher did not
prepare the student for the final exam and she focused on other contents.

Contextualization