Shaping Chile Networks

A Professional Development Project for English as a Foreign Language Educators in Chile

This is a cooperative project involving the…

• Ministry of Education Chile, English Opens Doors Program
• U.S. Embassy Santiago, Regional English Language Office
• University of Oregon, Linguistics Department, American English Institute

Overview

Shaping Chile Networks is a cooperative project involving the U.S. Embassy Santiago Regional English Language Office (RELO), the University of Oregon’s Linguistics Department/American English Institute (UO AEI), and the Chilean Ministry of Education’s “English Opens Doors Program” with a network of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) educators throughout Chile. The goal of this project is for all 3 entities to collaborate closely together in order for UO AEI to provide EFL educators in public schools in Chile with online and face-to-face or “blended learning” professional development during the 2010-11 academic year, using a train-the-trainers  format.

Shaping Chile Networks uses as a springboard EFL educators who are part of the “English Opens Doors” regional networking system, which is already established throughout Chile and holds local meetings on a regular basis.

Thirty (30) EFL educators have been participants in the Winter 2011 face-to-face training with UO faculty in Chile, followed by 10 weeks of intensive online training. The expectation is that these participants will then be responsible for further disseminating training at their local sites during and/or after the training.

The Shaping the Way We Teach English materials, produced by the U.S. Department of State (US DOS) ECA/A/L and UO AEI, serve as a foundation for training topics with additional content, particularly in the area of educational technology, added according to participants’ needs and interests. Participants will have permission to freely duplicate the “Shaping”and other course materials during and after this project in support of their work.