TeachingEnglish
Eleanor Occena - Interview
Submitted by eleanor_occena on 7 August, 2008 - 05:50
The teaching English Team interviewed me about my views on ELT and teaching in Mexico.
1. What are the major challenges facing EL teachers in your country?
English is being taught in almost every public and private school in Mexico, from the basic levels through higher education, and therefore it is not easy for me to give a generalised view of the challenges English teachers face in different corners and contexts of our country. What I can say though, is that the proliferation of English teaching in Mexico fundamentally responds to what an Education authority in Mexico, Dr. Juan Manuel Martínez Garcia, describes as “the challenges of a globalised world” (quoted from Dr. Martinez´ abstract on The Teaching of English in Mexico*). Also, Mexico is the third party of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a commercial free trade agreement with the United States and Canada, and so every entity in the country - government, public and private – looks towards the future of educated citizens with knowledge in different fields, one of which is being competent in international communication with people of the countries that they will be in contact with (principally, the US and Canada, being neighbour countries). With this, it has become one of the Ministry of Education’s programs to promote the teaching of English as a foreign language from basic to higher education. And here lies the real challenge: quality teaching with the end in view of teaching people to be competent in the language. There is such a demand for English teachers, that sad to say, there are more teachers with the “anyone-who-can-speak-it-can-teach-it” profile than those with ELT degrees, as well as the growth of English teaching commercial schools nation-wide, crashing in with the popularity of the need of almost anyone who faces competition in the labour market to learn English. There might not be a problem here if every English teacher understood the real objectives for teaching English beyond the ones set by the book (if there is a book instead of a program). And yet those who have programs might as well follow the book from where the program is generally a copy of the table of contents of an English course book. Now again, this would not be a problem if teachers, in the midst of doing a lot of “course book” activities and creative teaching techniques (which I do not question) to cover the allotted teaching time, do not lose sight of the aim for which English is included in the school curricula, or why a student would want to learn English.
http://www.britishcouncil.org.br/download/labci/The-teaching-of-English-in-Mexico.doc
2. Are teachers in your country generally members of teachers’ associations?
There is one big teacher association in Mexico – MEXTESOL, which is the Mexican regional chapter of TESOL. It holds an annual conference attended by approximately 2000 teachers. There is another teacher association called ANUPI (National Association of University English Professors) which announces in its website that it is an “associate of TESOL” and an “affiliate of IATEFL”. Both basically promote teacher development through their annual congresses, regional seminars and teacher training courses. Not every English teacher in Mexico, however, is necessarily a member of a teacher association.
3. How well resourced are teachers in your country?
Many teachers depend on their course books, even though many of these course books come well supplemented with a lot of teacher resources: teacher books for both the student and workbook, audio, video cassettes and CD-ROMs with their respective teacher books, separate grammar books, and even test generators. Those who are members, or who attend the above-mentioned teacher associations in Mexico, as well as other ELT teacher events organised locally or in the states by state universities, are the ones who most often get updated with the latest in teaching materials and resources.
4. What technology do you use with your students?
I use a laptop and a PC projector because I find it practical to plan my classes working with a computer. However, in the faculty where I teach (specifically the BA in ELT course), we still have to reserve for the use of the only two laptops and PC projectors available, unlike the teachers of the middle schools of the same state university, which has a computer and projector in every classroom. So if someone else beats me to the use of the equipment, I have to resort to a plan B.
Private schools and state universities can afford the latest in technology, even self-access centres. Some public schools, through the Ministry of Education funding, get the necessary support for their English programs, but there are realities, even in state universities, where there isn’t even an audio cassette player, or that there may be audio players but in bad shape.
5. What have you found most useful on the teaching English website?
I like reading, first of all, the latest news from the editors. I’ve hardly got time to be in the Internet, so when I get into the website, it’s just like when I turn on the TV to watch the news or get hold of a newspaper, I want to know what’s the latest in English!Then I find the contributions of teachers interesting, what they say from the perspective of where they come from.
6. What classes do you teach? (age, level class size)
I teach two subjects in the BA In ELT program: Self-access as a Resource and Test Design and Evaluation. The biggest class I have taught last semester had 42 students.
I also give teacher-training courses whenever needed, usually semester breaks.
7. What aspects of your teaching are you most interested in developing?
I am very interested in student portfolios, because I think students show a lot of creativity and real language competence through product or performance evidences, so I would like to see more of these in the next semesters of teaching. I also think I should be getting more into e-teaching with the use of a platform, or blogging. I just need to find the time and the will!
8. Why did you decide to become an English language teacher?
I am one of those who got into this career by accident. I came from the Philippines, got married to a Mexican, and then found out that there was a great demand for English teachers in Mexico, and that I could easily be one of those I mentioned above “anyone-who-can-speak-it-can-teach-it” profiles. Years later when I became more involved with the English program in the state university, I knew it was time for me to develop professionally in the field.
9. What is the status of teachers in your country? Are they generally valued and well paid?
There is cliché in Mexico that teachers are generally underpaid compared to other professions. And yet, I refer again to what I said about the existence of “anyone-who-can-speak-it-can-teach-it” profiles. Aside from this, there are also those who study English in language schools and then get a job teaching English. Educational institutions are likely to pay teachers with degrees a better salary than those who don’t have degrees, and a much better salary to teachers with masters and doctoral degrees. But the sad reality is that there are very few English teachers with postgraduate studies, and so this is the answer to why English teachers are underpaid!
10. What is the status of English in your country? Is it widely spoken to a good level?
We should be speaking it to a good level, but we don’t! This is the reason for what I have expressed in the first question. It is difficult to explain why with its neighbours, the NAFTA, and the Ministry of Education’s promotion of the teaching of English, Mexico cannot be considered yet a country like Puerto Rico and the Philippines, who speak two languages officially, one of them English. We’re working towards that!
11. What have you learned from being a teacher?
It is important to be involved not only in the teaching process but much more in the learning process. This means bearing in mind the objective of what you are teaching and seeing to it that the learners know why they are learning the language that you are teaching or what it is for. It is a logical process in real life, that we easily learn something when we understand its importance and its purpose. So for me, it’s much the same way in ELT.
12. What advice would you give to someone thinking of becoming an English teacher?
To have the vocation of teaching, and of liking what you will do. Learn from who you consider good teachers for they must have inspired you to want to become one. These are the teachers who you must have learned a lot from, so they are the examples to follow. Also take notes of the teachers who you think you didn’t learn from, so you don’t become like them. The point of what I have said is that you want to teach for others to learn. Follow the examples of those you have learned from.
13. Which writer /researcher has had the most influence over the way you understand learning and teaching?
The greatest influence I have had was from my professors in my TESOL masters programme in Leeds University, their thinking and the references they have asked us to read. I would particularly like to mention Dr. Simon Borg, Dr. Richard Badger, Angie Malderez and Goodith White.
14. What most interests you about ELT at the moment?
I am very much involved right now in analysing the merits of the competence-based approach to teaching, particularly, in the Common European Framework of reference for languages, teaching, learning and assessment. I think the need to see more competent language users is what is pushing me to analysing what the Council of Europe has given us. I have come to believe that final examinations are not a credible evidence of the students’ language ability.
15. How do you see the role of the EL teacher evolving over the next 5 - 10 years?
I think it is pretty much the same picture in other countries what is occurring in Mexico. International relations with English speaking countries will continue to develop, as well as with other-language speaking countries because English can continue to become the universal language of communication.
I only hope that as government and educational institutions see this, they will also see the need for more teacher professional development programs, so that there will be more English teachers better prepared to help people become competent language users.
1. What are the major challenges facing EL teachers in your country?
English is being taught in almost every public and private school in Mexico, from the basic levels through higher education, and therefore it is not easy for me to give a generalised view of the challenges English teachers face in different corners and contexts of our country. What I can say though, is that the proliferation of English teaching in Mexico fundamentally responds to what an Education authority in Mexico, Dr. Juan Manuel Martínez Garcia, describes as “the challenges of a globalised world” (quoted from Dr. Martinez´ abstract on The Teaching of English in Mexico*). Also, Mexico is the third party of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a commercial free trade agreement with the United States and Canada, and so every entity in the country - government, public and private – looks towards the future of educated citizens with knowledge in different fields, one of which is being competent in international communication with people of the countries that they will be in contact with (principally, the US and Canada, being neighbour countries). With this, it has become one of the Ministry of Education’s programs to promote the teaching of English as a foreign language from basic to higher education. And here lies the real challenge: quality teaching with the end in view of teaching people to be competent in the language. There is such a demand for English teachers, that sad to say, there are more teachers with the “anyone-who-can-speak-it-can-teach-it” profile than those with ELT degrees, as well as the growth of English teaching commercial schools nation-wide, crashing in with the popularity of the need of almost anyone who faces competition in the labour market to learn English. There might not be a problem here if every English teacher understood the real objectives for teaching English beyond the ones set by the book (if there is a book instead of a program). And yet those who have programs might as well follow the book from where the program is generally a copy of the table of contents of an English course book. Now again, this would not be a problem if teachers, in the midst of doing a lot of “course book” activities and creative teaching techniques (which I do not question) to cover the allotted teaching time, do not lose sight of the aim for which English is included in the school curricula, or why a student would want to learn English.
http://www.britishcouncil.org.br/download/labci/The-teaching-of-English-in-Mexico.doc
2. Are teachers in your country generally members of teachers’ associations?
There is one big teacher association in Mexico – MEXTESOL, which is the Mexican regional chapter of TESOL. It holds an annual conference attended by approximately 2000 teachers. There is another teacher association called ANUPI (National Association of University English Professors) which announces in its website that it is an “associate of TESOL” and an “affiliate of IATEFL”. Both basically promote teacher development through their annual congresses, regional seminars and teacher training courses. Not every English teacher in Mexico, however, is necessarily a member of a teacher association.
3. How well resourced are teachers in your country?
Many teachers depend on their course books, even though many of these course books come well supplemented with a lot of teacher resources: teacher books for both the student and workbook, audio, video cassettes and CD-ROMs with their respective teacher books, separate grammar books, and even test generators. Those who are members, or who attend the above-mentioned teacher associations in Mexico, as well as other ELT teacher events organised locally or in the states by state universities, are the ones who most often get updated with the latest in teaching materials and resources.
4. What technology do you use with your students?
I use a laptop and a PC projector because I find it practical to plan my classes working with a computer. However, in the faculty where I teach (specifically the BA in ELT course), we still have to reserve for the use of the only two laptops and PC projectors available, unlike the teachers of the middle schools of the same state university, which has a computer and projector in every classroom. So if someone else beats me to the use of the equipment, I have to resort to a plan B.
Private schools and state universities can afford the latest in technology, even self-access centres. Some public schools, through the Ministry of Education funding, get the necessary support for their English programs, but there are realities, even in state universities, where there isn’t even an audio cassette player, or that there may be audio players but in bad shape.
5. What have you found most useful on the teaching English website?
I like reading, first of all, the latest news from the editors. I’ve hardly got time to be in the Internet, so when I get into the website, it’s just like when I turn on the TV to watch the news or get hold of a newspaper, I want to know what’s the latest in English!Then I find the contributions of teachers interesting, what they say from the perspective of where they come from.
6. What classes do you teach? (age, level class size)
I teach two subjects in the BA In ELT program: Self-access as a Resource and Test Design and Evaluation. The biggest class I have taught last semester had 42 students.
I also give teacher-training courses whenever needed, usually semester breaks.
7. What aspects of your teaching are you most interested in developing?
I am very interested in student portfolios, because I think students show a lot of creativity and real language competence through product or performance evidences, so I would like to see more of these in the next semesters of teaching. I also think I should be getting more into e-teaching with the use of a platform, or blogging. I just need to find the time and the will!
8. Why did you decide to become an English language teacher?
I am one of those who got into this career by accident. I came from the Philippines, got married to a Mexican, and then found out that there was a great demand for English teachers in Mexico, and that I could easily be one of those I mentioned above “anyone-who-can-speak-it-can-teach-it” profiles. Years later when I became more involved with the English program in the state university, I knew it was time for me to develop professionally in the field.
9. What is the status of teachers in your country? Are they generally valued and well paid?
There is cliché in Mexico that teachers are generally underpaid compared to other professions. And yet, I refer again to what I said about the existence of “anyone-who-can-speak-it-can-teach-it” profiles. Aside from this, there are also those who study English in language schools and then get a job teaching English. Educational institutions are likely to pay teachers with degrees a better salary than those who don’t have degrees, and a much better salary to teachers with masters and doctoral degrees. But the sad reality is that there are very few English teachers with postgraduate studies, and so this is the answer to why English teachers are underpaid!
10. What is the status of English in your country? Is it widely spoken to a good level?
We should be speaking it to a good level, but we don’t! This is the reason for what I have expressed in the first question. It is difficult to explain why with its neighbours, the NAFTA, and the Ministry of Education’s promotion of the teaching of English, Mexico cannot be considered yet a country like Puerto Rico and the Philippines, who speak two languages officially, one of them English. We’re working towards that!
11. What have you learned from being a teacher?
It is important to be involved not only in the teaching process but much more in the learning process. This means bearing in mind the objective of what you are teaching and seeing to it that the learners know why they are learning the language that you are teaching or what it is for. It is a logical process in real life, that we easily learn something when we understand its importance and its purpose. So for me, it’s much the same way in ELT.
12. What advice would you give to someone thinking of becoming an English teacher?
To have the vocation of teaching, and of liking what you will do. Learn from who you consider good teachers for they must have inspired you to want to become one. These are the teachers who you must have learned a lot from, so they are the examples to follow. Also take notes of the teachers who you think you didn’t learn from, so you don’t become like them. The point of what I have said is that you want to teach for others to learn. Follow the examples of those you have learned from.
13. Which writer /researcher has had the most influence over the way you understand learning and teaching?
The greatest influence I have had was from my professors in my TESOL masters programme in Leeds University, their thinking and the references they have asked us to read. I would particularly like to mention Dr. Simon Borg, Dr. Richard Badger, Angie Malderez and Goodith White.
14. What most interests you about ELT at the moment?
I am very much involved right now in analysing the merits of the competence-based approach to teaching, particularly, in the Common European Framework of reference for languages, teaching, learning and assessment. I think the need to see more competent language users is what is pushing me to analysing what the Council of Europe has given us. I have come to believe that final examinations are not a credible evidence of the students’ language ability.
15. How do you see the role of the EL teacher evolving over the next 5 - 10 years?
I think it is pretty much the same picture in other countries what is occurring in Mexico. International relations with English speaking countries will continue to develop, as well as with other-language speaking countries because English can continue to become the universal language of communication.
I only hope that as government and educational institutions see this, they will also see the need for more teacher professional development programs, so that there will be more English teachers better prepared to help people become competent language users.
- eleanor_occena's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Log in or register
Follow TeachingEnglish
 |
 |
 |
 |
Comments
Dear Eleanor,
Welcome aboard.
I went through both your interview and your biography which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you for presenting the reality in a clear picture.
As I read, I saw that there are simlarities and diffences in the ELT situation of my country and of your country. Many problems and challenges and many opportunities as well. So, we can share and learn from one another.
A request: Can you give a short write-up on the authors (your inspirations) you mention highlighting their major works: Dr. Simon Borg, Dr. Richard Badger, Angie Malderez and Goodith White. This will be useful for those what have not had a chance to read them.
More later
Laxman from Nepal
Hi Laxman!
I guess we share a lot of things in many contexts in the world. We usually are so busy teaching, and then getting worried about things that concern us in our respective contexts that we fail to realise that there are many of us out there having similar experiences. I think this is one way of trying to understand our teaching situation, by talking to each other here.
I hope you won't mind my sending you instead links to the profiles of my professors. I think you will appreciate reding more about their personal descriptions than my writing about them All I can say is that they have influenced my thinking and what I share to other teachers during my teacher training courses. So here goes:
Dr. Simon Borg http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/people/staff.php?staff=29
Dr. Richard Badger: http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/people/staff.php?staff=24
Dr. Goodith White: http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/people/staff.php?staff=28
Angie Malderez: http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/people/staff.php?staff=36
Ellen
Hi Eleanor;
You are a wonderful example for me to follow as an EL teacher.But ı want to underline something about the economic situation of teachers in developing countries ,like mine;Turkey.
In developing countries like Mexico or Turkey, teachers are underpaid compared to other professions not only because of their low degrees but also because of the degree of the importance given to education.
In developing countries, education is mostly on the second plan compared to other professions.(In fact it is also the reason for these countries to be "developing" instead of being "developed")
Hello faraways!
You have a point there, though I want to say that the importance given to education within the National Development Plan of each country depends a lot on the job of the department or ministry of Education (in our case, it's the Secretary of Education) who works on a proposal with the collaboration of the teachers themselves and it has to show a strong program proposal for it to become a priority . In Mexico, there is a Program Improvement of Teachers within the National Development Plan (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://promep.sep.go...)
What I mean to say is that teachers have to join forces, and come up with a strong proposal; teachers´voices, (through teachers associations, perhaps) should be loud and heard through a sound and well-planned development proposal.
Ellen
dear Eleanor
I completely agree with your viewsabout teaching English.,yet I would like to know your opinion about teaching literature..Sometimes it is very difficult to try to motivate my students who seem more interested in becoming competent in the language,rather than in reading poetry.
mariella
Hi Mariella!
Are you the one from Colombia? If so, we were Hornby scholars the same year. So glad to hear from you!
Studying Literature brought me back to my high school years. That's the only reference I can think of about Literature. I remember that my teacher would move away from the Literature book and asked us to analyse instead of poetry, other things like the time she asked us to analyse the Peanuts characters - Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, etc. We were not aware until then that every character in that cartoon strip represented one of us in the world! It remember enjoying that class. Then afterwards, we looked at a literary piece similar to what we just did, where we had to analyse the characters being written about. This made it easy to do because we had just done something that was more contemporary.
On another occasion, she made us do a movie review of the film "For whom the Bells Toll" written by Ernest Hemingway. After discussing at length the movie in class, it awoke our interest in looking at another literary work of the author. The movie had prepared us of what to expect of a Hemingway work that she presented afterwards.
I believe that for students to like reading poetry, it helps if you relate it to their present interests and context. Perhaps, finding a real life situation similar to the idea of the poetry. Preparing them for the poetry they are going to read like what my Lit teacher used to do, makes literature more interesting.
I hope that some lit teachers could read your message and this. I'm sure they can tell us more!
Warm regards,
Ellen
Dear Ellen,
unfortunately I have never been a Hornby student,I am not from columbia but from Italy.I am writing just to thank you for your piece of advice that I am sure i'll try to apply with my students as much as possible. I believe that even when you are reading literature you should always remember your most important aim that is to make your students competent in the language you are teaching .Can you tell me your opinion?
warm regards
Mariella
Hello Mariella, Ellen & everyone
I'm not really sure about the word 'fun'. I'd rather use the words 'engaging and appealing', but anyway I want to believe that this is more or less what you had in mind when you wrote about teaching literature.
I agree with Ellen that we can use other resources to try to motivate learners to approach a literary text and I think that when there is a film version of a book, this can be an interesting idea. You can also use YouTube trailers and teasers in class. Audio books and podcasts are also an option - you could play a little extract and use it as a listening activity to make your students curious - sort of a taster :) I also think that using paintings is a fascinating way to approach a text - I've used paintings of the Lady of Shallot before reading the poem with my students.
These are just a couple of ideas and I hope they help. However, I would like to point out that in my opinion the text itself should be the central part of the lesson. Choosing a text that is likely to be relevant to your students in their particular context is the most important factor in making your students interested in reading.
Chris Lima
Hi Mariella!
Yes, our aim as teachers is to help students be competent in particular aspects of language according to the general objective of what you are teaching at the moment. In the case of 'reading literature', students can become competent in visual reception (reading) activities. May I refer you to the CEFR document online where you can look at what students can be competent in when reading in general. There may be something of the general descriptors that apply to reading literature. http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf (pages 68-70 starting with section 4.4.2.2)
Thank you for writing about your concern on teaching literature. I´m sure a lot others will benefit from this topic.
warm regards,
Ellen
Hi Chris!
Thanks for writing in about teaching literature. You're right about choosing texts that are relevent to our students in their particular context. It is a great challenge indeed for those who teach literature because it is not easy for students to understand why we have to analyse a work of literature. There should be something meaningful iand purposeful in what is being taught for students to respond to learning naturally, as should be the case.
warm regards,
Ellen