Volunteer Rachel Wickland's Blog Entry: Week 7

 Winter has arrived in Ziquitaro. Things are slowing down quite a bit with the weather being cold and the prospect of holidays coming.  It is also a very exciting time here because with November and December comes the return of many men working in the United States. It is undoubtedly the most exciting time of the year as most families wait until winter to have weddings, baptisms, and quinceaneras. 

Things are really looking up at the Telesecundaria.  Contrary to the beginning of the year with Rachel and Michel, there have been little to no kids being kicked out of school, and it is very apparent that the teachers I work with are becoming more involved with their students.  Katherine and I have fostered a respectful, yet friendly relationship with the teachers at the Tele.  One of my favorite things that we do is play some sort of sport during recess.  Currently, we are in a basketball tournament—my favorite! The finals are coming up this week and it will be the teachers versus the Tercero B boys. (Ninth grade) I am playing with the teachers and it has been a ton of fun.  The only drawback to playing basketball at recess is oftentimes the games go over into my class time.  This means that some days we only have a half hour of class when I have scheduled for an hour.  This is clearly a detriment to my courses and something that I am trying to work out with the director at the Tele. 

Unfortunately, the arbitrary closing of schools continues.  It has been very disappointing to arrive at school only to find the gate locked, or the teachers absent.  After some investigation Katherine and I have found out that these closings have for the most part been due to teacher’s union meetings.  The teacher’s union in Mexico is a very strong political force, and attendance at the meetings is mandatory.  It is extremely frustrating, however, that we are rarely advised of the school closures, and that salary negotiations come at the cost of a child’s education.  It has been very uplifting to see that all my Telesecundaria students attend class without fail, even if their teachers are absent. 

I am becoming discouraged with my adolescents’ class as we have seen a dramatic decrease in numbers. When we began I had as many as 25 students at a time.  This week, I have been lucky to have three in my class. Hopefully I can get to the root of the problem and raise our numbers again.

 This coming week is Halloween, and Katherine and I have planned some fun cultural activities that you can look for in the next blog!

I have attached a picture below of my Telesecundaria 3o A class doing a fashion show project from last week. We have been working on learning clothing items and this was our grand finale.  So much fun!!

            

Upate from Volunteer Rachel Wickland

This week has been extremely busy for the two of us. Katherine and I have decided to take on another class at the Primaria in the afternoon, a group that until now has been unable to take English classes due to their conflicting afternoon schedules. We are very happy to be able to provide these classes, however, it does put a little strain on our schedules.

As far as my other classes go, we have been moving very quickly through the material. In the Primaria, the teachers have requested that Katherine and I begin working out of a book they have provided for us. This leaves a little less room for creativity on our part, but it is a great sign that the teachers will be picking up where we leave off in December. My Teen class has begun a weeklong project utilizing various sets of vocabulary from the workplace, bank terms, numbers, and store terms. Every day, the students get paid for a mock occupation that they have chosen, pay bills for a house and car, shop for groceries, and then total the differences between their income and expenses. They also choose a slip of paper out of a bag with a variable on it such as, “You do not have to pay bills today,” or “A mouse ate your groceries! Pay an extra $20 to buy more.” It has been a really great tool for learning common vocabulary that we use every day. The project has also been useful for learning key phrases that some of my young men may in fact need someday like, “Where is my paycheck?” and “You did not pay me enough.”

The other night when Katherine and I were strolling around the plaza the two of us witnessed the central role migration plays in this community. At about 8pm a large crowd gathered around two women who were leaving for the United State to be reunited with their husbands. It was an absolutely heart wrenching scene. Family members were sobbing as they watched the women get into the taxi with nothing more than a small black duffel bag. The cruel truth is that the women are undocumented and at this moment may be enduring the hardship of the migration experience. Imagine; all your hopes and dreams contained within a small black duffel bag, and a future that is uncertain as the desert they will cross to reach their husbands in the United States. My prayers go out to those women.

Another major event in the life of Ziquitaro has been the death of a town member who migrated to the Los Angeles area. He was found dead in a dump, and his body will arrive in Ziquitaro within the next week. He leaves behind his wife and children here in Ziquitaro, one of which is a student of mine and Katherine’s. We went to the wake the other night as family and friends were awaiting the arrival of the body. It was a very somber event.

I have translated my first piece of visa documentation! This was pretty exciting for me as I intend to become an immigration attorney. However, translating the letter from the United States National Visa Center was very frustrating. It was a glaring example of the problems our immigration system perpetuates. The letter was completely in very formal, very difficult to understand English, even for a native speaker! Furthermore, all correspondence with the NVC is via email, fax, or snail mail, which makes it very difficult to change your visa interview in a timely manner. Especially when the office you are in correspondence with is in Fort Worth, Texas. Another issue in this letter is the fact that you must download a file from the internet that contains pertinent information in order to prepare for you interview. Unfortunately, for the people who live in Ziquitaro, internet access is extremely limited, another way that legal immigration is made virtually impossible for Mexican communities. Hopefully someday, I can help to change all this.

In lighter and definitely fantastic news: Katherine and I have received our absentee ballots!! We were both very nervous that our attempts to participate in the upcoming election had fallen through, but finally we received our paperwork!! This was a huge sigh of relief for both of us as we are both very politically astute. Everyone here is very interested in the political process in the United States. It is common to be asked whom we are voting for here, a question that is somewhat taboo in the US. No matter what level of education, the people here are very interested in the political preference of US citizens because they understand the impact that the election will have on their own country and the people who belong to it.

Also, please continue to try and help Alejo. It would be fantastic if I could be put in touch with an immigration lawyer who can help me work through the process with Alejo. Thank you so much in advance.

Letter from Rachel Wickland to blog readers: “Please Help”

Dear Blog Readers,

As you know, I am teaching English in a small rural town called Ziquitaro, Mexico. Ziquitaro, in immigration terms, is known as a "sending community". This means that a majority of the population of men in Ziquitaro migrate to the United States in search of work in order to support their families abroad. I have come across many instances of this phenomenon on a daily basis, as most of my students have family that work, or they themselves intend to work, in the United States. However, I have recently become acutely aware of the problems that this system of interdependence between the US and Mexico creates with the situation of my friend Alejo.

Alejo's family has been deported from the United States because they did not obtain sufficient documentation to remain residents. Most of the time, these cases go unnoticed. However, a family member trying to injure Alejo's father, turned them in to the authorities. Alejo lived with his family in the Yuba City area until recently moving back to Ziquitaro with his family. He was an honor roll student, active in track, and a participant in the AVID program. Alejo hoped to follow his older brother and attend Monterey State University. The major issue at hand here, is that Alejo has spent 15 yearsof his life in The United States.

Now, Alejo attends high school in Penjamillo, the closest town nearZiquitaro, and is failing because he does not understand how to do his work in Spanish. Because Alejo is only 16 years old, and had no choice in coming across our southern border, the law does not clarify his status in the United States as legal or illegal, but somewhere in limbo. My goal is to help Alejo to be able to finish his education in the United States, and attend Monterey State University. However, I am only a perspective student of law, not an attorney. I have much more information on Alejo that I would be more than happy to share if you are willing to help.

Please, I am only here for a short time, but with the time I have I would like to be able to help Alejo return to school and achieve his goals as an undergrad. Alejo is the type of person we want to be a part of the United States, his dream echoes the real voice of the Amrican dream. He understands that immigration is a process, and he desires to go through the proper steps to regain entry into the United States. If there is any way you can help, or know someone who can help, please do so. It is my greatest fear that if Alejo continues to do poorly at school in Penjamillo, he may end up the worse for it.

Thank you so much for your time. I know we can use the knowledge, power, and privilege we maintain as citizens of the United States to change Alejo's life for the better.

Sincerely,
Rachel Wickland

Katherine’s entry: What I have taught and learned so far

My first weeks teaching in Ziquítaro have been outstanding. I teach 5th grade at the elementary school, kindergarten, an extracurricular class for young children, the adult class (together with Rachel), as well as the first two grades in the Junior High. I adore the young children for their energy and willingness to participate. In the after-school class I have a number of slightly older students who studied with Rachel M. in the spring and are already proficient in basic English. They are very willing to help the younger ones who are shy and just beginning their study of English. The adult class is also a delight as it is small and almost all the students belong to the extended family of the woman we live with, which makes for a familiar and easygoing environment. The adults are very interested in learning correct pronunciation, so I have utilized my training in linguistics to develop a system to convey English sounds using the conventions of written Spanish.

Teaching at the Telesecundaria is my favorite endeavor, despite its many challenges. The students are at the age in which, whether they are conscious of it or not, they are making decisions and encountering circumstances which will determine the course of their lives: whether to go on to high school, whether they will move to the United States, what professions they will choose, and so on. My most frustrating obstacles to making progress with my students are, in both the seventh and eighth grades, behavioral problems and a lack of basic study habits. The eighth grade is a large and rowdy group: eighteen boys and six girls. Even after considerable time spent spelling out the rules of the classroom, the students still shout out questions, talk while I am talking, and leave their seats during class. Experience taught me quickly that certain tactics to maintain order absolutely do not work – namely losing patience and yelling. Though I felt somewhat defeated for doing so, I resorted to asking the Telesecundaria´s director and the more effective of the eighth grader teachers to come into my class and give the students a stern lecture about my expectations for classroom conduct and the uniqueness of this opportunity to learn English. The director recommended that the students who truly do not contribute to the class should not be allowed to study with me, and that I should report their behavior to the director and teachers. I wish I could inspire all students to be as hard-working as some of them are, but I agree that it is not fair to the others to learn very little in class because so much time is wasted on discipline.

We spoke with Ziquítaro’s priest, Manual Vasquez Rubio, one night after a frustrating day at the Telesecundaria. The priest is a terrific ally and friend to us, and as a result of our conversation I have a new perspective on the classroom atmosphere and life in rural México in general. He is an educated and worldly man, and underwent a similar experience of culture shock when he arrived in this tiny town. He told us that something similar to the lack of decorum at the Telesecundaria occurred when he first gave mass to the people of Ziquítaro: people sat and gossiped, brought their dogs, and neglected to take screaming children outside the church. I realized that this difference in behavioral standards is a town-wide phenomenon, and now I try to view everything through a different lens. I have concluded that my students literally have not been introduced to the standards of behavior that are expected in an American classroom. When I observed the seventh grade class with their normal teacher, their behavior was the same: yelling, talking out of turn, playing with basketballs during class, etc. The teacher mentioned to me privately that he thought the students where payasos (clowns) and there was nothing he could do. I disagree. I feel I am an ambassador and that a vital part of my job is to impart to my students the reality of school in the United States. I must continually remind myself that I do not enter every day into the kind of junior high classroom where I studied, and that I can’t expect anything to be the same.

One may wonder why after the exasperating task of teaching good behavior to these students, I still enjoy so thoroughly being their teacher. Apart from the chaotic atmosphere in the classroom, many of my students are bright, hardworking, and ambitious. I assigned a project to the students, and the result completely surprised me. I asked them to bring pictures of their families, along with descriptions of several members including their ages, names, relation, and where they are live. The vast majority of my students, including those who yell the loudest during class, turned in beautifully decorated posters with several photographs and captions. I cannot remember the last time I felt so proud. The English on their projects was imperfect of course, but I am convinced that their work demonstrates their desire to learn. I am overjoyed, and very encouraged, by their enthusiasm. I believe that with some structure and my own enthusiasm, they will learn a tremendous amount this semester.

Second Entry from Volunteers (Rachel Wickland)

After the first week of classes everything is going great! We have only had Primaria (Elementary) and Secundaria (Jr. High) classes so far because it has been the week of Mexican Independence day. Independence Day in and of itself was fantastic. The patriotism of Mexico puts the United Sates to shame. The celebration is not just about fireworks and hot dogs, it is really about the passion and love for one´s culture and country. There were speeches, dance, LOTS OF DELICIOUS FOOD, cowboys, fireworks, gritos, and gunshots just like in the movies. It was definitely a highlight for the town as Ziquitaro does not get much action.

This week my Telesecundaria classes are writing letters to pen pals in the United States. I hope this will really help them with introductions and give them a peek into a day in the life of someone who lives in the United States. My intention is to show that we are not so different from one another. Regular school has only been in session twice this week due to a teacher´s union meeting in Morelia.

I am very excited about my teen group because contrary to last year, about half of the class is young men! I could not be happier about their attendance because it shows that they are interested in being an active participant in a world where they may in fact, be working in the future. The class is moving along very quickly and I am sure our progress will be great this year.

We have some wonderful people here in Ziquitaro who support us immensely. Our primary ¨go to¨ man is the priest in the town, Manuel Vasquez Rubio. He has been such a wonderful friend as well as a mentor to us. This weekend we went on a day trip with the Padre to Zamora, Mexico, a beautiful colonial town with a cathedral on every corner. It was great to have some rest and relaxation after two weeks of getting used to our lives here and trying to create some sort of order with our classes.

We are both very content here in Ziquitaro and love our living situation with the Mejia family. They are fantastic people who love to talk with us and have made us feel very welcome in their home. I am so positive that our time here will be mutually beneficial and a life changing experience for us and those we meet.