Ali Lilley- A personal friend of mine. She was born and raised in New Zealand. As a young woman she moved to California, Hawaii and finally Arizona. I met her in 2008 through a mutual friend. Ali works as an assistant Speech Pathologist for a small school district servicing children in grades k-12.
Questions I asked her this week-
1. Can you describe some of the differences you have experienced between young students in the United States versus New Zealand. Her answer -The biggest difference I have noticed is how much more informed about worldwide issues the students in New Zealand are compared to the ones I work with in the U.S. From a very young age, students here are taught about worldwide history and important issues around the world. This early awareness seems to instill in them an interest that grows as they get older. I was very surprised how little the students in the U.S. seem to know or care about world events or history. The school year is from January to December. The students are off in the months of January and August. Many of the students work out in the fields helping to harvest crops.
2.Regarding Poverty- Can you describe the poverty levels in New Zealand vs. The United States. New Zealand has people from all over the world. Many of the families are farmers and/or working in the field of agriculture amongst other things.Poverty is certainly in New Zealand, like anywhere else. Something that New Zealand offers to everyone is free medical care.
The second Professional colleague I contacted is Angel Trejo. Angel previously worked in the same school district as myself. We did not teach at the same school, however I met him several times at District meetings. He is from a small town south of Sonora, Mexico. A few years ago, he moved back to Sonora to work with students in the school system that came from the United States but were now living in Mexico.
Questions I asked him:
1. What are some of the differences you have found between students in the United States versus those in Mexico. Answer:The students in Sonora, Mexico are not much different than those in southern Arizona. Most of their families are very poor so they don't have all the video games, cell phones and material items that my previous students have. However, they are the same in that most of them enjoy school, and have dreams for a better future.
2.What challenges have you had working with very poor families in your school? All of the children where I teach come from very poor families, so they all fit in. It's not like it was in the U.S, where the very poor students are stigmatized because they are different from middle or upper class students. Most of the students where I teach come from families that love them deeply and care about them getting a good education. The students have fun at school and use the resources given to them. Clothing styles are not that important when you don't have any choices. Most of the children here are thankful for what they have. The biggest challenge I have faced is working with teachers who don't know how to speak English. We have several students here who have lived in the U.S. and want to continue using their English languge skills. However, it is difficult for them when they rarely get to use English.
3. Does your school offer any special services for families that need extra help? Many donations come in from organizations outside of Mexico, mostly from the U.S. These donations of clothing, school supplies and shoes are evenly distributed to the students and their families. There is a medical clinic here that offers free immunizations and check-ups. They come to the school on a regular basis. They are funded through private donations. Often times, Physicians from other countries also come and visit and offer their free services.
4. Just our of curiosity- are you more satisfied working in Mexico than you were in the U.S? I enjoyed working in the U.S. and have continued to maintain my teaching certifications there. Mexico is my home and I feel a great peace here with my family. There are very few opportunities for young people here in Mexico. If I had children of my own, I would probably choose to educate them back in the U.S. There are many challenges living and teaching here. However, the satisfactions I receive from my students far outweigh any desires I have to go back. My students are very responsive to learning new things. Most of them do not even realize how poor they really are. It's a way of life and they accept it for what it is. Many of them dream of a better future, possibly in the U.S. Their priorities are simple and life is much slower here.
That concludes my interview for this week.
My classmates blogs I chose to communicate with this week were:
Lydia Oppe
http://bepresentforchildren.wordpress.com
Julie Villers
http://julievillers.blogspot.com
Julie- I really enjoyed your post this
week. It was interesting to compare the answers side-by-side to two educators
from entirely different parts of the world and environments. Yes, I agree with
you that many educators are not trained properly or are not interested in
knowing how to work respectfully with low-income poor people. We can almost
certainly tell when someone is not really sincere. Children are not exception to
this rule. In order to be the most positive and productive educators, we must
truly care about those that are less fortunate than we are.
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