Mr Rodrigo Cristian Clavero Gonzalez

High school English teacher

Santiago, Chile

“The activities I learnt during my short course are things I used in my classroom in Chile everyday […] It also brought me back to Queensland to continue my postgraduate studies in TESOL.”

I first met Philippa during my professional development program at the University of Queensland's Institute of Continuing & TESOL Education back in 2014. I was fortunate to be selected to participate in a program with my colleagues from high schools across Chile, via the The English Opens Doors Program (Programa Inglés Abre Puertas), an initiative supported by the Chilean Ministry of Education.

Philippa was one of the trainers on my program and I still remember the class she taught us at that time. She was such a kind and enthusiastic trainer! I had so many great experiences during the course with the UQ trainers and the activities I learnt really made an impact on me. I was inspired to use new approaches and the communicative activities I learnt during my short course are things I used in my classroom in Chile everyday.

This experience also brought me back to Queensland in 2020, to continue my postgraduate studies in TESOL at the University of Queensland. It was great to reconnect with Philippa again and continue our conversations about teaching, and life in Brisbane.

I was so fortunate to be able to continue to connect with Philippa, Fiona, Vicki, and the team at QI by joining their alumni workshops and events in 2021 and 2022. It's been great to gain more practical ideas for my physical and virtual classroom in Chile.