In April of 2010, John Ford Milton left the United States to be part of a volunteer program in the Republic of Chile that had the intention of improving English education in that country's schools. The program is known as Inglés Abre Puertas (English Opens Doors) and is a government created program that is partnered with the United Nations Development Program. John was part of a group of volunteers set to be in Chile teaching for 8 months. He arrived in Santiago, and after a week of orientation he was sent to the Northern desert region of Antofagasta. Located in Región Dos, dead center of the Atacama Desert, he was assigned to teach in the mining city of Calama. His school is a municipal high school.
Prior to arriving in Chile, John worked as a freelance filmmaker by night, and by day was employed at Georgia State University as a PC Systems Specialist. He had never taught English, or anything for that matter, professionally and his Spanish was rudimentary at best.
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| JFM in the desert. Literally and figuratively. |
He is scheduled to return to the United States at the end of November, when the program ends. However, whether or not he makes it out of South America remains to be seen.
