English Summer Town

What a great start to our summer - having the opportunity to spend a week with one hundred Chilean teachers of English and the six other US Fulbright exchange teachers in the beautiful setting at Colinas de Cuncumen: http://www.cuncumen.cl/ccm/index2.htm. English Summer Town, sponsored by the Chilean Ministry of Education, Inglés Abre Puertas, and Fulbright in Chile, was a huge success. The Chilean teachers really seemed to enjoy the presentations and the opportunity to network and practice their English with others, and we loved meeting so many incredible teachers from all over the country, from Arica in the north all the way to Punta Arenas in the south.

I had a lot of help with my presentation; Sarah operated the computer for the powerpoint on U.S. holiday traditions, and Roxy handed out packets to the teachers and helped them with the various activities we did each morning. One afternoon the whole family helped to present a fun workshop: "Let's Dance: American Square Dance and Popular Line Dance." Anyone who knows Bill and I very well knows we aren't very good dancers. So how did we end up teaching a dance workshop? I had heard that at English Summer Town (EST) last year, the Chileans had such a great time during a dance workshop that was given by Kay Forysth, a Fulbrighter that year (and a good dancer, I might add!) However, this year no one had volunteered to teach any dance. When I heard this I wondered aloud, what traditional dance do we have in the U.S? Here in Chile everyone, young and old, take great delight in the Cueca dance. Another Fulbright teacher, Pam Hammond, answered, "we have square dancing." At the mere mention of this, my mind promenaded back to fifth-grade where I had learned to square dance in gym class. This was the best thing about all my years in elementary school. Even better than the map game, which always had me wild with excitement whenever
we'd play. Yes, square dancing was the best. Like my friend Karen Fishman said, recalling her 5th-grade Virginia Reel experience, "it's like a tribal thing." The next thing I knew, my mouth was working faster than my brain, and I had just volunteered to teach square dance at EST, nevermind that I hadn't done it for some forty years! Fortunately, it was just like riding a bike, and we were all swingin' our partners and do-sa-doing in no time. Bill told me I missed my calling, I should have been a square dance caller! Roxy and Sarah did an awesome job demonstrating the Electric Slide and the Casper Cha Cha Slide, and the Chilean teachers also loved the Hokey Pokey and the YMCA.

We had a really good week, swimming, singing, dancing, hanging out in the cabins late at night, and enjoying the great food at Las Colinas de Cuncumen. To see more photos from English Summer Town, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/bdoody61/EST

To view a version of the Cueca dance as performed by some of the Chilean teachers and our gringo friend Dan (a.k.a. Don Quijote), visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/bdoody61/CuecaAtEST