The fifth version of the event will be held in La Serena and will feature exhibitors from England and Uruguay and workshops by leading national professionals. In addition, teachers will share their experiences teaching English to children with hearing impairment and tell details of how networks have become a space for collaboration.

One of the main economic activities in the IV Region is tourism, which generates the arrival of around 2 million tourists every year, 15% of whom are English-speaking foreigners. That is why mastering English is so necessary and its teaching from an early age is fundamental to promote the value of intercultural exchange.

In this context, the 4th International Seminar on English Language Teaching Expanding Opportunities was held for the first time in La Serena. The activity was a meeting point for teachers, school principals, heads of UTP, sponsors, academics and students of English language teaching, who learned about innovative and successful teaching experiences to apply both in the classroom and at school level. The meeting also presented experiences of both teachers and principals, involving different establishments such as cultural or musical events, which even involve the parents themselves.

The event featured two prominent international speakers who led plenary sessions and four experts who gave educational talks and entertaining workshops. The talk "Effective use of songs in the English class" by Luciana Fernández, learning and reading consultant at National Geographic Learning, kept all attendees attentive and engaged. "I hope that there will be more opportunities for teachers to get together, learn from others and not feel so alone. I am very happy to have been part of this event," said the presenter.

David Crabtree, Professor at the University of Westminster in London, was another keynote speaker and shared with the audience some models of inclusive learning and how they relate to good practice in the classroom.

María Escobar, English teacher at the Cardenal Caro school in Coquimbo, highlighted the level of both talks: "They were a very playful way of delivering the knowledge to us," she said, highlighting the Foundation's concern for early English language teaching.

In addition, there were poster presentations on successful experiences of teaching and learning processes of this language by teachers from different regions of the country. Martina Garay, a teacher from the commune of Coinco, O'Higgins Region, was one of these panelists and she showed the theatre plays that have been performed with her students in the commune. For her, this event "is incredible and showing what we do in such small communities to other teachers is very motivating".

In addition to the main presentations, participants were able to take part in one of four workshops: "Storytelling", "English through art", "Cultural events in English" and "Guidelines for effective English language management at institutional level", all of which were related to the main themes of the seminar.

Fernando Castro is a graduate in English Pedagogy from the University of La Serena and participated in the workshop "Guidelines for the effective management of English at the institutional level", one of the most requested of the day and considered it very good, "because in general it is always shown what to do in the classroom and this workshop sought to motivate management teams to work on English in a global way".  

Meanwhile, English teacher Katherine Galleguillos from the Abel Inostroza Gutiérrez school in Monte Águila, in the VIII Region, participated in the workshop "English through art" and said that "I really liked this workshop, a very interesting idea that aims to teach from the youngest children. The speakers were incredible and really give a boost to pedagogy".

The seminar is organised for the fourth consecutive year by Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, which for the past 12 years has been promoting the early teaching of English through its We Learn programme in the Elqui Valley. Marcela Marzolo, Executive Director of the Foundation explains that "this year we wanted to invite the participants to broaden their view of English teaching, showing that it is not only the responsibility of the English teacher, but of the entire educational community, who can get involved in the teaching of this language with very simple strategies. It is not enough to have successful teachers, good practices must be installed, for which leaders play a fundamental role".

The Fundación Educacional Oportunidad activity was carried out in conjunction with the Universidad de La Serena, with the collaboration of the British Council and National Geographic Learning and with the participation of Bukku Education, Grupo Educativo Inglesa, Colegio Cervantes and English Arts.

Several trainings with the participation of English teachers and management teams from the four municipal schools of the Coinco commune, O'Higgins region, which are part of We Learn Net, as well as the communal Head of UTP, provided teachers with new strategies to increase exposure to the language outside the classroom, while together with the management teams they analysed the progress of their schools around the goals of the first semester.

These trainings took place in the framework of the first year of operation of the network of communes that promotes the teaching of English at an early age, where Coinco is the founding commune of the We Learn NET network, also composed of teachers and schools of the Elqui Valley. 

On 7 June a training session was held for the English teaching teams, focusing on strategies to increase exposure to the language outside the classroom. In this instance, the organisation of a cultural event for the end of August at the Chillehue School was agreed upon. The teachers will work together with the school's management team and head teachers to organise a talent show. The students will have the opportunity to showcase their language skills within the school community.

Regarding this activity, teacher Martina Garay, values the work carried out together with the management teams, because "in this way the We Learn programme is taken more seriously and English is considered a relevant subject within the curriculum. These meetings allow us to have a guide to know what to focus on".

On 28 June, a training session was held for the commune's management teams to analyse the schools' progress towards their goals and to review how the actions proposed by We Learn Net are in line with the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Education for the subject. In addition, the first steps were taken together with the Head of the local UTP, Marlene González, to organise an English cultural event in which all the schools will participate, as part of the celebration of the anniversary of the commune in November.

This networking of the We Learn NET programme was appreciated by Marta Palacios, principal of the Chillehue School, who said: "the network works very well. The communication is good, and I also like the fact that they involve all members of the educational community in the work, so we get closer to the work of the teachers".