WEBVTT

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So my name is Rachel Dennis.

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And I'm a junior.

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I'm an English major and
a double minor in Russian

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and journalism.

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So this summer, I
had the opportunity

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to go to a part of Argentina.

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And I was there for two months.

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I was working as a teaching
and a research intern there.

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So apart from my
internship supervisor,

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there were about 10 other
people working at the school.

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So, it was a really small
school, as you can imagine.

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So just to give you some
background information

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about where I was,
on the left is a map

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of where my internship site--

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Home Intercultural Learning
was the name of this school.

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It's in relation to some other
really important landmarks

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in Argentina.

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And then you can see
that the city itself

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is at the edge of Argentina.

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And it's really small.

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So, these are some pictures
that I took while I was there.

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So, if you look at
this map, you can

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see that the city is
situated in [INAUDIBLE]..

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So this made getting
to work really easy.

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I went with two other Mount
Holyoke students who were all

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doing the same internship.

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So it was fun through there.

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But on days when it was
nice enough to walk,

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we were able to walk to work.

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And it took 30
minutes to get there.

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So that also gave us the
chance to take in the city.

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So basically as a teaching
and research intern,

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my responsibilities
were creating worksheets

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for the classrooms,
and then also working

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on an individual
research project

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that I ended up doing with
the children in the classes.

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Some of the other
projects that I

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did while there, I was
working on a blog/website

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for the school and also
working on a [? mission ?]

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photography project.

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So on the slide, the
picture on the left

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is a screenshot of the home page
that I created for the school.

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And then the
picture on the right

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is a picture that was a
part of the art project

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that I worked on.

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So, basically the school
has a really large focus

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on intercultural learning.

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So I was basically
teaching the students

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how to think critically about
they're own culture wile also

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learning about other cultures.

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So that was really interesting.

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And I think that's a pretty
different approach then

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a lot of other
language schools teach.

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So it was interesting to be
in that type of environment.

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So basically working at home,
what a day for me looked like,

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on Thursdays and Fridays
I taught English classes

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for working professionals at a
placed called [? Flexid. ?] So

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apart from the work that I
actually did in the school with

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the students there, I was
also working at [? Flexid, ?]

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listening to presentations,
creating worksheets about

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English vocabulary
that was relevant

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to the professionals' fields,
and helping to facilitate

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classroom discussions just to
get the students comfortable

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with their
English-speaking skills.

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So some of the conversations
that we focused on

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were sustainability and
also transportation.

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So, it was really interesting
getting the students'

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perspectives, but also
making those connections

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to larger roles.

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So, the research that I
did with the students,

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I was focusing on looking
at digital storytelling

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compared to traditional
storytelling in the classroom

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setting.

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So basically, I
selected a story,

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and I read it to the students.

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And then afterwards, I
had them fill out a survey

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where they responded
to how much they

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were able to understand
of this story

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and whether they
enjoyed it or not.

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And then afterwards, I
would retell the story,

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but using a video.

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And then I'd have the students
fill out the same survey.

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So I was inspired to
focus my research on that

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after observing how well
the students picked up

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on vocab when they were watching
a video or listening to a song

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compared to having
a teacher just

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stand at the front
of the classroom

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and write down
words on the board.

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And I actually found
that the students

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learned a lot more
when they were engaged

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in watching a video
or hearing it being

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told to them through a song.

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So basically, the
two main takeaways

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that I got from
doing this internship

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is that it's really important
to listen to your students,

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but also that flexibility is OK.

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So as a teacher I
guess, you don't really

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want to bore your students.

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So picking up on the vibe of the
classroom is really important.

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And so that's
something important

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that I took away because
this was my first time

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being a teacher.

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And the other thing
that I learned

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is that it's OK to be
flexible in the classroom.

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You might come in with a
lesson plan, but things happen.

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And sometimes
unexpected things happen

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in the classroom that requires
you to think on the spot

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and maybe adjust
whatever it was that you

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planned on doing that day.

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So being able to allow
that space for the students

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to bring in any topics
that they found interesting

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and letting the
conversation lead

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itself was a really important
skill that I learned

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and something that I
think will be really

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important in my future life.

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OK.

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So thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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