Reinforcing a Love of Teaching
All my life I have been blessed with enriching experiences like when I had an opportunity to teach Spanish as a native speaker at the Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, through the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program. A love of life, learning and teaching provided all of the motivation I needed to apply.
As an English teacher in San Felipe, Chile, I read about the Fulbright program in a newsletter and immediately recognized it as a great opportunity to improve my English, share my culture and teach Spanish. Most of all, I wanted to be immersed in U.S. culture again. Several years earlier, I had volunteered with the Missionary Society of Saint Columban in Illinois and Texas and I was excited to return.
From the time I applied to the Fulbright program until I was selected, and at every stage in between, I received the guidance and support of the Fulbright Commission in Chile. I was concerned before the first interview because I have a disability. My right arm has been paralyzed since birth and although I’ve learned to do almost everything on my own, I wasn’t sure if it would be a problem or interfere with my application. My disability was never an issue during the application process, and later, I would learn, it became a way to connect to my American students. When people see that I can’t move my arm well or that I need help to accomplish a particular task, they often are surprised and gain a new appreciation for what one can accomplish with hard work and perseverance.
At the end of the long selection process, six Chilean teachers were selected for the program. After a thorough orientation in Washington, DC, I traveled to New Jersey. My daughter, who had later joined me, and I felt at home everywhere we went. I will never forget how my U.S. colleagues opened their homes to me and offered to help when I needed it.
My time at Montclair Kimberly Academy was full of surprises, challenges and achievements. My students were very curious about the Chilean woman teaching them Spanish, and I in turn was curious to learn about their customs, worries and expectations. I still remember their faces on my first and last days at the school. Expressions of surprise and wonder in the beginning had transformed into mutual understanding and friendship by the end. Many of my students wrote me beautiful thank you cards and poems when I left, all of which I keep in a special place in my home.
It is so curious how life shows you its beauty even during difficult times. At the end of October, as everyone busily prepared for Halloween, I learned that my father had died unexpectedly. It was the most painful telephone call I’ve ever received, but with the full support of Fulbright staff in Washington, DC, and in Chile, and my colleagues at the Montclair Kimberly Academy, I returned home for the funeral. Coming back to the United States, I felt an outpouring of care and concern from my students and colleagues. Their support helped me transform my grief into an opportunity for personal and professional growth.
There are many opportunities such as the Fulbright Program to learn, share and reinforce our knowledge. As a teacher in the United States, I discovered that regardless of a disability, if you commit your heart, mind and soul to your purpose and to others, you can gain much happiness. The more we encourage those who think they are different to widen their horizons abroad, the more they will discover that it is up to each of us to live life fully and completely.
Today, I can share with my students that I have visited and studied in many countries, including Argentina, England, France, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. Nothing is far from reach when you work hard and are true to yourself.
The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program provides opportunities for teachers to participate in reciprocal exchanges with counterparts from more than 25 countries worldwide for a semester or academic year.
