So my name is Rachel Dennis. And I'm a junior. I'm an English major and a double minor in Russian and journalism. 

So this summer, I had the opportunity to go to a part of Argentina. And I was there for two months. I was working as a teaching and a research intern there. So apart from my internship supervisor, there were about 10 other people working at the school. So, it was a really small school, as you can imagine. 

So just to give you some background information about where I was, on the left is a map of where my internship site-- Home Intercultural Learning was the name of this school. It's in relation to some other really important landmarks in Argentina. And then you can see that the city itself is at the edge of Argentina. And it's really small. So, these are some pictures that I took while I was there. 

So, if you look at this map, you can see that the city is situated in [INAUDIBLE]. So this made getting to work really easy. I went with two other Mount Holyoke students who were all doing the same internship. So it was fun through there. 

But on days when it was nice enough to walk, we were able to walk to work. And it took 30 minutes to get there. So that also gave us the chance to take in the city. 

So basically as a teaching and research intern, my responsibilities were creating worksheets for the classrooms, and then also working on an individual research project that I ended up doing with the children in the classes. Some of the other projects that I did while there, I was working on a blog/website for the school and also working on a [? mission ?] photography project. So on the slide, the picture on the left is a screenshot of the home page that I created for the school. And then the picture on the right is a picture that was a part of the art project that I worked on. 

So, basically the school has a really large focus on intercultural learning. So I was basically teaching the students how to think critically about they're own culture wile also learning about other cultures. So that was really interesting. And I think that's a pretty different approach then a lot of other language schools teach. So it was interesting to be in that type of environment. 

So basically working at home, what a day for me looked like, on Thursdays and Fridays I taught English classes for working professionals at a placed called [? Flexid. ?] So apart from the work that I actually did in the school with the students there, I was also working at [? Flexid, ?] listening to presentations, creating worksheets about English vocabulary that was relevant to the professionals' fields, and helping to facilitate classroom discussions just to get the students comfortable with their English-speaking skills. So some of the conversations that we focused on were sustainability and also transportation. So, it was really interesting getting the students' perspectives, but also making those connections to larger roles. 

So, the research that I did with the students, I was focusing on looking at digital storytelling compared to traditional storytelling in the classroom setting. So basically, I selected a story, and I read it to the students. And then afterwards, I had them fill out a survey where they responded to how much they were able to understand of this story and whether they enjoyed it or not. And then afterwards, I would retell the story, but using a video. And then I'd have the students fill out the same survey. 

So I was inspired to focus my research on that after observing how well the students picked up on vocab when they were watching a video or listening to a song compared to having a teacher just stand at the front of the classroom and write down words on the board. And I actually found that the students learned a lot more when they were engaged in watching a video or hearing it being told to them through a song. 

So basically, the two main takeaways that I got from doing this internship is that it's really important to listen to your students, but also that flexibility is OK. So as a teacher I guess, you don't really want to bore your students. So picking up on the vibe of the classroom is really important. And so that's something important that I took away because this was my first time being a teacher. 

And the other thing that I learned is that it's OK to be flexible in the classroom. You might come in with a lesson plan, but things happen. And sometimes unexpected things happen in the classroom that requires you to think on the spot and maybe adjust whatever it was that you planned on doing that day. So being able to allow that space for the students to bring in any topics that they found interesting and letting the conversation lead itself was a really important skill that I learned and something that I think will be really important in my future life. OK. So thank you. 

[APPLAUSE]