Welcoming Chilean students in Ireland
Jovanni Tello and Cristina Cunha manage SEDA’s office in Chile – a country that has important historic connections with Ireland and that is quite well represented in SEDA. More than 20 Chilean students are now learning English in SEDA College. Last month the students helped organise the Chile National Day – an event attended by Mr Renato Gómez Oporto from the Chilean embassy in Ireland. SEDA News spoke to Jovanni and Cristina about their work and asked them what attracts increasing numbers of young Chileans to Ireland.
We will refer to Jovanni Tello as JT and Cristina Cunha as CC throughout this article.
Jovanni and Cristina, could you tell me a bit about yourselves?
Sure! We are Jovanni Tello from Venezuela and Cristina Cunha from Portugal. We used to manage SEDA’s offices in Venezuela and then SEDA offered us to open operations in Chile. Chile is a country that we’ve always liked to visit, so we embraced the opportunity to work with Chilean students. We are currently living between Chile, Ireland and Portugal where we have another project with SEDA College.
Do Chilean people know much about Ireland? Is there much interest in English courses here?
CC: The interest is increasing with each event and student fair that we participate in, plus all the promotions that SEDA College is doing online help. I think before we arrived in Chile Ireland was virtually unknown as a destination to study English, and people mainly knew about traditional destinations such as Canada, Australia or the USA. But now this is changing and people are aware about the advantages of studying in Ireland and SEDA as well.
Does Chile have any interesting historic connections to Ireland?
JT: Of course! Bernardo O´Higgins is one of the American Liberators, he actively participated in the events that occurred in Chile from 1810, which eventually led to its independence from the Spanish Empire, and he was one of the most important figures of the emancipation of Chile where he is regarded as one of the Founding Fathers. He was the son of Ambrosio O´Higgins – an Irishman. Chile is also home to the second biggest Irish community in South America, counting about 120,000 citizens of full or partial Irish descent. And fortunately, Andrew Blest, an Irish adventurer, arrived in Valparaiso and founded in 1825, the first brewery in Chile.
Why do you think Chilean people would be interested in learning English in Ireland? What are the advantages?
CC: Mainly it is the low cost of English courses and the fact that students can work. When they go abroad to study, most Latin American people are looking for a complete English immersion experience, so being able to work is a big advantage. Another big advantage is Ireland’s proximity to European capitals such as Paris, Lisbon or Rome. Students can easily and cheaply travel there, so they don’t have just Ireland, but the whole of Europe to discover!
How does SEDA support Chilean students wishing to come to Ireland?
JT: We support the student from the very moment they set foot at our office in Santiago or contact us online. In fact, currently we have more than 20 Chilean students at SEDA and the feedback is very positive. We advise them about the best dates to travel, we explain what they can and cannot expect in Dublin, where to buy flight tickets and where to find the best accommodation options.
CC: We are very glad to be a part of SEDA College and we enjoy helping our Chilean students to reach their goal of studying in the friendliest country in Europe and the best English school in Dublin!
