The Central Campus has recently hosted four ‘Train the Trainer’ learners from Chile.

The learners were teachers from Agriculture Schools in Chile. They were here to learn about Otago Polytechnic’s teaching practices, the New Zealand Qualifications Framework, understanding how we integrate Latin American students into the Central Campus and how we manage them in the workplace with paid internships.

The group were leaders from their respective schools, and came from schools near to Santiago in the middle of Chile, to Orsono in the South.

The teachers began their programme at the same time as 32 summer school Latin American students, starting on 25 November. During the four week programme, the teachers were involved in a range of activities to experience what life is like for an international student beginning with the Central Campus, this included:

- English with the Latin students
- Field trips to high tech rural properties from organic vineyards to high country merino wool farming
- Experiencing robotic milking
- Attending a Mihi
- Going to the local primary school for an English class for the Latin students with the year three students (they were buddied up and had to speak - English with the children)
- Participating in a Tech and sustainability programme
- Visiting the interns in the workplace
- Experiencing what it is like to be an international student at Otago Polytechnic
- Participating in English in the catering kitchens
- Learning about New Zealand’s education system and in particular the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.

Overall the teachers were overwhelmed with their experience in Otago. It was a very emotional time for them when they left! A highlight was living in a homestay with our staff. The feedback from the teachers was outstanding, and certainly shows us that there is large potential for growth in the train the trainer area.