Pichilemu, Chile
By David Hughes
Any parent and student who experience the New River Academy academic structure soon realizes the tremendous educational advantage of the low teacher to student ratio 1:2. In short, “There is no replacement for caring qualified educators in a one on one setting.”
Stephen Forster, Clay Whitaker, Haaken Samuelson, and Tracy d'Arbeloff plan Spanish scavenger hunt.
Spanish is especially exciting this year as three students are showing promise to walk away from the school year conversational and fluent in Spanish. Matti Hill, Tracy d’Arbeloff, and Stephen Forster are all charging the language.
Zoe Ross feeds the metal horse for 20 points.
As an exciting and fun way to learn more about Pichilemu, Spanish, video, and photo Alex Anderson, Stephen, Tracy, and I made the Spanish scavenger hunt a two period activity for the entire school of 9 students and five staff.
Haaken Samuelson earns his team Spanish points by finding and riding the red eared cow.
Spanish Scavenger Hunt Goals:
A. Learn and practice Spanish in a fun challenging setting.
B. Create situations that offered excellent video and photo opportunities.
Alex Anderson, Taylor Cote, and Eric Bartl purchase churros for more Spanish scavenger hunt points.
There were three equal teams each with videographer and photographer. Tracy, Alex, and Stephen had to take leadership photo and video roles as they had previously created the hunt list. Teams were staff: Melina Coogan, Andy Kirby, and Matt Smink. Student team Stephen: Haaken Samuelson, Clay Whitaker, Tracy, and Zoe Ross. Student team Alex: Taylor Cote, Matti Hill, and Eric Bartl.
Matti Hill and Alex Anderson negotiate hotel prices for team points.
Here are some of the highlights in translation:
Taylor Cote does a 20 second dance with a stranger for another 20 points.
Taylor, Matti, Alex, and Eric
A. for 20 points “toca la musica para el dinero.” They sang Row, Row, Your Boat and someone actually paid them money.
B. For 20 points they negotiated the best price for a group of 5 for 3 nights at the Hotel Asthur.
C. For 25 points they played with children in the park.
D. for 25 points they found and critiqued the artwork of “the metal horse.”
E. For 5 points they bought and explained a churro.
F. For 15 points they called hoe from a “centro de llamada.”
G. For 10 points they sent a post card from the post office to a parent.
H. For 20 points they took a photo shoot in front of the giant nude mermaid mural while making it “PG” rated.
Eric Bartl has to translate the answer to the ferry's question to Cindarella.
Staff Team
A. Tino play guitar, Andy play violin, and Melina sing Wagon Wheel for an equivalent 20 points.
B. For 10 points they found and bought ice cream at Bacado’s dulceria (sweetery).
C. For 5 points they gave a flower to a Chilean.
D. For 30 points they danced with a stranger for 20 seconds.
Team Haaken, Clay, Tracy, and Zoe
A. For 5 points they withdrew money from an ATM.
B. For 5 points they bought and explained a churro.
C. For 15 points they called hoe from a “centro de llamada.”
D. For 15 points they road a horse to the beach.
E. For 20 points they rode the cow with red ears (kiddie ride).
F. Tracy, Zoe, Haaken, and Clay found, translated, and answered the wall mural of the ferry and Cindarella, “Te consedo un deseo.”
Each team of course found and discovered more during their Spanish scavenger hunt. Taylor stated, “This is awesome.” During dinner each team shared stories of their huge educational experiences.
The winning team won four beach float toys to use to protect their skirts from imploding in the Pichilemu surf. Winning Team: Taylor Cote, Matti Hill, Eric Bartl, and Alex Anderson
Spanish Success- I hope to post photos soon.
