The commune was chosen by the Subsecretaría de Educación Parvularia to implement a pilot project for the early teaching of English from pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade in four schools in the commune.
As a way to promote early English language learning, the Undersecretary of Early Childhood Education, together with Fundación Educacional Oportunidad and the Municipal Corporation of Puerto Natales, will carry out a pilot programme during 2019 and 2020 in four schools in Puerto Natales, benefiting nearly 600 children.
This pilot programme will be implemented from pre-kinder to second grade by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad through its English programme We Learn, in the schools Baudilia Avendaño de Yousuff, Coronel Santiago Bueras, Capitán Juan Ladrillero and Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins. The objective is to strengthen, systematise and homogenise what English teachers in the commune have been working on for some years in the early teaching of this language. It is worth remembering that in Chile the teaching of English is part of the compulsory national curriculum from 5th grade onwards.
The Mayor of the commune, Fernando Paredes, highlighted that Puerto Natales was selected as a pilot for this initiative, "mainly because we are an area with tourist characteristics and where our main engine of development is to work with a foreign language. In that sense, I think it is essential that our children can opt for early English language learning," said the mayor.
The head of Cormunat, Silvia Ramírez, has a similar opinion: "we are a very touristy commune that needs to promote English beyond what the Ministry requires, which is why this programme gives us a little push to train our teachers and management teams with new strategies".
The head of Cormunat, Silvia Ramírez, has a similar opinion: "we are a very touristy commune that needs to promote English beyond what the Ministry requires, which is why this programme gives us a little push to train our teachers and management teams with new strategies".
The programme will level the teaching of English in the four pilot schools, so that all schools will receive 3 hours of English per week. In addition, teachers will be periodically trained in early teaching strategies and the management teams will be trained to accompany their teachers during the two years of the pilot. Along with this, the Foundation uses a methodology of continuous improvement to reflect day by day on the practices and perfect the strategies tested, in addition to exchanging experiences and knowledge through collaborative work in an Improvement Network.
"What stood out most about the training received from the Foundation was that they will encourage collaborative work with colleagues, as we often do not have the time to work as a team and also, this network could be extended beyond the region," said Eliana Pérez, English teacher at the Capitán Juan Ladrillero school, who last week participated in the first day of training given by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad.
The principal of the Coronel Santiago Bueras school, Eloísa Morales, explains that they were already developing their English teaching, but believes that the programme will help them move forward faster. "We needed a programme with a greater impact with the current trends in teaching. It's as if we've come to an agreement," she says.
The Subsecretaría de Educación Parvularia is carrying out different pilots throughout the country in different subjects and in the case of English, one is in the commune of Santa Cruz with the Amco programme and the other in Puerto Natales with the We Learn programme of Fundación Educacional Oportunidad.
