{"id":11141,"date":"2020-10-21T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/?p=11141"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:45:47","slug":"vanessa-from-chile-teaching-english-to-teens-and-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/vanessa-from-chile-teaching-english-to-teens-and-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanessa, From Chile, Teaching English to Teens and Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sparked by her interest in a British pop group, Vanessa Riquelme, from Chile, developed a fondness for the English language that led her to become an ESL teacher, working with both school kids and adults. She shares how she landed her current positions, her strategies for teaching English online to various age groups, and how she’s adapted to giving virtual classes during the current global crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi Vanessa! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m from Chile, a Spanish speaking country where English is hardly ever practiced outside the learning context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started liking English in high school because I loved a British boy band, McFly. I just loved them and wanted to know everything about them, so I’d listen to their songs, and download the lyrics and translate them. I also loved Amy Winehouse and Coldplay, among other bands. So, listening to music was a great influence. Aside from learning through songs, reading the interviews in magazines was an incredible way to learn new words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned English at university. I graduated with a degree in English Linguistics and Literature from Universidad de Chile<\/em> in 2016, then I got my teaching degree at the same university two years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you get into teaching?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I decided to become an English teacher because I’ve always felt like I could help society in some way through education. I\u2019ve been tutoring since my first year of university. I used to help young children with their homework. In the beginning, it was neighbors mostly, but then word spread and I had a couple of regular students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a more professional way, I\u2019ve been teaching for three years now. In 2018, I started teaching adults to develop their communication skills. Last year, I got my first school teaching job at Colegio T\u00e9cnico Profesional Aprender<\/a>, where I was the main high school teacher. However, my contract with that school ended in February this year, then I couldn’t get a job until May and by that time schools were already having online classes, so I haven’t met my current students in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you land your first school teaching job? What was the application process like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I sent tons of emails applying to schools that posted job advertisements online. I even went to drop my resume at the actual schools. It was hard to get my first job. Schools didn\u2019t call me back. I went to three job interviews and got accepted to one of those schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can you tell us more about your teaching job?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’m currently teaching English online to teenagers<\/a> and I’m also teaching at a language institute, helping adult professionals improve their communication skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, I’m working for two different schools, Centro Educacional Esperanza<\/a> and Liceo Bicentenario Hermanos Sotomayor Baeza<\/a>. In the first school, I teach 7th<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup> grade, and I teach high school students at the other one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never been to the actual schools since I got both jobs while being in this pandemic and under quarantine. I\u2019ve also never seen my students face-to-face, which has been a real challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both schools have a high percentage of vulnerable students. That means that a lot of them don\u2019t have Internet access or a computer or cell phone to attend online classes, or they have more siblings who also have to attend online classes and they have to share the same device. So, their attendance may be unstable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your typical workday like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On a typical workday, I wake up around 8 a.m. and start working at 9 a.m. When I don\u2019t have classes early, I usually prepare material for the classes, check my email, or grade worksheets. When I have classes, I start teaching at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. I have a very varied schedule, from day to day and from week to week, too. I also have tons of meetings with other teachers and the school management team. This new teaching reality has brought several challenges for us teachers as well as for our students and management team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you outline some differences between teaching English to teenagers and teaching professional adults?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both kinds of students have their own difficulties and particularities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teenagers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n