Friday, September 23, 2005
This week I’ve been busy working on a new PowerPoint to review introducing oneself and saying where one is from. I searched for photos of famous people from the countries that the students need to know how to say in English: Canada (the singer Avril Lavigne), Mexico (President Vicente Fox), France (Monet), Germany (Einstein), England (David Beckham – model and soccer player) and I still have many more countries to cover. I am open to suggestions for famous people from these or other countries; however, the people should be easily recognizable so that upon seeing their photo (or work of art in Monet’s case) I could ask the students in English, “What is her name?” After students give a response, the correct answer appears on the screen. Einstein is on the last slide in order to use this presentation as a transition to talking about and learning about the Holocaust; since he had to flee Germany and was given special asylum in the United States. I feel a sense of urgency now to find how to best present the subject to my students, as I discovered swastikas all over a student’s name card that keeps track of his points.
This morning I already had a chance to begin introducing the topic of the Holocaust into some students’ subconscious. I was sitting in the teachers’ room when a group of 3rd year students wandered in – my computer attracts them like bees to pollen. Out of the blue, one of the students asked, “Why don’t Americans like us?” I was caught off guard and asked what she meant by this. She mentioned the “mojados” (wet-backs – Mexicans who cross the river to enter the U.S.) and the government making immigration very difficult. I told her what I thought; that the Americans who hold negatives opinions about Mexican immigrants are not educated on the subject of immigration, nor the economic importance of Mexican immigrants. I told them how I teach a unit about immigration to my students in Chicago. During that unit I state that none of us are from The United States, minus Native Americans, and that it is a country of immigrants. So when I see a guy as white as snow defending “his country” from the threat of Mexican immigration, I ascribe his behavior to ignorance. He is clearly a citizen of The United States because his ancestors immigrated to the country.
I continued, stating that this is not a new phenomenon that the U.S. government limits immigration for certain groups. I mentioned that during the Second World War, when Jews had to flee Europe, the U.S. would not grant asylum to a great number of them. This is one reason why there are Jews all around the world - they had to find refuge in countries other than the U.S. At this point the principal poked his head in and I gave him a recap of what we had discussed and he told the students to sit down and stay to talk with me. When I finished my sermon, the student who posed the original question said, “Teach them maestra.” Through this program I will be able to better educate my students and communities upon my return. This is what Fulbright program preaches, using cultural exchanges to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries..."
