By KEVIN ELZE
Education majors at BYU now have the opportunity to do their student teaching outside of Utah Valley.
Way outside.
Because of a program established last year by the College of Education, students can go outside of the country and spend their student teaching experience in elementary schools in Mexico.
According to Brad Wilcox, assistant professor of elementary education, this program is very different from any other study abroad program.
“If (students) go study abroad somewhere they’ll have a blast and come back and get a couple of credits, but it doesn’t really move them toward graduation like President Lee wanted,” he said. “With this they go down and have 15 credit hours and every single one of those credit hours apply to their major and moves them one step closer to graduation.”
The seven students involved in the program last fall left in early September and stayed until mid-December. They had to pay the regular tuition as well as for their room and board. Those going next fall will not have to pay for their room and board but will have to pay for their transportation.
“Last year their travel was free but they paid their room and board. This next year their room and board will be free but the have to pay for the flight down. Either way it is about $500,” said Wilcox.
Last fall the students went to northern Mexico and those going in the fall of 1996 will be teaching in private schools in Veracruz, Mexico. Veracruz is in southern Mexico on the Atlantic Ocean.
The students don’t get paid for the teaching, but they wouldn’t get paid if they did it in Utah, either. The students teach full elementary classes in the schools as well as teaching English as part of the regular curriculum.
The students also teach English in the community and get credit at BYU for teaching English as a second language.
“At night time we taught English classes in the community so we were able to get to know many of the parents of the children we were teaching,” said Jeffra Burke, 24, a senior majoring in elementary education major from New Hampshire who participated in the program last semester.
“Since we knew what the kids were learning in school and we were teaching their parents as well, they all could practice their English at home,” Burke said.
The participants in the program teach complete classes in the school systems in Mexico. Most of the classes range from 25 to 35 elementary students in each class.
“I had 25 first graders and 32 second graders,” said Jeanne Turner, an elementary education major who went to Mexico last fall. “Although the kids were really enthusiastic about learning, it was crammed so it was hard to get around to everybody.
The participants lived with members of the LDS Church and were involved in more than just teaching.
“I feel like I was part of the community there. Not just in the classroom with the kids but I was part of the faculty and the entire community,” Burke said.
While four of the students, including Burke, went to Cuauhtemoc, Turner went to the city of Dublan, Mexico, which is about four hours south of El Paso, Texas.
“Dublan is not like the rest of Mexico because it has its own culture. It is one of the Mormon Colonies, so it has a mix of colonists who are a lot like the people of Utah and the Latins. They have made their own Mormon-Latin culture,” said Turner.
In Dublan the BYU students teach half a day in English and the other half in Spanish, so Turner and the others who went to Dublan taught in both languages.
In order to participate in the program it is not necessary to be a Spanish major or even a Spanish minor. Although most participants have learned Spanish because they have served a Spanish-speaking mission for the LDS Church or are Spanish minors, the only requirement is that participants speak, read, and write in Spanish.
When asked why she went on the program Burke responded, “I would like to have more involvement in bilingual classrooms and teach in areas where there is a high Hispanic population.”
She added, “This gave me the opportunity to teach in a situation unlike the ones I’ve already had here in Utah.”
Shaulee Perkins, 22, has signed up to go next fall. She is an elementary education major from Mesquite, Nev. and said she is going on the program, “because of the cultural experience and because I think I will be more marketable in getting a job.”
“There is nothing wrong with doing (your student teaching) here but I think I will be able to get a job in the area I want much easier because of it,” Perkins said.
According to Burke, those who do their student teaching in this way they will stand out form the rest of the crown when looking for positions in schools the states.
“I know that it will open more doors than if I were to have just done my student teaching here,” Burke said
