Projects at the Tuxtla Language School, Chiapas, Mexico

8/10/2019 Projects at the Tuxtla Language School, Chiapas, Mexico

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MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS

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FEL 2009)

ISBN 978-607-9015-05-3

Universidad de Quintana Roo Departamento de Lengua y Educacin

http://fel.uqroo.mx- [email protected]

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Building Bridges between the Unach Tuxtla Language School &

the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department

M. en Ed. Ana Maria Elisa Daz de la GarzaM. en Ed. Mara de Lourdes Gutirrez Aceves

Escuela de Lenguas TuxtlaUniversidad Autonoma de Chiapas

AbstractNow in their second year, Teaching Outreach Programs called UVDS (Unidadesde Vinculacin Docente) have been created at the Autonomous University ofChiapas (UNACH) seeking to build bridges to transform the climate of ideasand the future of the community in an attempt to transform the lives of diversecommunities of learners through innovative quality education. UVDs provide LEI

(Licenciatura en la Enseanza del Ingls) trainees with opportunities to practiceteaching and learning skills and to develop learners foreign language skillsunder the guidance of mentors. This article is intended to offer a view of ourexperience at the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department. The Autonomous Universityof Chiapas (UNACH) has fostered the creation of UVDS (Unidades deVinculacin Docente) to act as a bridge between our university and thecommunity. The primary goals of these outreach programs are to enhance andsupport improvements in education in the state of Chiapas, Mexico by using theunique resources available at the university to serve diverse communities oflifelong learners with innovative programs. It is our belief that the governmentand the educational community must work together as partners to improve theeducational opportunities for our state. UVDs provide LEI (Licenciatura en laEnseanza del Ingls) trainees with opportunities to address issues related toforeign language learning and teaching through experiential learning under theguidance of Teacher Trainers with the aim of developing TESOL studentteachersfuture job skills with a focus on social impact and relevance.

This paper is intended to offer a view of our experience at the Tuxtla FireDepartment in helping trainees to enhance their teaching learning skills bydeveloping firefighters foreign language skills during the 2009 Spring term. Bydescribing this process and our findings, we hope to encourage otherpractitioners to continue exploring the value of UVDs to create teaching andlearning communities in their own professional venues.

This investigation was coordinated and headed by M. in Ed. Ma. De LourdesGutierrez Aceves, together with the participation of M. in Ed. Ana Mara ElisaDaz de la Garza, both members of the Academic Body Professional

Development and Evaluation in Teaching Languages(Desarrollo Profesional yEvaluacin en la Enseanza de Lenguas), .along with the valuablecollaboration of Mtro. Gabriel Llaven Coutio and Lic. Damin Martnez Villatoroof the Tuxtla Language School.

The student teachers involved in this investigation were trainees from third andfourth semesters of our TESOL Teacher Training Program at the TuxtlaLanguage School of the UNACH (Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico).


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INTRODUCTION

The Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department (H. Cuerpo de Bomberos de Tuxtla

Gutirrez), was founded forty eight years ago in an effort to protect our

communitys safety. It is a sad fact that most firefighters have had few

opportunities to develop their foreign language skills and that they have lost many

opportunities for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) regarding

methodology, emergency rescue efforts and efficient firefighting techniques due to

the fact that they are not eligible for training opportunities in the United States and

Canada if they do not have a command of the English language.

The local fire department is currently funded by private donations as well as

an added surtax to the municipal water bill which provides limited funds for training

personnel. At the request of the Coordination for Sustainable Development

(Coordinacin de Desarrollo Sustentable), the fire department inquired about the

possibility of receiving foreign language instruction from the Tuxtla Language

School at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH). Since the UNACH

sponsors special outreach projects like this in order to support the community

these are fully subsidized and firefighters were provided with free English lessons.

The Licenciatura en la Enseanza del Ingles (LEI) was opened in 1999 atthe Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH) in Tuxtla Gutierrez to train future

EFL Teachers. Student-teachers attend seven hours of instruction on a daily basis

and will have obtained 430 credits upon completion of the current nine semester

study plan.

However, results from the Language Schools follow-up studies project have

provided evidence that LEI trainees require as many opportunities as possible to

develop their teaching practice, especially in the areas of language teaching

methodology and class management. (Diaz de la Garza 2006: 13). It is our belief

that there is therefore a great need in our community to prepare future teachers

with a bridge between being students of teaching to becoming teachers of

students.


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Teaching is a reciprocal process, situated in practice, interacting with the context of the

learning, the community, the culture, the students, and all the surrounding environs. Greene

(2005:11)

Thus, the social impact of this investigation was to provide:

Teaching/learning opportunities to develop 20 firefighters basic level ESP

EFL language skills.

Opportunities to develop 18 ESOL Student-teachers teaching skills:

o 8 trainees from 3rd Semester

o 10 trainees from 4thSemester

Three subjects were chosen from the LEI study program:

1. Teaching Grammar and Vocabulary ( Didctica de la Gramtica y los

Elementos Lxicos)

2. English IV(Ingls IV)

3. Teaching Reading Comprension(Didctica de Comprensin de Lectura)

We believe that these practical subjects were ideal for our study since they

help learners to develop integrated skills, especially English for Specific Purposes,

whilst providing trainees with significant teaching/learning opportunities to develop

their teaching practices.

FINDINGS

Traditional approaches towards teaching English as a Second Languagemay be considered boring by most students since they might feel that it is not

significant and may be unmotivating to learners which may possibly lead to

unsuccessful academic results or to a high failure rate in ESOL. . In addition, a

great number of firefighters informally commented that they were afraid that

studying English as a foreign language was going to be challenging and boring.


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However, thanks to the LEI students hard work and creativity, as well as to the

great enthusiasm of the teacher trainers involved, fire fighters became greatly

motivated. Due to the fact that learners needsfocused mainly on receptive skills

(reading comprehension and developing listening skills), eclectic approaches

towards teaching English were employed in this project.

As mentors in this UVD we had two main objectives:

a) In the case of the firefighters:

To develop learners Knowledge/Awareness & Skills (KAS) towards EFL

to be able to communicate effectively in the target language at a basic

level.

To provide students with more opportunities for Continuous Professional

Development.

b) For the Teacher trainers to:

Develop trainees KAS concerningteaching and learning.

Develop trainees abilities to teach real groups.

Develop trainees abilitiesto design and adapt teaching resources.

Develop traineesreflective skills in and on practice.

Provide opportunities to link theory and practice with on the job

training.

METHODOLOGY

From the beginning of this UVD trainers and trainees met to design and plan

the program for the course which was based on the Tuxtla Language Schools

basic level English program. Trainees were provided with the general plan and

topics in an effort to allow them enough time to prepare appropriate materials and

lessons. Trainees taught four classes per week which were scheduled to meet

firefighters busy schedules. Nonetheless, classes were sometimes cancelled in the

event of emergencies.


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Firefighters progress was assessed by student teachers on a monthly basis

under the guidance of their mentors who met with them once a week. Trainees

were instructed to write reflections in a learning log regarding significant personal

experiences in this project. Developing trainees reflective skills was of prime

interest since according to Moon (2004:101) reflection is a part of learning . and

is intimately linked with the learning process.

Upon analysis of their reflections we learned that most trainees felt that the

experience of visiting the fire department had been rewarding and that they felt that

it had been meaningful to work with them to develop their creativity and teaching

skills. In addition, they were able to take full advantage of their English skills in

preparing materials which helped them to present effective lessons. In addition, the

challenge of working with adults provided them with the opportunity to explore the

English level of learners in this community.

All participants commented that this had been their first experience

collaborating in an UVD and that they felt that it had been an enriching experience

since they had been mentored throughout the process by qualified Teacher

Trainers. The opportunity to design lesson plans, didactic resources and practice

their teaching skills has been an extremely beneficial experience which has

benefited their training enormously. Main issues which were addressed includecontact with authentic learners, opportunities to deal with class management, error

correction, and motivating learners. Most participants remarked that they would be

delighted to continue to collaborate with this type of project in the future.

This event was so successful that the fire department has invited us to

continue to participate with more outreach programs and have encouraged us to

open new groups to provide more opportunities for public servants in our

community.

EXPLORING SUCCESS & FAILURE IN THIS OUTREACH PROJECT

Since teaching is more an art than a science, it is a demanding experience.Therefore, great care needs to be paid to provide trainees with practicalexperience in real life contexts during ITT so that they can learn to deal withthese situations effectively. In addition, teacher trainers or mentors need to


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guide student-teachers through this process to promote reflectivepractices.(Diaz de la Garza 2006:11)

Many LEI trainees commented that they enjoyed the opportunity of working

in real-life contexts under the guidance of their Teacher Trainers to develop

teaching skills and have worked diligently towards developing their

teaching/learning reflective practices. However, we must admit that we

encountered some challenges during this investigation. In the following section of

this article we would like to share both our success and the challenges we faced so

that other practitioners may take them into consideration if planning on conducting

a similar study.

SUCCESS

In general, most participants commented that they felt engaged in the

project and were motivated to help their learners to develop their foreign language

skills. According to the evaluation results obtained at the end of this UVD we feel

that we accomplished a great deal in this study since a great number of learners

achieved our course objectives. We are proud to report that two of the participating

firefighters were selected to travel to the United States to receive training in a

saving lives workshop; which would most likely not have been possible withoutthis course.

In the case of trainees it is our pleasure to report that they felt satisfied,

motivated and convinced that they have chosen the correct career. Most felt that

their professional skills had been enriched as a result of this outreach program.

CHALLENGES

One of the main issues we wish to address is that of firefighters having to

miss classes due to the fact that it was the dry season and many farmers were

using slash and burn techniques to plant crops. Every time a fire got out of hand

the firefighters had to respond to the emergencies which meant that classes were

interrupted and our goals could not be met.Another problem was the flu epidemic

which hit Mexico very hard in May. Due to the H1N1 outbreak English sessions


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had to be cancelled for three weeks which did not allow us to achieve all of our

aims.

We would also like to mention that we failed to take into consideration

classroom observation when we began this outreach project. We are now aware

that it would have been beneficial for trainees to observe classes before going into

the classroom to teach since

Observation is commonly used in education as a tool to support understandingand development. It is one of two common ways of getting information whichcan help us make sense of educational situations, gauge the effectiveness ofeducational practices, and plan attempts for improvements. (Maldarez2003:179)

In addition, trainees pointed out that they sometimes felt uncomfortable

because this was the first time some firefighters had ever had the opportunity totake English lessons which became an obstacle for trainees, who had never

taught non-heterogeneous groups. Student teachers felt confused regarding how

to handle multi-skilled groups since they had had no prior experience addressing

this issue. In retrospect we are now aware that perhaps trainers should have

divided the group after a diagnostic exam and worked with different levels of

English to be more successful in this project.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

We feel that this project has been valuable for all involved and hope to

continue with Phase Three of this project in 2010. In the following phase we hope

that students who have the opportunity to be part of this project are as significantly

involved and motivated as was the case in this UVD. One of the ideas emerging

after evaluating the course is to include the opportunity to use role plays using the

language required for emergency situations, so that firefighters may practice

authentic ESP. We also will do our best to reinforce topics being covered in class

to ensure more effective consolidation of foreign language learning.


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CONCLUSIONS

The purpose of conducting an outreach program between the Tuxtla

Language School LEI program and the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department was to

provide Trainees with opportunities to be able to develop reflective skills and to

share knowledge as they explore issues such as class management, resource

design and effective teaching practices which they wished to address

collaboratively under the guidance of a Mentor in a real life context. Learners and

firefighters benefited greatly since they were provided with opportunities to develop

their L2 languages skills. UVDs have the potential to provide practical experience

for trainees and a support system for overburdened and overworked public

servants. Were committed to providing the practical knowledge and skills both

trainees and government workers need for immediate impact on the job.

We hope that other practitioners will continue exploring the value of

Outreach Programs such as those in place at the UNACH in the form of UVDs to

create learning communities in their own professional venues.


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REFERENCES

1. Diaz de la Garza, A. (2006) Tesis ADFs AS LIFE RAFTS FOR NEWLY QUALIFIED

TEACHERS IN SCHOOLSsubmitted to the University of Exeter as a dissertation for the

degree of Master of Education by advanced study in Education(Special Field: Trainer

DevelopmentEnglish Language Teaching).

2. Greene, C. (2005) Creating Connections: A Pilot Study on an Online Community of

Learners Journal of Interactive Online Learning3/3. [Online]. Available from: www.ncolr.org.

Accessed 5/Oct/05.

3. Maldarez, A. (2003) Observation.ELT Journal 57/2.

4. Moon, J. (2004)A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning. London :

Rothledge Farm.


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Biodata

Ana Mara Elisa Daz de la Garza is a Teacher Trainer at the Autonomous

University of Chiapas. She has been awarded an MEd degree in ELT Trainer

Development, Perfile PROMEP; is an oral examiner for Cambridge Exams,

member of the Academic Body Professional Development & Evaluation in TESOL

and has developed research projects and written academic articles.

Contact:[email protected]

Mara de Lourdes Gutirrez Aceves is a Teacher Trainer at the Autonomous

University of Chiapas. She has been awarded the COTE, a MEd degree in ELT

Trainer Development, and studies the doctorate in Education; member of the

Academic Body Professional Development & Evaluation in TESOL and has

developed research projects and written academic articles.

Contact:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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Projects at the Tuxtla Language School, Chiapas, Mexico