Puerto Williams Schoolchildren learn English with teachers from the United States

Thanks to an innovative collaborative English language learning programme, Puerto Williams School pupils take online lessons with linguistics professors from the University of North Texas in the US.

English classes are carried out by an open invitation to third and fourth year middle school students at Donald McIntyre High School in Puerto Williams: to study English outside their regular classes, but with teachers from the United States.

The 13 students who were recruited to participate in this pilot scheme were promoted thanks to the long-term collaboration between the University of Magallanes and the University of North Texas, covering six weeks of twice-weekly classes.

Kelly Moses, International Coordinator of the Cabo de Hornos International Center (CHIC), explains that the classes will run through the end of April and that there has been a very good reception from students attending the classes taught in Field Environmental Philosophy at Fundación Omora in Puerto Williams.

“I really liked the classes, the teachers have a fun way of teaching and they encourage you to like the English language,” commented Ignacio Venegas, a student at Donald McIntyre High School in Puerto Williams.

His brother, Carlos Venegas, notes that “I really like the material they show, how they present it and it is very educational. They teach very well. There is a lot of vocabulary and grammar and they teach it in a way that allows you to learn well. Often times you start with the grammar, but here they started with the pronunciations that’s good “.

Puerto Williams youth met with sessions on pronunciation, grammar and conversations and according to Kelly Moses, this course is an experimental course that could be replicated in the future under the Technical School that will operate from 2023 at the Cape Horn Sub-Antarctic Centre.