Tía Teresa: What’s in a name?

Bridget is a very difficult name for Spanish speakers to pronounce.  I learned this the first summer I spent living and teaching in COAR Children’s Village in El Salvador.  Some at the orphanage attempted to say my name but ended up sounding like they were almost gagging trying to get all of the sounds out right.  Others began to call me Brijida (a name that absolutely wouldn’t work in Chile because it’s a Chilean ghetto slang word for something really dangerous…that’s me! Haha)  and others Beatriz in an effort to find something similar to Bridget in Spanish.  About half way through my time at COAR, I decided that it would just be easier to go by my middle name, Theresa, which is easily translated into Spanish (sounds like Tay-ray-sa).  However, by that time, I had so many names around COAR that it was a lost cause to get any one of them to stick!  Needless to say, I learned my lesson, and every time I have gone back to Central or South America—whether to El Salvador, the summer I spent in Peru, or study abroad in Chile—I have gone by Teresa.    

It’s always weird for friends in the States to imagine everyone knowing me as Teresa, but for me it has become second nature—I respond to both names just the same.  Maybe, in a way, I’ve kind of adopted it as my Latin American “identity” J  It’s definitely not a bad name to use—it reminds me of two of my awesome Aunts, Mother Teresa, St. Therese and many other wonderful saints and people!  Not to mention one of Chile’s two saints, St. Teresa de los Andes (the other is St. Alberto Hurtado).

Most of the adults that I work with know that my first name is Bridget, but to all of my students, I am just Teresa . . . Tía Teresa, to be specific.  In Spanish, “tía” literally means “aunt,” but it is used by Chilean students to refer to teachers.  Instead of using señor/señora or profesor/profesora, they use tía.  In many ways, this word captures the differences between teacher/student relationships in Chile vs. those in the U.S.  Relationships are definitely more familiar, more relaxed, and more personal.  For one, Chileans use the kiss on the cheek to say hello and goodbye.  With so many students and colleagues at school, I feel like I am giving kisses all day!  This is something that I can’t picture happening in the U.S. where teachers are basically not allowed to touch their students, much less give them a kiss on the cheek.  The other lay missioners and I sometimes laugh about the number of lawsuits that would occur if Chilean customs were brought to the U.S.  Granted, sometimes the more affectionate nature of relationships here makes it more difficult for teachers to manage the classroom because they have to work extra hard to establish some sort of authority/respect relationship with the students, but, in general, I think that it creates a greater feeling of community in the school.  Personally, I love the fact that my students have no hesitation in running up to me and giving me a hug!

Speaking of school, I thought it would be good to talk a little more about my English classes!  I am now teaching 3^rd-6^th grade English, and I absolutely love it, even though it requires so much energy!!  As those of you who know me can imagine, class-time is full of lots of songs, games, and creative projects.   Many of my students probably think that I am somewhat crazy because I have absolutely no shame in doing silly dance moves with them in the songs or using different funky theater games to get them speaking more.  That said, teaching has also been a big challenge, and I feel like I am learning so much about patience, sacrifice, and recognizing the unique gifts of each individual student as a result of this experience.  One of the frustrations is that the books that the students have are definitely not the best, but the school, families, and the students themselves really value doing the activities in the book because, to them, they have paid for the books and want them to be used! This makes sense, but it can also be frustrating for me since it limits the material that I can cover during lessons, especially because I am working within the plan of the elementary level English teacher at Andacollo, Claudia.  I am happy to be a relief for Claudia (even if just in a small way) because she is in charge of teaching kindergarten through 8^th grade English—two classes per grade, 40-45 students per class!  It’s no wonder that the level of English at the school is so poor…only a superhuman could do lesson plans for 9 different grade levels and keep their head straight about what they were doing in each class!

In other news, I am very excited because I have been working the past few weeks with two University students from the choir I sing in at church to start two choirs in Colegio Andacollo.  Although there is a basic music class for the students where they learn to play the recorder and learn a little about traditional Chilean music, there is absolutely no singing at school!  This was obviously a problem for me when I found out, so I have been talking with one of the school directors to see if I can start a choir “taller” (elective).  He was really receptive of the idea and is excited to see what the reception among the students is.  So, myself and my two choir friends are going to do a test run of a 5-8^th grade choir and a high school choir for about the last 10 weeks of the school year, and if it goes well, the director said that we can talk about putting it on the regular school schedule for the coming year, which will start in March!  It’s obviously going to be a difficult task since we are starting from scratch, but I know that many of the students at school love to sing, and I wanted to create a space for some more formal instruction and growth.  Say some prayers that we are successful in getting this project started!