n 1994 SEDL sponsored a series of meetings along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of its Border Colloquy Project, which focused on the shared border regions of the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, New Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Texas. Participants in these meetings recommended teacher exchanges to promote binational understanding and cooperation. In response, SEDL agreed to sponsor a small number of educator exchanges to determine the critical components and outcomes of such exchanges.

Four objectives were identified for these exchanges:

• for U.S. teachers to learn more about the Mexican educational system, culture, customs, history, geography, etc.,

• for U.S. teachers to learn practical Spanish,

• for U.S. teachers to learn about the different teaching strategies used by Mexican educators, and

• for Mexican teachers to learn more about the U.S. educational system through their interactions with U.S. Teachers

SEDL arranged for two exchanges between the United States and Mexico: the New Mexico Teacher-Ambassador Exchange and the Richardson / Cd. Victoria Exchange. This section describes these two exchanges and the benefits for educators who participated.

SEDL contracted with the New Mexico State Department of Education (NMSDE) to offer the Teacher-Ambassador Exchange Program. NMSDE had participated in an earlier exchange in 1995. The NMSDE selected 12 teachers to participate in an exchange with the state of Nuevo Leon in Mexico, including seven bilingual teachers from grades 1-5, three bilingual resource teachers for grades K-8, one ESL/bilingual coordinator who oversaw grades 6-8, and one ESL/bilingual director for grades K-12. The participants' teaching experience varied from few to many years. The ethnic composition of the participating teachers from New Mexico was divided almost evenly between Hispanic (52 percent) and Anglo (48 percent). Twelve schools from eight school districts participated in the exchange.

 

Teacher Ambassador Exchange Program New Mexico State Department of Education Bilingual Multicultural Department 300 Don Gaspar, Room 303 Santa Fe, NM 87501-2786 USA Contact person: Mary J. Habermann Phone: 505/827-6666 FA10: 505/827-6566 Background Information Host sites: Guadalajara, Jal. México Monterrey, N.L. México Albuquerque, NM USA Estancia, NM USA Española, NM USA Farmington, NM USA Hatch, NM USA Las Cruces, NM USA Los Lunas, NM USA Questa, NM USA Year Program began: 1995 Type of exchange: Two-way; paired exchange Participants: Bilingual and/or ESL teachers, resource teachers, coordinators Recruitment procedures: New Mexico State Department of Education Grade levels represented: K-12 Subject areas represented: English, Spanish, math, science, language arts Duration: Two weeks Financial Support: Transportation and stipend provided by SEDL; meals and lodging by host country Criteria for participation: Spanish writing sample; teaching degree; English and Spanish proficiency; involvement in bilingual and/or ESL; preparation of three mini-workshops for receiving school Exchange Activities All teachers visited and observed in classrooms; generally assigned to same grade level; some co-taught ESL, literacy, music, geography, etc.; worked in the content areas in Mexico and vice-versa Some of the upper-grade U.S. teachers assisted with technology in the upper grades Conducted student interviews Provided mini-workshops for colleagues Co-developed lesson plans, shared and acquired materials Visited bookstores and attended cultural outings Interacted with other colleagues from New Mexico Other Information Teachers participated in a "paired exchange," i.e., they lived in the home of their teacher-partner from Mexico and shared their teaching experience for two weeks. Their teacher-partner from Mexico then visited New Mexico to live in their home and shared classroom teaching experiences. The prior cohort of teachers provided an orientation session for the teachers who participated in the second year.

Richardson / CD. Victoria Exchange

SEDL also invited the Region 10 Education Service Center (ESC) of Richardson, Texas, to participate along with the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in its educator exchange program. This exchange involved teacher trainers instead of classroom teachers and administrators.

Region 10 ESC selected a Spanish consultant and a distance-learning television instructor. Tamaulipas education officials selected the two participants from their state. Arrangements were made to have the two Texan participants visit Tamaulipas for two weeks during June 1996 while school was still in session (Mexico's school year ends in late June).

The two participants from Tamaulipas also spent two weeks in Richardson, Texas, and assisted in the Summer Institute for Spanish Teachers organized by Region 10 ESC. SEDL covered transportation costs and a stipend for all four participants; the stipends were used for the purchase of materials in the host country. All other incidentals were the participants' responsibility.

 

Richardson-Cd. Victoria Esc Region X-Secude* Education Service Center, Region 10 400 E. Spring Valley Rd. Richardson, T10 75083-1300 USA Contact person: Gary Bowers Phone: 972/231-6301 FA10: 927/231-3642 Background Information Host sites: Richardson, T10 USA Cd. Victoria, Tamps., Mexico Year Program began: 1996 Type of exchange: Two-way exchange Participants: Spanish consultant; Spanish teacher for distance learning Program Size:Two participants from each country Grade levels represented: K-12 Subject areas represented: English, Spanish Duration: Two weeks Financial Support: Transportation and stipend provided by SEDL; meals and lodging by host country Criteria for participation: Former and/or current teacher; provided professional development in their region; English- and Spanish-language proficiency Recruitment procedures: New Mexico State Department of Education Exchange Activities Orientation sessions on educational systems Observations in ESL, two-way bilingual, content Interview of second-grade teacher who areas in English and Spanish provided training in reading Cultural outings to museums, cathedrals, malls, Visit to university for future preschool teachers bookstores, and archeological sites Classroom visits from preschool up to secondary Mexican educators participate in a Staff Development Summer Institute Other Information A representative from the service center met the two administrators in Cd. Victoria in order to develop a video that captured as much as possible of the city's culture, schools, educational programs and methodologies, etc. The video was used during the staff development for U.S. teachers. All focus sessions in the U.S. and Mexico were also videotaped by the same person from the service center. *SECUDE is a Spanish acronym for Secretariat of Education, Culture and Sports.

Participants' Experiences

After these two exchanges, participants met in focus groups to reflect on their experiences. Participants' responses to focus-group questionnaires were divided into two primary areas: (a) increasing cultural awareness and (b) increasing awareness and understanding of the similarities and differences between the two countries' educational systems. The following sections describe participants' responses in both areas. (See Appendices A and B.)

Increased Cultural Awareness

Initially, most teachers' knowledge of the other's culture was somewhat limited. By living with host families, U.S. teachers were able to acquire firsthand knowledge of how that family's culture was reflected in the school environment and the community.

One participant remarked:

Living with a family was the added plus of this program; and because you learn with the family, you learn with the friends, the environment. That was what made the difference of the program. Just being with these people all the time, and not just going home after the time is up at the end of the day, but being with them day and night that helped me to better understand families that I have in my classroom now.

U.S. participants mentioned being treated as family members during their stay. Many commented on the positive attitude and generosity of their Mexican colleagues and families in spite of their many hardships. Their hosts' openness to questions and ideas was also noted. Students and families treated their U.S. guests with respect and courtesy. Mexican students evidenced pride in their heritage and close family ties. As one U.S. teacher explained, "even as Hispanics, we've lost that to a great extent here in the United States."

These experiences helped U.S. teachers gain invaluable insights into Mexican students' culture. As one teacher commented, this grassroots experience resulted in a better understanding of Mexican philosophies and social trends, enabling teachers to be more sensitive to recent immigrant students. This, in turn, would help them prepare more meaningful lessons for ESL students and students of limited English proficiency (LEP) in the U.S.

The U.S. teachers appreciated the opportunity to become immersed in a foreign language. Although most had mastery of the Spanish language, the exchange opportunity allowed them to practice "formal" Spanish in their hosts' homes and communities. One teacher was surprised at how everyone's Spanish, including her own, was frequently corrected in the home. The following teacher comments reflect this sentiment.

I was able to practice and learn new vocabulary that I need to use in my teaching position.

I practiced my Spanish to benefit my bilingual classes' writing.

This experience allowed me to better my Spanish.

Professionally, it has helped my Spanish speaking and interpreting skills.

Mexican teachers commented that the exchange made them aware of similarities with their U.S. counterparts. For example, certain geographical regions and culinary habits of the U.S. Southwest were similar to those of their home country.

To me it seemed so similar, even the name of Nuevo Leon and New Mexico. And something else that we identify with is the similarity in the mountain ranges. The mountain they call Las Sandias, well we have a Sandia mountain here [in the rural area of Dr. Arroyo, Nuevo Leon] as well. The food is also very similar. In reality, I was able to visit some churches and it seemed as if I were in Guanajuato or in a place like that in Mexico. Their [New Mexican] culture is very similar to our [Mexican] culture.

Increased Awareness and Understanding of Both Countries' Educational Systems

Both the U.S. and Mexican educators acknowledged their commitment to children and education. As one Mexican teacher reflected:

And we found out that we have something in common. Despite the huge differences we found, we seem to like being teachers, we love education, we love our students. I truly think that teachers in the U.S. have much in common with the teachers in Mexico.

This commitment provided the foundation for them to learn more about each other's educational system and how each could benefit from the other. This section presents U.S. and Mexican educators' reports and reflections about the educational systems present in both countries.

U.S. educators immediately recognized the differences between the two countries' school day. Many of the U.S. teachers were not aware of the different school schedules followed in Mexico. Normally, Mexican facilities house two schools serving two different sets of administrators, staffs, and students. These schools operate two different shifts (morning and afternoon) to accommodate as many students as possible. For the U.S. teachers, this explained why many of their recent immigrant Mexican students tired easily, especially after lunch.

Before the exchange experience, Mexican teachers were not aware of the many extracurricular activities (e.g., band, music, football) U.S. students engaged in during the school day and had expected to see more instruction-related activities. Although the school day in the U.S. is a few hours longer, Mexican participants concluded that the U.S. and Mexican educational systems devote almost the same amount of time to instruction.

Curriculum

U.S. educators reported that the Mexican elementary curricula were very similar to those of the U.S. in many respects. For instance, the social studies program carried the same emphasis on citizenship and family. In contrast, the Mexican elementary curricula were more advanced in math, science, and geography.

U.S. and Mexican teachers traded scope and sequences. U.S. teachers shared the Mexican scope and sequence and supplemental materials with their colleagues in the U.S. upon their return from Mexico. They noted that these materials were useful in helping recent immigrant students make the difficult transition from one educational system to the other.

U.S. teachers incorporated holidays and/or famous people into their classroom curriculum as they had seen in Mexico. As one teacher explained:

You get into "La Cucaracha" from Pancho Villa's army into George Washington's army and Yankee Doodle Dandy; Benito Juarez, well Abraham Lincoln was parallel and similar. So I've tried to help people in finding and looking for concepts that have some comparability in building the pride with a lot of the positive cultural aspects. You don't always find one, but when you start looking, you'd be surprised.

Instruction

Both U.S. and Mexican teachers noted significant differences in classroom instruction between the two countries. Most schools in Mexico rely on teacher-directed instruction, with the exception of private schools that allow for more group work and student-directed instruction. Because of the number of students in the classroom, lack of teaching materials (such as manipulatives for hands-on activities), and schedules that require teachers to roam from room to room, teachers in Mexican public schools are somewhat limited in the techniques and strategies used in the classroom.

U.S. teachers discussed the possibility of expanding instruction in their classrooms by including Mexican literature, music, riddles, poetry, and art. These new options were a direct result of their observations of Mexican classrooms. One teacher pointed out that the inclusion of traditional music from Mexico had helped at least one of her students become more interested in school; previously this student had spent most of his school day in detention. Other U.S. teachers echoed similar praise for including such materials in their classrooms.

Mexico's educators noted that U.S. teachers seem to act more as facilitators than transmitters of knowledge. There was less direct instruction going on and instruction was more personalized. They observed the active participation of students and how students were allowed to express and exchange ideas.

Similar to their U.S. counterparts, Mexico's teachers planned to incorporate some of the instructional strategies they had observed in U.S. classrooms. One teacher was very intrigued with cooperative learning.

It was very interesting for me to see that during class the teacher used cooperative learning. This is one of the methods that we teachers are currently analyzing in the SECAM (Nuevo Leon's professional development academy). It was very interesting to me that these methods are currently used in the U.S. schools very effectively. The application of these techniques, and how the teacher implements them, seem interesting and I believe we can take advantage of that.

An upper-grade teacher was considering increasing the time for English across the content areas in order to build the students' bilingual skills. Other teachers were exploring the DEAR reading program (Drop Everything and Read), rewards for reading, and tutoring programs. Mexican educators believed that reading strategies like these could be incorporated immediately into their programs.

I am currently doing this study on reading strategies, and it is interesting to see how children in the U.S. are motivated to read, not only with textbooks, but with literary works. At Truman High School, I had the opportunity to see a program which has everyone interested in reading . . . from the principal to the custodian. I like it and I am thinking about using it next year at the school where I work. It is a very good way of making everyone become interested in reading and I think we can use it here [in Mexico].

Resources

U.S. teachers learned about Mexico's national curriculum and the national textbooks program. Mexico's Federal Ministry of Education (Secretaría de Educación Pública) publishes all elementary textbooks, which are distributed free to students nationwide. U.S. teachers commented on the strong reflection of the Mexican culture found in the textbooks and admired the use of famous paintings and the importance placed on celebrating heroes and local leaders in their community.

We really need to get many of our [Spanish] materials from Monterrey [or from Mexico] because their textbooks are superior to anything that I have seen and that we've tried to purchase in the U.S. I speak as a bilingual resource teacher where you're trying to enrich a school with Spanish language skills. I got those [materials] and when I looked through them, it was awesome. They were just so beautifully done and they were at various levels. . . so that's one thing to key into.

U.S. teachers returned with language instructional materials to use in their classrooms. For example, they brought materials to help solidify their Spanish literacy courses. Because of the authenticity and originality of the materials, teachers anticipated using these materials to support other content areas as well. They also noticed that teachers in Mexico consistently integrated writing, spelling, and phonics skills in their lessons and planned to use the same approach in their classrooms.

Mexican educators noted that U.S. teachers had access to an abundance of teaching resources and materials. Federally funded programs, such as Title I, student access to libraries, transportation, and cafeterias were all aspects of the U.S. educational system that the Mexican participants pointed out as definite advantages. The exchange experience, however, served to reconfirm their own dedication as educators, since they considered themselves to be successful as teachers in spite of limited resources.

U.S. participants were able to observe secondary students in Mexico using the Internet and interacting electronically (e-mail) with students from Australia, Canada, and Italy. U.S. teachers were especially interested in the use and acquisition of software programs that focused on Spanish grammar and that were not readily available in the U.S.

Mexico's teachers were exposed to the use of instructional technology in U.S. classrooms and were interested in its applications. Although the use of instructional technology in Mexico is still somewhat limited, teachers indicated that they perceived it as a possible means for future communication between students and/or teachers of both countries. They thought this would be a promising way for all to practice Spanish and/or English.

ESL/English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching in Mexico includes a lot of Total Physical Response (TPR), but with integration of content, including music, poetry, dance, and drama. English instruction has always been emphasized at the secondary and higher-education levels in Mexico, and currently there are pilot programs for teaching English at the elementary level in some states. Many of the ESL/EFL teachers in Mexico are not fluent in English. One U.S. teacher, who observed a secondary ESL teacher, made reference to the teacher's use of audiolingual methods that are not very common in teaching ESL in the U.S. Also, U.S. educators observed that ESL/EFL in Mexico was implemented differently. They did not see a prescribed form for teaching ESL/EFL, but saw it taught differently in many of the classrooms.

Through discussions and classroom observations U.S. teachers came to realize that there is a significant difference in the concept of bilingual education in Mexico. Although bilingual education exists in Mexico, it is at times referred to as the education imparted to the indigenous populations (where Spanish is the second language). However, in most cases, the concept of bilingual education is more of a two-way bilingual program, especially in private schools, where there is a strong emphasis on the teaching of English. The U.S. teacher trainers had the opportunity to visit some private schools that had implemented two-way bilingual programs, and acknowledged that students were discussing difficult themes in English.

The teachers from Mexico recognized the challenge that U.S. educators face in providing instruction to Spanish-speaking groups that are not of Mexican origin. They found that U.S. teachers learned to use different lexical terms to meet the needs of the vocabulary of the many Spanish-speaking groups and identified some of the Spanish used by U.S. teachers as archaic. They also discovered that teachers provided lessons across all grade levels that included the cultures of other Spanish-speaking countries through the use of games, dance, and music.

Educators from both countries discussed the different roles that teachers and parents play in each country's educational system. U.S. educators noted the respect that Mexican students have for teachers as figures of authority. Most U.S. participants mentioned that they noticed few discipline problems in the classrooms. Students in Mexico stood up when teachers walked into the classrooms or when asked to respond in class.

The U.S. educators spoke about the limited roles parents have in Mexico's schools and in the decision-making process; parents allow teachers to make decisions about their children's schooling. Nevertheless, parental support at home is strong. U.S. teachers mentioned students were motivated to attend school and complete schoolwork at home, and their parents followed up on school-related issues. Parents are treated as honored guests at school and often are invited to attend programs and/or contests showcasing their children's skills in poetry reading, music, and dancing.

Mexican participants observed that teachers in Mexico are respected and appreciated more by students and the community. They also suggested that the U.S. culture allows for certain liberties that lead to discipline problems. For example, U.S. students are more independent, are given more choices, and have more freedom to move around in the classroom. This gave the impression that U.S. teachers lack the authority to discipline students.

Mexican teachers acknowledged the strong influence parents have in the educational process in the U.S. They also noted school programs in which family members were active participants; e.g., grandparents serving as storytellers in reading programs, and other collaborative initiatives between parents and the school.

Many of the U.S. teachers noted that Mexican teachers hold lifelong teaching certification that is valid throughout the country. Furthermore, teachers are not required to attend professional development workshops or training to keep abreast of new techniques and strategies. Career advancement is based on merit and regulated by the teachers' union. Mexico's teachers seek to move up from teaching at the elementary level to the secondary level because it means more pay and more status. As a result, it is feasible that elementary-certified teachers in Mexico may end up teaching English and other courses in which they lack the specialized training.

Mexican teachers said they were also impressed with the support given to teachers in implementing such approaches as cooperative learning, innovative reading strategies (such as Drop Everything and Read), and the use of instructional technology in the lower grades.

The issue of inclusion of special education students in mainstream classrooms was also of interest to teachers from Mexico, although there was a sense of discrepancy with regard to the way the U.S. educational system deals with special needs students. While some Mexican teachers favored this type of program, others stated that special education students in the U.S. were still being segregated due to the special assistance being received through paraprofessionals and small group instruction. In Mexico, regular classroom teachers are expected to oversee the instruction of all their students, including those with special needs.

Mexican class being taught by a SEDL exchange participant.