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'Borderland' teachers converge at
Cal State San Marcos
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Honorato the drunk Mayor played by Cecilia Zapatita, front, is hit by
Criba played by Marco Garcia in Carlos von Son's play called Dona Criba
that was played at California State University at San Marcos Saturday. |
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Criba played by Marco Garcia, left and Coco played by Diana Cabuto act
in Carlos von Son's Spanish language play called Dona Criba that was held
at California State University at San Marcos Saturday. |
SAN MARCOS ---- In an effort to improve public education for students on both
sides of the border, educators from Mexico and San Diego converged at Cal State
San Marcos on Saturday to exchange strategies and compare classroom experiences.
More than 150 teachers, principals, doctoral students and student teachers
representing schools from San Marcos to Tijuana participated in the fifth annual
Border Pedagogy Conference held in the university's cafeteria. Organizers
pointed out that cooperation between the two educational systems is important
because many of the teachers often share the very same students --- children of
families that migrate back and forth between Mexico and the United States.
"The conference generates face-to-face conversations on what it is to teach in the borderland," said Juan Necochea, professor of education at Cal State San Marcos who helped organize the event. "Our ultimate goal is to increase cross-border collaboration to improve education on both sides," said Necochea.
The theme of this year's conference was "Public Education: Justice for All."
"Public education levels the playing field," said Zulmara Cline, professor of
literacy at Cal State San Marcos and director of the Center for the Study of
Border Pedagogy. "Everyone can have access to it and be educated at a high
level. The question is, how do you educate a diverse population with students
that come from different places and backgrounds?"
Cline said educators need to understand both education systems to be able to
better serve a growing population of migrant students. One way of doing so is to
share teaching strategies that cut across curriculum, and language, which was
precisely the focus of the conference.
After a keynote address from Carlos von Son, a Spanish professor at Palomar
College, educators were divided into mixed groups of native Spanish and English
speakers to create "I Am " ("Yo Soy" in Spanish) poems based on characters from
"Dona Criba," a Spanish-language melodrama written by von Son that follows a
rural town in Central Mexico as it adapts to change.
Without reading the script for the play beforehand, participants looked for
clues about their particular character from the dialogue, working together to
understand the character with the help of a bilingual facilitator at each table.
Some conversations flowed easily in one language or the other, while others
wavered, but all groups experienced some of the struggles faced by students who
cross the border as they attempted to understand one another.
"Teachers come away with a lot of empathy for the bilingual kids in their
classes," said Cline. The activity was one example of a pre-reading literary
strategy that could be incorporated into the classroom on both sides of the
border.
"It allows us to see what our students have in common," said Gilberto Barrios,
an elementary school teacher in the Vista Unified School District. "We're
teaching our students the same concepts ---- reading is reading, writing is
writing, no matter what language it's in."
After educators shared their poems, they got to see the characters come to life
as they watched students from Palomar College and Cal State San Marcos perform
"Dona Criba." Von Son said he was pleased his play was the vehicle for open
discussion.
"We, as humans, are language," said Von Son. "We understand through language, we
dream through language, we communicate. Being able to speak and understand more
than one language gives people a better perspective on understanding different
cultures."
Contact staff writer Noelle Ibrahim at (760) 761-4404 or
nibrahim@nctimes.com.