You may remember that I was in a University Class my first week here - A Spanish Language class.
The teacher was very kind, very intelligent and had charisma and humor. There were no issues with the teacher. The three-hour class however, was structured in that we spent the first 60-90 minutes discussing our homework. Discuss is a strong word. Actually, we were called on in order to read aloud our answers. The teacher would quickly correct our mistakes and we would move on. It was up to you as a student to interrupt the flow if you had a question (speed was important during this phase of the class).
After a short break, the teacher would post a new worksheet on the screen in front of the room. The new worksheet focused on new material – a new tense normally. A brief explanation and then we would continue being called on, in order, to read off the correct answers. A similar group of worksheets would be assigned for the evening’s tarea (homework task).
I did not calculate how much time I was able to speak aloud in Spanish but I would gage it at roughly 10 minutes per class. Not enough. And being the punk student that I have always been, I was uninspired and uninterested in filling out 4 worksheets at home with tiny little lines that I could barely fit my (poor) handwriting. After three days, 12 hours total, I decided the class would not work for me.
*For reference, during those three days we covered: Condicional, Preterit Perfecto, Pluscuamperfecto, Futuro perfecto, reflexive verbs and Objective Pronouns. If I didn’t have a general base of knowledge to draw upon regarding all of these items I actually might have changed my ticket and gone back to N.J.
By chance, I met my neighbor Melanie for lunch that Friday at the Calle-55 Spanish School she was attending. Calle-55 is a private language school for adults. I immediately felt more at home. The rooms were brightly colored and decorated. Each classroom contained a small group of very engaged students. There were Spanish posters and books and games in every room. People gathered in the courtyard to speak to each other (in halted Spanish).
The classes are a mixture of lecture and speaking, worksheets and practice, group work and pairs. We discuss, we analyze and I practice my interview questions with the teachers -- everything that works well in a classroom. (Certainly a few inquiry projects would perfect this but I personally have enough inquiry work in my real job here in Mexico).
I am disappointed to share however that from what I have observed, read and heard, public school classes in general (high schools and universities) are all similar to my early experience. In a typical Mexican classroom, the teacher lectures, the students listen. At some point worksheets are assigned and corrected. I have not visited primary school classes but I have been told that the classes can consist up to 40 students and one teacher. I am assuming that this method of teaching is one of the only ways a teacher could maintain the room daily. Next week in fact, I am visiting some telesecundarias (where the students are talk via a television monitor). Clearly that can only be lecture.
This is the old style of teaching–the old school method born out of the industrial revolution, a time when it was valued to have punctual, consistent and attentive workers able to follow directives without question easily. In this model students are a material to be processed and programed (and of course, quality tested via many tests).
A common complaint teachers and students have shared when speaking to me is that they have not yet mastered the English language - even though they have attended years of classes in school. Their comments mirror what most adults say about language learning experiences in school - fortunately, our programming has changed for the better. Teachers I have spoken to are excited about community action programs and the changes in Modelo Educativo para la Formación Integral - from the University website "The Autonomous University of Yucatan proposes updating its educational model and Academic in response to global and national trends in education, resulting from changes in recent years. This proposal addresses the mission and institutional vision and fulfills one of the fifteen institutional priority programs established in the Institutional Development Plan 2010 - 2020 (PDI)."
The MEFI program is a more humanist education model focusing on emotional as well as academic needs of the student. The program as a whole, expands the curriculum to include community service, career activities and extracurricular activities that promote wellness. The phrases and objectives speak to me, but there is no formal discussion about a change in methods or techniques.
Several people have remarked that there are plenty of programs and classes outside of the formal system that are enacting change with great results. I hope to meet with some of the people and observe their techniques in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, I will struggle along with my Spanish in Calle 55. I won't lie, I still annoy the teachers with my lack of interest in tarea :)