This week we are back at Technologico de Monterrey for two days then we will have finished our duties.  This week is exam week, so we have, and will be, helping teachers with invigilating exams and seeing how they set up and organize their individual exams.  Tomorrow I will discuss all the similarities and differences of all the different exams.

So the last two days I was pretty well bedridden all day with the flu so I was not very capable of helping my colleagues out at school.  Luckily, the girl’s Catholic school was not in session on Thursday (apparently for Cinco de Mayo), so my colleagues went back to Technologico de Monterrey to try and help with anything they could help with, while I rested up.  On Friday, I went to the girl’s Catholic school in the morning, but by recommendation of our coordinator, I was examined by the school physician and after receiving some medication, they suggested I go home and rest for the rest of the day.

Even though I could not actively participate in teaching it was recommended that I compare and contrast the two schools that we have helped at.  So this is what my blog today will be about.

Technologico de Monterrey:

This school is in the top three of all private schools in all of Mexico.  With multiple campuses across Mexico (three in Mexico City area) they have three different programs, their most well known is their IB program.  These students are usually among the more wealthy of Mexican people (as one teacher puts it, “they are either rich children or Military children…”).  Technologico de Monterrey is not only isolated to high school, they also have THE most prestigious business entrepreneurship school in all of Latin America.  Students in the high school have the choice of studying abroad, going to the business school, or going to other post secondary institutions upon graduation (depending on the program they chose to enroll into in high school).  Technologico de Monterrey offers a wide variety of extracurricular activities including, Soccer (of course), American Football, Volleyball, Basketball, and Cheer and Dance.  They also offer some of these activities to their feeder schools to groom them for when they come to Technologico de Monterrey.

Being such a prestigious school, there is an extremely high security system in place.  Aside from thick steel barred fences and gates, there were armed guards and security cameras at all the entrances.  One could not enter without a valid Technologico de Monterrey student ID, Staff ID, or if you’re a guest you need to have notified the school in advance so that someone of authority could add your name to a list for the security team.  Taxis and Uber cabs were allowed to go into the campus to pick up and drop off people, but they had to fill out a slip with there they were coming from and where they were going afterwards as well as leaving a piece of ID with the security team until they left the premises.

In the classroom, the set up is either the individual coloured chairs (that was mentioned in one of my previous blog posts), or the long tables that are able to seat 3-4 people.  Teachers have the autonomy to choose whether to teach their class in English or in Spanish, and many of them have other jobs (teaching 1-2 blocks is just a hobby, passion, or a way to make a little bit of extra cash).  One example is a sustainability teacher who works for Coca Cola Mexico as a sustainability expert.

Instituto Mexicano Regina:

Similar to Technologico de Monterrey, Instituto Mexicano Regina is also a private school with multiple campuses across Mexico.  The campus that we were at was the original one that was started by nuns (from Spain I think), This campus has around 80 years of history (to put this into perspective, one of the teachers who is 40 had a great grandmother who attended the school as a girl).  This campus has stayed true to the original intent of being an all-girls school (some of the newer campuses are co-ed).  This school is very exclusive, it is not necessarily the rich girls that can get in, but the best chance to be accepted is if you had a mother or grandmother who attended the school previously.  Unlike Technologico de Monterrey, they have programs running from Pre-K – 12 and they have no extra curricular activities offered (although many of them are in programs outside of school, such as dance).  One thing that we noticed almost immediately was the whole difference in atmosphere.  The girls were very curious having visitors around (this could tie in with the fact that it is an all-girls school maybe?).  Also, it seemed like more students were willing to and were capable of speaking proficient English (at Technologico de Monterrey, we had to approach students and ask if they spoke English).  Teachers noticed that while we were around, students would come and ask them something in English, when they usually ask it in Spanish.  The girls at this school are divided into three classes based on their English capabilities, but all girls take the same courses (it’s just the level of English being taught to them that is different).  Supposedly, by the time they graduate, these girls will have the credentials to teach English (which seems to be their big focus).

The security is also very tight at this school.  Even though there are no armed guards, students are all driven to school by buses.  Every bus that enters the campus gets checked off by someone who works at the school to ensure that all the buses have been accounted for.  Each bus has a driver and a “bus mother”, both are exactly the same day in and day out on their specific bus route.  Once on campus, students enter through open gates (which are immediately closed when all the buses have been accounted for).  During this whole process, the nuns and other school staff patrol the gates to make sure that no one goes into the school who didn’t come off one of the buses.  Once everyone is safely inside and the gates closed, the only way in is through a barred gate that needs to be buzzed open.  Once past that one needs to sign in with the secretary and then buzzed in through another door only when a school representative is available to take you in.

Classrooms at this school are set up in the old-fashioned way of individual chairs and desks.  As mentioned in a previous blog post, students stay in their class unless they have a subject that requires a different facility.  Teachers here also have autonomy over what language they choose to teach with, however, with the whole English credentials they strive for, students are strongly encouraged to use English on a day to day basis.  Teachers here do not get paid a large amount, they literally get paid equivalent to $10 CAD an hour.  Many of these teachers are not here for the money, but more for the passion of teaching.  Some of these teachers have alternative incomes (either from another job, or a spouse).

During our stay, we did not get a chance to observe in a public school setting.  However, we can see how different schools are just within the private sector.  The little I have heard about public schools in Mexico is pretty horrendous.  Class sizes ranging from 35-50 students and no EAs to help with IEPs or anything.  During my 10 week practicum, my classes ranged from 20-28 students, and the highest number doesn’t even hit the bottom border of public schools here.  That is a scary thought, because some days it took all I had just to maintain control in my classes during my 10 week practicum, I can’t imagine dealing with 35-50 students on a regular basis for the rest of my career.

Once again today we were at the all-girls Catholic school.  It was almost like we were celebrities the way everyone kept on approaching and talking to us.  As a last minute decision, we were asked if we wanted to accompany a group of girls on their field trip to a Jewish holocaust museum.  It was a coincidence that three girls just happened to no show up so there were just enough space for the three of us to tag along.  This was a good experience for us to help out as chaperons for a field trip because I haven’t experienced a field trip during my practicum.  This groups of girls were pretty easy to manage and chaperon because we were split up into three groups and each group had a guide.  Having a guide helped keep all the girls together and traveling at the same pace.

If there were no guides, I think it would be a good idea to give all the girls a worksheet to complete to be handed in (this gives them something to do and to actually look at exhibits instead of just running through the whole thing and wasting time at the end).  I would also set a meeting time and place so that the girls have a target time to complete by.

On a side note, the museum itself was an interesting experience.  I thought some of the exhibits and artifacts were great to see, but there was a lot of emphasis on how the Jews were victimized.  The whole concept built around the museum was supposed to be to build tolerance for everyone, but by focusing on the victims makes it seem more like a pity party than a museum to educate people about what happened.  Within the museum there was another part that described other forms of genocides, such as the Rwandan Genocide.  In this exhibit, they talked about the Tutsi and the Hutu ethnic groups and how each one would attack and kill the other when one group was in power.  From my knowledge, there is actually another subgroup that is neither Tutsi or Hutu, but live amongst the other two groups.  This group was never even mentioned in this exhibit.  I feel like if they wanted an example of tolerance, then this subgroup (Sufi’s I think?) would be the best example of tolerance because they were the ones that did not take any sides, instead they lived with both groups.  The same way with the Jewish holocaust exhibit, there could have been some sort of mention of tolerance from the victims’ perspective, instead of only noting the bad things that happened to the Jews caused by the German Nazis.  Nevertheless, it was interesting to look at all the artifacts, but it was just the message that they wanted to portray that was lacking (in my opinion).

Today we had a busy day scheduled for us.  Our day started out as usual, waiting for the bus.  Yet again it did not stop at the bus stop, once again it stopped about 30 metres ahead of the bus stop, wonder if the bus will ever stop at the “right” place during our stay.

Today the classes we observed were a sustainability class, a 20th Century history, and a human science class, here’s what I learned in each class:

In Sustainability class, I found out about a great tool to use for teaching.  The app I found out about is slack.com.  With this app, a teacher can create a group for each class and hand out assignments and write announcements to the class without printing out anything.  Students can also use this app to post their homework as well as ask the teacher for help if he/she is online.  This app will help teachers by saving paper and ensure that students don’t lose homework/work sheets.  This will also give students the one on one help that they need outside of class.

In the 20th Century history class, I found out about another great tool for students to use during class to take notes.  The site is popplet.com.  With this site, students can write their own notes, create mind maps, insert images, even share/co-edit with a partner(s).  This site can also be used as a final project where the students add to it every unit and at the end add the teacher as an editor and he/she can mark it and add notes to it.  This helps students because they are actively engaged in the content in a way that they would be more interested in.

In the human science class I learned some classroom management tips.  The teacher of this class has a rule about electronics, each class, each students get one warning to put the phone away, after that warning is up, students have the choice of three punishments, extra homework, leave the class, or a predetermined punishment set at the beginning of the year by the class (in his class it was to bring snacks for the rest of the class the next day).  This could significantly lessen the non-academic use of electronics in class.  To implement this in my classes, I would go one step further and add a three strike rule where I take away their electronics after three strikes.  I would also lessen particular student’s chances by taking away chances if they abuse their electronics on a daily basis.

So today started out just as interesting as yesterday.  We left a little later because we knew where we were going, however once we got there a bus (not the one we are supposed to catch) pulled up and just parked in the middle of the lane, blocking our view from oncoming buses.  We had one person as a look out further up the road and one person getting ready to flag the bus down at the bus stop.  As mentioned in my previous blog post, the bus didn’t stop at the stop, instead, today it stopped about 30 metres before the bus stop.  We’ll see if the bus will make it right at the bus stop tomorrow.

Today was not a very productive day in terms of helping out around the school because of the vast amounts of events thrown for the senior students of the school.  There were teacher vs seniors soccer games, outdoor concerts and a big paint/water fight that happened.  It was interesting to see that they made graduation as big of a deal as in Canada.  Students go crazy and teachers host different events for the seniors.

So yesterday was an interesting day.  Those of us staying at the hotel congregated in the lobby eating breakfast and waiting for our bus.  Little did I know that I would be completely thrown out to fend myself (well with two colleagues) by the last half of the day.

Upon arriving to the main Mexico City campus of Technologique de Monterrey, we were introduced to all the organizers, coordinators and advisors that we would be in contact with for the duration of our stay.  Once our group of 10 dispersed into the four winds, I was ecstatic to start our journey in Santa Fe.  Maria Teresa (or Marie T) was very knowledgeable about the area that we would be working in and we learned about the everything from society and history in the short amount of time that we were in the van.  I was shocked and amazed at the amount of colour in the buildings and the fact that so many well-off families could live among poor families.

Once we arrived to the Santa Fe campus, I was blown away by how amazing the whole campus seemed, everything from the design to the size to the amazing view from the top floor.  After the tour, we went to where we would be staying…  In stark contrast to the school, it was the dingiest place that I have ever been in (and likely ever will be in).  This made me laugh a little inside, because this was similar to the whole idea of having a wealthy area amongst poor areas.

My roommates and I decided to make the best of the situation and planned out what we could do with what we were given.  We caught an Uber cab to the nearest Walmart, and bought various things that we thought we’d need for the apartment.  Between the three of us, we managed enough broken Spanish to get us home… We realized how comfortable we were in a large group of 8 people, and relying on the 1 or 2 people that were able to get by with their Spanish.  It will be interesting to see how this will play out once we are in the school setting observing and assisting.