For education the newsletter...
March 30, 2004

Teaching in San Miguel Tzinacapan, Mexico

After student teaching, each newly licensed teacher is then set out to find that very first job. For many it begins with substitute teaching or finding that first "real" job. For Aubrie, Reid and I, we found ourselves in the mountains of Mexico in the small Native Aztec town San Miguel. We were sent here with 35 donated instruments, 2 boxes of music, and a lot of high hopes and wishes for the town.

Our journey started a little tougher than planned. We were all set to teach music, and we soon found ourselves in a new world of border laws, politics and politicians, different cultural expectations and confusion. We knew teaching in a different language would be a challenge, but communicating (very important) details and plans with multiple groups of people from both countries, all trying to get a set of instruments from Laredo (TX) to San Miguel turned out to be a 4 week task that we now are chalking up to one of those oh so important 'learning experiences'. The three of us had all experienced a little of the political side when student teaching but definitely got a reality check here- a teacher is not only a teacher, but a diplomat, go between, budgeter, negotiator, and above all things, patient and adamant for the desired result.

Here in the village the women wear their traditional dress of white cotton skirts and hand made embroidered blouses, complete with shawl (often used to carry babies on their backs). The men, in their traditional white slacks tied up at their calf, white shirt, complete with cowboy hat. Many go barefoot, all with the look of many years of hard work, or with plastic sandals that remind me of the ones I used to put on my dolls when I was little. I see women my grandmother`s age carrying a basket full of food, wood, and other supplies on their heads for miles, knowing that my neck would probably snap after a few steps.

Many children begin working with their parents. All students go to school from age pre-kindergarten to sixth grade, but after (and some during), many need to work or cannot afford more school. It's definitely hard getting upset at a student who skips their lesson or rehearsal because they had to go pick coffee beans or work out on the ranches with their family. There are also a number of options for school with different times of the day or in the neighboring town. This gave us a wide range of students. Figuring out a schedule to accommodate all that wanted to learn band music took again a bit of brain power. But, after it all, we have 55 super enthusiastic students, ages from 8-57! The different learning styles, abilities, and pace that has come with this range in age has kept the three of us constantly brainstorming on how to keep the faster learners challenged and at the same time not loose the ones that struggle a little more than the rest.

There are so many aspects of a 'good teacher' we worked so hard at while at St. Olaf and in student teaching- the correct way to say things to get the desired result, how to best discipline, setting expectations and goals; all that becomes a lot harder teaching in a different language! Especially since Spanish is not the primary language here. A few times when one of the older members understands (or think they understand) exactly what it is we are asking they will quickly translate in Nahuat (their language) for us, and we reply with 'qema' -yes- hoping that it really was what we were trying to communicate. We have been so proud of our students for most of the time understanding what it is we want them to do! However, we know that our jokes or phrases don't translate quite like we mean them to (as evident from the blank stares or completely failed efforts afterwards). But overall, we know that what we are working for here is not just our project- it has become the whole town of San Miguel Tzinacapan's. We are respectfully greeted as 'maestra/o', many come to watch our lessons and rehearsals- proud parents exist in all places- and they are already asking when they can take this new band, make it their own, and play true Mexican music. They know they have something different and special than the hundred other poor indigenous villages in the area. And even though we encounter so many other problems plaguing this place- alcoholism, poverty, pollution, racism between indigenous and non indigenous Mexicans alike- Reid, Aubrie, and I also know that we too have been given something different and special- one heck of a way to kick off a teaching career.

Rachel Widen