PROJECT: BUILDING BRIDGES, LINKING CULTURES
OUR HOSTS FAMILIES The first day we went to the church and we had our first service. After that we had dinner with both families. Laura Johnson and her husband were my first host family from church. I stayed with Macarena. The second day we came back to the church and had three more services. We ate and then went to the theater to see the "Blue Man Group". It was an amazing experience. I enjoyed it a lot. In the afternoon we had the pleasure to visit the Cubs stadium and the Chicago fire department. In the same day, we left the people from church and went to our new home with the host family from school. The Stancil family hosted me for 4 days. I went to school with Bailee Stancil. The first day we had dinner at Portillo's and then we visited her best friend Victoria who was Macarena's sister. We spent a lot of time together. We went to school four days, it was a little bit different from here but I loved it. Despite school, she showed me tourist places like downtown, Navy Pier, the shopping center, the beach and more. The last day with Bailee we played football at school. The school experience was awesome, everyone was so nice. On Thursday afternoon we were joined by Erin, who worked with us a few years ago in Argentina as a Young Adult in Global Mission. After that, we came back to the church where our new host families were waiting for us. The Valdez family hosted me and Macarena for 2 days. Our new siblings were Kristina and Tony. On Friday and Saturday we went downtown where we could see some gorgeous buildings. We spent time at After our first service at church we have a big dinner with almost everyone who wanted to come, not just the ones who assisted the previous services. There we all met our called Church Families, and some of us were lucky to also have the possibility to meet the other School Families. As soon as I entered the room I found JoEllen, Bob, Finn and Kathy
the zoo and then we did the hop on and hop off bus tour. One of the stops were Hard Rock Cafe. We also had dinner with Erin and Josh. On Saturday morning we took the water taxi. We walked down Michigan Avenue doing some shopping until we got to the Bean. It was our last stop. I had the best time ever in Chicago. It has been almost five months since that unforgettable experience and I can remember every minute of it as it had happened only yesterday. We were all really excited before this trip. Chicago is not only beautiful but also very exciting. There are always activities taking place at any time. The food is delicious. I experienced a good time away from home. I bought a lot of things and had the opportunity to meet different people from different cultures. I wish I could come back soon. Every single person I met was so nice with me. I appreciate it a lot.
ROMINA OLIVERA
Hoffman, they were supposed to be my hosts there in Chicago. Since the first moment I started to talk to them I knew that they were a united and lovely family. A few minutes before the end of the evening Lisa appeared. Lisa Collyer was the mother in Collier’s family. The way she talked to us and tried to teach us every detail about how it is to live in Chicago. I think the Collyers helped me to understand how politics and economy work in the state, so I really appreciate them for teaching me so many things. If I could say something to them now, I would tell them how much I missed them and regret spending so little time with them. My School Family was the Hoffman. I hadn´t met Joey until the first night I stayed in their house. He was meant to be my school partner.
Apart from that, there was was Germany, but I wouldn´t have known that he hadn´t told me. Finn another foreign exchange became very close to me, so I decided to spend my days in U.S. with student in the house with me, him instead of Joey. The time we were together is the best memory I his name was Finn, and he brought home. I think he is one of my very best friends even now that became one of my best friends we haven´t talk or see each other for a long time. there in Chicago. His homeland For this side, I think the Hoffman taught me the culture, education and the common life of a Chicago family. Both families made me understand different perceptions of the city, that´s way I think they all will always have my thanks and love. FEDERICO RAMPAZZO
I knew my host family of the church the same day that I arrive to Chicago on April 29, in a dinner that the people of the church did for us. That night, Florencia and I were going to stay with them. At first I was afraid to stay with people that I don't know but in the dinner they were so friendly and good with me and Florence that i was not afraid anymore. The family consists of Pam and Armando that were the parents and Victory and Leilani were his daughters. I didn't spend much time with them but because of how little I met them I found them to be very good and lovely people. I was with two families from the school. I knew my fist host family of the school in the dinner that the people of church do the day that I arrived. My experience of this trip was amazing. I learnt many things that I never imagined. The experience is different when one is surrounded by people who speak another language. The people were very friendly and hospitable.
I pass my fist night with Charlotte and his family on Sunday 30 of April. The parents of Charlotte, Paul and Gail did everything to make me fill like at home. Paul lent me a guitar and a ukulele, because he knew that I like music, and Gail was a really good cook. At the second day I start to miss my family so much and for that i stay one night with Margarita. On Wednesday morning I went to Victoria ’ s house to stay with her, her family and Macarena. With Victoria and her friends I visited many places of Chicago. We went shopping and visited Downtown. The truth is that I had a lot of fun with them and now I have very good memories. LUDMILA BARRAZZA
The look of the people when we arrived was of absolute happiness. From that moment I knew it was going to be a great trip. One of my best memories when I was in the United States was when I met a host family. I felt excited and nervous at the same time. Laura and Mark were Romina’s and I host family. They were
kind with us. I will never forget when their cat tried to take my phone, this memorie is one of my funniest and favourite moment of my staying in Chicago. After having been sharing moments with Laura and Mark I went with the family of the school. My sister’s name is Victoria and her mother, Sandra. For 4 days I went to school with Victoria and spent nice moments with her and her friends, Bailee (who was Romina’s sister) and Katie. Bailee, Romina, Vicky, Katie and I spent many moments together and we were able to meet many beautiful places. We met Navy Pier and we went out to eat at night. All these moments remained in my heart and I will never forget. After these days we returned to the church and with Romina went with another family: Tony, Karen
and their sons, Kristina and Tony. They took us out to eat and we were treated very well. It was very nice to share moments with this family because they were always attentive if we needed anything and they were very friendly too. We spent days with Erin and Josh who visited us a few years ago. We had many fun times with them and I am very grateful for that. I am also very happy with our friends from the church who on our second day took us to the show "Blue man group" and in the last days they took us to travel downtown, we traveled on the Chicago train and met the United Center. My days in Chicago surrounded by excellent people were very special and I know that I will never forget this nice experience MACARENA CÁCERES.
TRIPS AND ACTIVITIES
The first thing that we did was going to see to ''The Blue Man Group'', a show in which only 3 men with the face painted in blue played music and a couple of games really fun, in which some of them the public participated. After seeing them we went, by surprise, to the Chicago Fire Station. There we had some really interesting talks with the firemen. Right after it, our teachers told us that there was some little extra time to do something especial, and with that excuse they took us to Luther North, the school we were supposed to meet the next day. Of course it was all planned, and it was arranged that there would be the place in which our families (We called them “School Families ”) would meet us and take us home. It really was a nice surprise. This all happened on Sunday 30º, and since that day we didn´t see each other but at school until Thursday 3rd.. That day we said goodbye to our new friends, playing some soccer at school with them and some other Luther North students. After it and some sad hugs, we finally said goodbye
to the School Families, and came back to our tourism group. That particularly sad day, we visited Chicago´s Science and Industry Museum, in where we got a lot of fun and nice pictures. On Friday 4th we met Erin and Josh, two friends of us who been to Argentina some time ago. Before going to their church, we had been doing some shopping downtown and specially visiting the Navy Pier. Of course we wouldn´t have did it without the help from the Hop-on/Hop-off Bus, although it was a really windy day for being on the upper floor ¡Which had no cover for the wind! Before the end of the day, we couldn´t leave Chicago without visiting United Centre. The last day had come, Saturday night we had to take our flight back to Argentina, so this day was really depressing for every one of us. Those last hours we went back to Downtown to taste a little bit of Chicago´s local food, highlighting Chicago´s hotdogs and deepdish pizza. Most of this day we spent it with Erin and Josh, who been with us when we returned to Navy Pier. Between the things we visited that day was Trump´s tower and the Bean (iconic Chicago landmarks). Before heading to O´Hare Airport, we had a meal at the church. Everything was very emotional, and I think we all had some tears in our faces that night.
WE DISCOVERED THAT... IS IT EASIER TO LEARN ENGLISH IN AN ENGLISH SPEAKER COUNTRY?
It is known that is more difficult to learn English if your mother language is a romantic one, like is for example Spanish, Italian or Portuguese. These languages share lots of words and ways to form sentences that make a romantic speaker the best candidate to learn one. But in the case of English, a Germanic language, it becomes such a hard work to learn it because some things are completely different and can even not make sense at all for us. It is hard, but isn’t impossible. A better and faster way to learn a language like this is to actually live in a place where people use it. To start with, it is known that a baby learns a language by adapting himself to the surroundings, listening to other people talk and getting used to patterns and signals seen. So if you done it since you were born, why wouldn’t you do it now? It is talked about a human been as a social subject who literately must live in a society to survive, so it has to adapt to the one around him. That means no matter how it is, a human been is always alike his society. For the other hand, it’s obvious that a grown human doesn’t have a the same learning capability a baby has, so its highly recommended you to learn some tenses and word meanings after you go to another country. Furthermore, an adult is used to make predictions, deductions and hypothesis about things, which means that if they are having a conversation with someone whose
language is different to his, he will probably understand whatever he thinks. The opinion of the subject, in this case can get between the two parts of the conversation, which can lead them to misunderstand each other if the first man doesn’t know the other’s language properly. In conclusion, being in an English speaker country will improve by far your language abilities, because as it becomes your new surrounding society, your brain unconsciously get used to it and prepare yourself to interact with it. But of course it is needed to know first the basics about the language so you avoid understanding whatever you want, or just not understanding at all.
It is easier to learn English in an English speaking country. We have more resources at our disposal, easier access to native speakers. When we go to a country with this language we have the opportunity to perfect our listening comprehension. We are in constant contact with people.
Being a foreign country forces us to say wrong sentences, to have our mistakes. People can’t decide to talk since their life depends of that. To live the experience of visiting another country, to know another culture, to taste new flavors, wonder of beautiful landscapes, to speak another language and to experience customs foreign to yours, is something that is priceless. To developed perfectly in the local language. At first it starts as
FEDERICO RAMPAZZO
a totally different world, ends up being part of your routine, so in a while, one adapts. Learning the customs and culture of another country is always a very important experience. A broad knowledge helps us to develop with people very different and makes you grow as a person.
It is easier to learn English in an English speaking country because you are all the time in contact with the language. I mean, if you are in other country you can try to communicate with someone and if he doesn’t understand you, you can try to communicate pointing things or with signs. Maybe it would be a little desperate not to understand anything at first but with time and practice, you can learn to speak English very well. •You can learn attending a course, too. Making a sentence and a test however, it will take
Personally, I believe that the necessity of fluent or daily communication leads to a possible improvement on a foreign language, basically because you surely could not survive without interacting with your environment, especially on a foreign place. So you eventually should get to adapt yourself to wherever you are living. In my case it only helped to increase my vocabulary, but travelling (for example) to the USA and having no idea of what the language is like, is not a good combination, it may get you into awkward
Although one doesn’t have a good academic performance, the experience of studying abroad will always be worth even if only because of living in another culture. MACARENA CÁCERES
more time. You can have the highest mark but you will learn the formal form to talk and it is more likely that in the country that you visit the people will speak an informal way. In conclusion, I think that is easier to learn English in an English speaking country because it is better trying to learn and make mistakes with someone who speaks the language all the time. LUDMILA BARRAZA
situations, and even annoying to both sides of the communication. My experience was good. It was easy to communicate, I felt confident although I had one or two cases in which I got nervous but nothing relevant actually. In travels like mine, you can encounter yourself with new words, meanings, accents and a whole bunch of new things that you may thing you already know, but in fact you probably ignore most of its real reasons.
Having the chance of learning new languages is so beautiful, and teaching it as well, even much more if it is to a foreign individual who does not know nothing but still, its thrilled to learn about something new. I compare learning to building
Is easier to learn English in an English speaking country if you know something about that language. I learnt a lot of new words when I was in the United States. It can be a little hard to understand what they are saying at the first time but then you are going to feel confident. If you travel to another country to learn English you will have some advantages and disadvantages. One of these advantages is that you'll see another culture and learn new
bridges. Knowledge and domination over a language gives you infinite chances of everything, and encourages you to keep on learning. Many ways exist for you to learn, but real immersion and practicing is the best in my opinion. PABLO CORRADINO vocabulary. You'll improve your speech, writing and the quality of your expressions. You'll enjoy new experiences. You'll meet new people and make more friends. The disadvantages are less. One of them is that you'll meet a lot of people who speak Spanish but it depends where you go. If you want to get by in a country like the United States at least you should have a basic English. ROMINA OLIVERA
WE LEARNED NEW VOCABULARY ABOUT...
AIRPORT
COSTUMER SERVICE
GATE
CHECK-IN
PASSPORT CHECK DESCENT FLY ATTENDENTS
BAGGAGE
SCHOOL FACILITIES
SHOPPING
CITY OF CHICAGO
THE TRUMP TOWER
THE CITY OF CHICAGO
THE BEAN