The participants of the English workshops have been awarded in a ceremony.

The Curriculum and Teaching Development Division and the Language Coordination Center (CODI) offered English workshops for UFRO teachers and directors in order to improve their English proficiency at the institutional level.

The closure of the programs “Introduction to English Language”, “Basic English” and “Advanced Conversation” took place at DIFEM (Direction of Comprehensive Training and Employability) auditorium, where the respective certificates for participation and consistency were given to the 24 professionals who participated in the program.

During the ceremony, the vice- rector of Undergraduate Affairs, Ana Moraga, pointed out that the university’s teachers who participated in these training activities for further skills are setting a good example. “When we started to strengthen CODI, we had the great challenge to motivate and convince the students of the importance that the command of a second language such as English, a language that permits to establish links in today´s globalized world, has.”

Therefore she added: “The teachers also play a fundamental role to encourage their students, because when they see the importance their teachers give to the command of a second language, it will have a bigger impact on them and they will be more motivated to learn English,” she said.

The CODI coordinator, Margot Godoy, specified that these workshops have been developed in a participative way. “The UFRO teachers and directors who participated in each level made mayor progress, since they were highly motivated and interested in learning. The command of a language requires permanent training and the idea is that the participants gradually incorporate English literature with the purpose of practicing what they learned in a practical context.”

THE VALUE OF LEARNING

Mabel Schulz, a teacher at the Preclinical Science Department at the Faculty of Medicine, expressed her satisfaction with what she learned in the workshop Introduction to English Language: “The techniques CODI uses are very good because the emphasis was not only on speaking but also on listening, writing and being able to express yourself. It was an entertaining workshop in which our teachers were very encouraging, a fact that helps to lose the fear of speaking.”

Paulina Hofer is an undergraduate teacher at the Faculty of Dentistry and participated in the Advanced Conversation workshop with the aim of increasing her vocabulary and updating her English language skills. She pointed out: “The schedule was a factor that made the participation for teachers easy. It was a dynamic workshop, since our teacher insisted on communicating with everyone and on giving our opinions and our points of view in order to improve our spoken English.”

The director of the Institutional Projects Monitoring Division, César Castillo, participated in the Basic English workshop. He was motivated to learn and is convinced that the English language is a useful tool for his field of performance. “At my workplace, I have to interact more and more frequently with English speaking persons and we have a newly created UFRO Policy of Internationalization, an agreement for the internationalization of our doctorates, and finally, a series of activities that force us to improve our language skills,” he stated.

Written by: Vice-rectorate of Undergraduate Affairs