Memoirs of a Teacher Trainee, by Ángel Guardia Espinoza

Abstract

Ángel Guardia Espinoza, a rural teacher, graduated from the Chillán Teacher Training College in 1942. In Memorias de un normalista (Memoirs of a Teacher Trainee, 1988), a book illustrated by Juan Enrique Plaza, he recounts his years of teacher training, giving us a glimpse into everyday life at the Chillán Teacher Training College and the repercussions of the earthquake that devastated the city in 1939. Memorias uses the earthquake as a symbol of the possibility of the decline and rise of teacher training, in the context of a discussion about the reopening of teacher training colleges in the country.