You may remember that I discussed this special town a bit in my interview with Juan Carlos Mijanos Noh (January blog).
Canicab is a small town about 45 minutes outside of Mérida. Approximately 700 persons live in the town (Mayans) and the majority need to bus (1 hour +) into Mérida for work or school. Juan Carlos and a few colleagues have been working in the town for four years hoping to create an alternative to the current lifestyle of the citizens which includes season work in service industries and limited education opportunities
Here is a short video that will explain the Canicab project (featuring Juan Carlos). It's great! Watch it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwcv_EI6Hcs
My friends Melanie and Justin and I visited the village one Sunday afternoon. Juan Carlos and Olga, a college student (see "Olga's Story") graciously showed us the community center, the school and the fields that they had begun to plant. Below are pictures of the bicycle operated water pump and the windmills.
I was very interested in observing the programs here as a group of professors are trying to maintain the traditional Mayan way of life while including contemporary "necessities" such as internet. Students are able to take Mayan language classes at the community center and there is a Wednesday morning preschool class. If the group is successful with their crops (no easy feat with the limestone soil of the Yucatan) there will be opportunities to vastly improve life in the village - less travel to the city, less reliance on tourism based menial labor. More time for the youth to continue their studies. I hope to keep tabs on this program and see where it takes the village and the professors in the next year.
Another reason I wanted to visit the village was due to the conversation I had with Olga, a senior at UADY who was completing her community service practicum by tutoring in the village. She told me first how much it had changed her – that she had high expectations for herself, that she had the perfect (lesson) plans, but she soon found that her students were not “”perfect” they had to work 6am to 11pm daily and did not have time for homework. They sometimes did not want to attend – due to a new boyfriend, baby or perhaps they felt the classes were too hard. Needless to say, Olga persevered. Weekend after weekend she arrived at the school and was ready for the students. As the students expressed frustrations with the lessons she changed the class to include more general discussion.
What did she find? She found that the students were EMPOWERED by the opportunity to speak and share –to find that other students were in the same position with issues regarding work, family, the difficulties of learning math and Spanish. Just to hear that others shared similar problems made a difference in all of the students’ lives. Now the students meet faithfully, regularly. They arrive on time at the center to work with Olga.
This is the sort of program or project that I envision for my return to Princeton. I believe very strongly in community building and community meetings and I am excited to start the long, slow process of it upon my return. Juan Carlos advised me to not have expectations, just to have hope. Estoy de acuerdo (I agree!)
While visiting, we observed Olga helping a student prepare for a state math exam. This past week while interviewing Olga for another story I asked how the student had performed. She reported that unfortunately there were a few issues from the start of the test including how to bubble in your name (complete name of 3-4 family names) and the issues caused more stress for the student. The stress of the test coupled with the stress of filling out an unfamiliar set of questions was too much for her.
I couldn't help but compare that to our own PHS Get-It-Done Group - a group dedicated to assisting all seniors with college application and scholarship plans. So often, a student would face a similar question. It might be another question regarding name or a question regarding parent's education level. More often than not, the PHS student would decide to skip the question or close the application. It is ironic how much time we need to teach students how to fill out standardized forms and answer bureaucratic questions...isn't it?
Back to Olga's student. Olga is a natural teacher and told her she would train her on test taking so that there would be less stress. Olga said. "But I told her not to give up, she has a lot of discipline now from the time I met her, to now, I can see a true difference."
So here's to standardized state and national tests all around the world, even in the smallest villages of the Yucatan. Just kidding, it's a sad state of affairs, as you all know. Explaining to a young Mayan girl how to fill out bubbles for nombre completa is just a small example. Here's to all of the teachers, administrators, parents and students that need to prepare for PARCC testing in April. I wish you patience, unlimited computers and successful internet connections (so that the process does not have to be repeated).
Canicab is a small town about 45 minutes outside of Mérida. Approximately 700 persons live in the town (Mayans) and the majority need to bus (1 hour +) into Mérida for work or school. Juan Carlos and a few colleagues have been working in the town for four years hoping to create an alternative to the current lifestyle of the citizens which includes season work in service industries and limited education opportunities
Here is a short video that will explain the Canicab project (featuring Juan Carlos). It's great! Watch it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwcv_EI6Hcs
My friends Melanie and Justin and I visited the village one Sunday afternoon. Juan Carlos and Olga, a college student (see "Olga's Story") graciously showed us the community center, the school and the fields that they had begun to plant. Below are pictures of the bicycle operated water pump and the windmills.
I was very interested in observing the programs here as a group of professors are trying to maintain the traditional Mayan way of life while including contemporary "necessities" such as internet. Students are able to take Mayan language classes at the community center and there is a Wednesday morning preschool class. If the group is successful with their crops (no easy feat with the limestone soil of the Yucatan) there will be opportunities to vastly improve life in the village - less travel to the city, less reliance on tourism based menial labor. More time for the youth to continue their studies. I hope to keep tabs on this program and see where it takes the village and the professors in the next year.
Another reason I wanted to visit the village was due to the conversation I had with Olga, a senior at UADY who was completing her community service practicum by tutoring in the village. She told me first how much it had changed her – that she had high expectations for herself, that she had the perfect (lesson) plans, but she soon found that her students were not “”perfect” they had to work 6am to 11pm daily and did not have time for homework. They sometimes did not want to attend – due to a new boyfriend, baby or perhaps they felt the classes were too hard. Needless to say, Olga persevered. Weekend after weekend she arrived at the school and was ready for the students. As the students expressed frustrations with the lessons she changed the class to include more general discussion.
What did she find? She found that the students were EMPOWERED by the opportunity to speak and share –to find that other students were in the same position with issues regarding work, family, the difficulties of learning math and Spanish. Just to hear that others shared similar problems made a difference in all of the students’ lives. Now the students meet faithfully, regularly. They arrive on time at the center to work with Olga.
This is the sort of program or project that I envision for my return to Princeton. I believe very strongly in community building and community meetings and I am excited to start the long, slow process of it upon my return. Juan Carlos advised me to not have expectations, just to have hope. Estoy de acuerdo (I agree!)
While visiting, we observed Olga helping a student prepare for a state math exam. This past week while interviewing Olga for another story I asked how the student had performed. She reported that unfortunately there were a few issues from the start of the test including how to bubble in your name (complete name of 3-4 family names) and the issues caused more stress for the student. The stress of the test coupled with the stress of filling out an unfamiliar set of questions was too much for her.
I couldn't help but compare that to our own PHS Get-It-Done Group - a group dedicated to assisting all seniors with college application and scholarship plans. So often, a student would face a similar question. It might be another question regarding name or a question regarding parent's education level. More often than not, the PHS student would decide to skip the question or close the application. It is ironic how much time we need to teach students how to fill out standardized forms and answer bureaucratic questions...isn't it?
Back to Olga's student. Olga is a natural teacher and told her she would train her on test taking so that there would be less stress. Olga said. "But I told her not to give up, she has a lot of discipline now from the time I met her, to now, I can see a true difference."
So here's to standardized state and national tests all around the world, even in the smallest villages of the Yucatan. Just kidding, it's a sad state of affairs, as you all know. Explaining to a young Mayan girl how to fill out bubbles for nombre completa is just a small example. Here's to all of the teachers, administrators, parents and students that need to prepare for PARCC testing in April. I wish you patience, unlimited computers and successful internet connections (so that the process does not have to be repeated).