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Mexican police escorted seven crowded buses from Mexico’s border to Monterrey, one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, on Jan. 3. The protected cargo? Student teachers.
UNM students Shabab Saad and Elizabeth Paz were two of 500 college students who participated in the recent International Youth Fellowship English Camp, in which college students from across the Unites States traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, to teach students how to speak English. The program, which ran from Dec. 30 to Jan. 6, involved a five-day training session in Dallas and three days of classes for Mexican elementary school, middle school, high school and college students in Monterrey.
Saad said the students said they heard gunshots all the time, and the American students were escorted by about 30 Mexican police cars everywhere they went.
“The kids were actually surprised because there were so many police around us,” Saad said. “I told them ‘They’re for our protection’ and the kids were all ‘oh, yeah, yeah.’ Even though they know it’s a dangerous area, to see all these police officers there, it’s a surprise, because usually the police don’t go there.”
Paz said the three days of classes were meant as a launching point for young students who want to learn English.
“Obviously, you can’t teach them how to speak English perfectly in three days, but it was kind of a way to encourage their yearning to learn more English. A lot of these kids were still learning and want to learn English for their careers,” Paz said.
The 500 American students were split into small groups and assigned to different schools. Paz, who is studying English as a second language, was assigned to teach at a small middle school in Monterrey.
“We started off not knowing what the heck we were doing,” she said. “Once we got to the classrooms, it was like ‘What do we do? How do we teach this stuff to them?’ The first day, I honestly thought my students hated me. But then over the span of the next two days, it just got so much better because they grew more enthusiastic, they started getting more eager to learn.”
The teaching groups chose how to teach English, but Paz said they all incorporated song and dance. Paz said she taught her class by playing “Mexico’s Got Talent,” in which groups of students sang, danced and gave monologues in English. Saad, who was assigned to a teaching college, had his students compose a play in English.
“We created a schedule for them, little handbooks with content, taught them songs, dances, English-American games. We created a play with them where we acted and spoke in English, so they could memorize and say dialogues in English,” he said.
Saad had never spoken Spanish before; it was not a requirement to be in the program. He said although there was a language barrier between him and his students, he learned there is a deeper bond between students and teachers.
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“You are a teacher, but if you do not open your heart, you will not be at that level,” he said. “You have to connect your heart to your students, not your mind. When we were leaving, we had tears in our eyes; we couldn’t stop crying. We don’t know why, we wouldn’t give you an answer. It’s pretty weird that within three days you get so much close to someone and you cry.”
Paz said her experience in Monterrey helped test and reaffirm her interest in teaching.
“I had only really tutored, and I helped my friends with their language homework, but I hadn’t been in a classroom environment practicing my skills, and going there and practicing and actually getting a feel for the classroom and the students, it just really inspired me, it helped me to be more enthusiastic of what’s to come in my career. It’s not about teaching the material, it’s about building the relationship between you and your students,” she said.
