Thursday's field trip was one of four new excursions planned for Spring 2009. (I didn't want my faithful readers to get bored!) We traveled two hours south of Merida to a small town called Tekax, home of a two-year school similar to a community college in the US. Approximately 80% of the 800 students have Mayan as their first language with Spanish as their second language. As a part of their studies, all students are required to study Spanish for the entire two years of their various vocational programs. That is where we came in. We were invited to spend the day at the school to give the students the opportunity to speak English with a native speaker. Initially, everyone was uncomfortable and stiff, but as the day wore on, conversations became more animated and interesting. We ended the day at the Mayan archeological site of Uxmal, about 40 minutes from Tekax. A majority of the local students had never been there. As my students started to get snarky about that fact, they quickly retreated when I asked them how many of them had been to the capitol building in Des Moines or Herbet Hoover's birthplace or Mt. Rushmore or Washington, DC. The day turned out to be a wonderful experience for all involved. My students voted it a "keeper."
Thursday's field trip was one of four new excursions planned for Spring 2009. (I didn't want my faithful readers to get bored!) We traveled two hours south of Merida to a small town called Tekax, home of a two-year school similar to a community college in the US. Approximately 80% of the 800 students have Mayan as their first language with Spanish as their second language. As a part of their studies, all students are required to study Spanish for the entire two years of their various vocational programs. That is where we came in. We were invited to spend the day at the school to give the students the opportunity to speak English with a native speaker. Initially, everyone was uncomfortable and stiff, but as the day wore on, conversations became more animated and interesting. We ended the day at the Mayan archeological site of Uxmal, about 40 minutes from Tekax. A majority of the local students had never been there. As my students started to get snarky about that fact, they quickly retreated when I asked them how many of them had been to the capitol building in Des Moines or Herbet Hoover's birthplace or Mt. Rushmore or Washington, DC. The day turned out to be a wonderful experience for all involved. My students voted it a "keeper."
2 comments:
you do have a way of squashing snarkiness. sounds like a good trip all around.
so where are you now in time and space?? inquiring minds want to know......
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