Paulina Shaw Travels to Chile to Explore Educational Exchange Opportunities

Middle School Spanish Instructor Paulina Shaw returned to her native Chile on behalf of Cranbrook Schools to establish a faculty exchange program with the prestigious Santiago College. As a result, a Cranbrook administrator and two faculty members will teach at the school for two weeks in June 2008.

“We are interested in globalization and the exchange of ideas with schools in other countries. I feel very fortunate for getting the Santiago College to participate,” says Shaw. “I also am excited that my colleagues will have the opportunity to experience Chile.”

Santiago College is a bilingual independent co-ed day school that was founded in 1880. Interested faculty members will need to apply to be considered for the program.

This effort marks Shaw’s second success at global outreach for the benefit of enriching Cranbrook schools. During the summer of 2006, she started a pen pal exchange between her students and those studying Spanish as a second language at Nido de Aguilas, located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. The pre-kindergarten to grade-12 school serves the international business and diplomatic community of Santiago as well as a number of host country students, explains Shaw.

In fact, while she was in Chile this summer, Shaw visited Nido de Aguilas and received permission to videotape the activities occurring throughout the day. Upon her return to the classroom this fall, she shared the videotape with her students.

“They were thrilled to see their pen pals and the school,” says Shaw. “Plus the videotape provided them with a better understanding of what it is like to attend a school in a foreign country.”

Both of Shaw’s trips were made possible with funds from the Dad’s Club.