The Daily Bulletin Archive

The Elementary Education and Reading Department's Professional Development Schools Consortium has two groups studying abroad this summer, one in Santiago, Chile, and one in Lusaka, Zambia. Pixita Del Prado Hill, associate professor, is leading the group in Chile. We hope you've had a chance to visit their websites and to look in on the students' experiences, but here are some current excerpts from the blogs:

"Today was by far one of the best experiences I’ve had on this trip. The Buffalo State crew was inaugurated into the Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna family. It was a very big event! We were greeted with a wonderful ceremony from the students and staff. In honor of English Week, the students showcased their presentation entirely in English, which is pretty amazing. I could tell they worked so hard to perfect it for us. (Don’t worry there will be pictures to follow.) Shortly after the inauguration I met with my cooperating teacher, who was the school librarian. I thought it would be interesting to learn about the library and the importance of it at Escuela 25. Yo aprendro mucho!…I learned a lot. I even put some books in the computer system… I’m a bit of a nerd. And finally it was time to explain my activity with my first class EVER AT ESCUELA 25. As nervous as a preschooler, I did a simple read aloud to a fifth grade class and the girls were amazing. They helped me with my Spanish (which needs much practice) and I read to them in English. The librarian was nice enough to dedicate a space in the library to give me a bulletin board to display my activities." - Jaquilla Vinson

"Today was our first day at Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, which is an all girls public school. We will be working at the school every day Monday-Thursday. We got to school this morning and had an amazing welcoming ceremony to kick off English week. The students sang different songs to us (in English) about brushing their teeth (super cute, pictures to follow), and another song from the Beatles – Hello Goodbye, it was so touching. Touching isn’t even the right word, but I can’t think of the right one right now. It was amazing and made us feel so welcome, it was truly heart warming." - Courtney Hammond

"The classroom environment is very laid back, and the students get a lot of free time (every 90 minutes). I am with an English teacher who is very nice! I helped her write down song lyrics that help her students learn English. I think that the United States education system and the Chilean education system should combine to make an ideal school setting where the teachers and teach the best and the students can learn in the best way. For example, we should give our students more breaks during the day and make the school day a little bit longer, and also enforce effective classroom management techniques." - Casey Orth

To read more about our students and their experiences in Chile, as well as view a photo journal of their travels, please visit http://chilepdsatbsedu.wordpress.com.

You can also look in on the experiences of our students in Zambia, under the direction of associate professors Hibajene Shandomo and Nancy Chicola, by visiting http://zambiapdsatbsedu.wordpress.com.