What most surprised Millersville University professor Bill Himmele on his recent trip to Chile is the lengths children there will go to — even riding a horse bareback for miles — to get to school.

"It was amazing to see what these kids would go through to get an education," Himmele said. "They have such desire."

Himmele, 44, of Lititz, a graduate coordinator of the university's English as a Second Language Department  and an assistant professor of education in the Early Childhood Education Department, was in the Chiloe region of southern Chile from March 12 to 16 to help instructors there become better  English teachers.

Most students stay at their respective schools during the week, Himmele said, and go home on weekends. That's the only way to educate all the students in such a vast country, he said.

"On one side, you have hundreds of islands that make up Chile, and on the other side there are the Andes Mountains," Himmele said. "Sometimes there are just two families that live on these islands, but they have to educate them. So what they do with their kids is that they board them from their parents from Monday through Friday, and they actually live at the school site."

Himmele said teachers, who often become second parents to their students, are passionate about teaching, despite  sometimes having very few  resources.

"Most classes only have two or three books in English, and most of the time they are not appropriate for their grade level," Himmele said. "There's a tremendous need for resources to get down to them at their school sites."

Himmele provided schools with Internet sites where teachers could access age-appropriate books.

Though schools were lacking in books, they were exposed to plenty of technology, Himmele said.

"Even the poorest schools we visited had a computer with an Internet connection, everyone had a radio and one school had a TV studio," he said.

Himmele said Chileans believe technology is an important part of education.

"It's their connection to the outside world," Himmele said.

But just as important for Chilean students is mastering English, Himmele said.

"They say, 'We want Chile to be part of this global community — the value of English, English is going to be one of the best things to be part of this global community,' " he said.

During his visit, Himmele said, he  found teachers were sometimes at a loss about how to apply English as part of their instruction. Chilean students spend about 45 minutes a day learning English.

"One of the things I noticed is that they don't tie their English instruction  to the curriculum," Himmele said.

He told teachers to use visual aids, poems, songs and storytelling to teach children English.

"I gave them a reason to acquire that language," Himmele said.

Himmele said he plans to translate a state rubrics assessment tool into Spanish so teachers in the region he visited could better measure student progress. He also taught a few classes.

Himmele, who learned about the opportunity travel to Chile through Millersville's International House, where he is a member of the advisory board, is no stranger to foreign classrooms.  He has  been on similar educational trips to Nepal, Fiji and Trinidad and has visited China several times.

In his travels, Himmele said, he is constantly amazed by students and the environment in which they learn. He was especially impressed with the gentle nature of Chilean children.

"They immediately ran right over to me and so just wanted any type of interaction," Himmele said. "They wanted to include me in their soccer game and were just so dying for any type of attention. The kids would just peek out the window and make faces and giggle. They just so wanted to play."

E-mail: mpennino@lnpnews.com