Our Chile exchange group is back from four weeks immersing themselves in South American culture at our sister school, St Margaret’s British School.

Accompanied by Spanish teacher Mrs Tyson the girls lived with host families and attended classes. After two weeks of intensive Spanish language lessons they were soon understanding and speaking more Spanish.

Highlights of the trip were visiting the capital, Santiago as well as the historic port of Valparaíso, Isla Negra (the house of the famous Chilean Poet, Pablo Neruda) and going to the town of Pomaire where they tried their hand at traditional pottery. A uniform swap with their host sisters and a lesson in folkloric dance were also popular activities as well as learning to make traditional sweets.
One of the group, Sophia took part in a beach clean with her host family and ended up in the main Valparaíso newspaper, El Mercurio!

Overwhelmingly the favourite part of the exchange for the girls was the people they met, and because some were paired with girls who will be coming to New Zealand in August they will have the pleasure of hosting the friends they made and sharing their homes, culture and language with them.