Gabriela Mistral was once an ordinary teacher in a small village school in Northern Chile. Towering mountains separate her village from the world outside. Gabriela Mistral was only fifteen when she began teaching, but she was a good teacher. She helped (1)___________________. For eighteen years, Gabriela devoted her life to the poor farm children of Chile's Northern valleys. During part of this time, she was director of schools in all of Chile. Before long, (2)_____________________. In 1922, she was invited to Mexico to help organize the rural school system. Two years later, Gabriela Mistral came to the United States where she served as a visiting professor in several colleges. In New York City, a group of teachers helped to finance the publication of her first book of poetry. Some of her books have been translated into six different languages. She gave the income from some of her books to help poor and neglected children. Beginning in the 1920's, her interests reached out to broader fields. Statesmen asked her advice on international problems. She tried to (3)______________________. She tried to develop a better understanding between the United States and countries of Latin America. In 1945, she gained worldwide recognition by winning the Nobel Prize in literature, the first Southern American to win the prize.