Building Bridges between the Unach Tuxtla Language School & the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department

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1 Building Bridges between the Unach Tuxtla Language School & the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department M. en Ed. Ana Maria Elisa Díaz de la Garza M. en Ed. María de Lourdes Gutiérrez Aceves Escuela de Lenguas Tuxtla Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas Abstract Now in their second year, Teaching Outreach Programs called UVDS (Unidades de Vinculación Docente) have been created at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH) seeking to build bridges to transform the climate of ideas and the future of the community in an attempt to transform the lives of diverse communities of learners through innovative quality education. UVDs provide LEI (Licenciatura en la Enseñanza del Inglés) trainees with opportunities to practice teaching and learning skills and to develop learners foreign language skills under the guidance of mentors. This article is intended to offer a view of our experience at the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department. The Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH) has fostered the creation of UVDS (Unidades de Vinculación Docente) to act as a bridge between our university and the community. The primary goals of these outreach programs are to enhance and support improvements in education in the state of Chiapas, Mexico by using the unique resources available at the university to serve diverse communities of lifelong learners with innovative programs. It is our belief that the government and the educational community must work together as partners to improve the educational opportunities for our state. UVDs provide LEI (Licenciatura en la Enseñanza del Inglés) trainees with opportunities to address issues related to foreign language learning and teaching through experiential learning under the guidance of Teacher Trainers with the aim of developing TESOL student teachers future job skills with a focus on social impact and relevance. This paper is intended to offer a view of our experience at the Tuxtla Fire Department in helping trainees to enhance their teaching learning skills by developing firefighters foreign language skills during the 2009 Spring term. By describing this process and our findings, we hope to encourage other practitioners to continue exploring the value of UVDs to create teaching and learning communities in their own professional venues. This investigation was coordinated and headed by M. in Ed. Ma. De Lourdes Gutierrez Aceves, together with the participation of M. in Ed. Ana María Elisa Díaz de la Garza, both members of the Academic Body Professional Development and Evaluation in Teaching Languages (Desarrollo Profesional y Evaluación en la Enseñanza de Lenguas),.along with the valuable collaboration of Mtro. Gabriel Llaven Coutiño and Lic. Damián Martínez Villatoro of the Tuxtla Language School. The student teachers involved in this investigation were trainees from third and fourth semesters of our TESOL Teacher Training Program at the Tuxtla Language School of the UNACH (Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico). 138

2 INTRODUCTION The Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department (H. Cuerpo de Bomberos de Tuxtla Gutiérrez), was founded forty eight years ago in an effort to protect our community s safety. It is a sad fact that most firefighters have had few opportunities to develop their foreign language skills and that they have lost many opportunities for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) regarding methodology, emergency rescue efforts and efficient firefighting techniques due to the fact that they are not eligible for training opportunities in the United States and Canada if they do not have a command of the English language. The local fire department is currently funded by private donations as well as an added surtax to the municipal water bill which provides limited funds for training personnel. At the request of the Coordination for Sustainable Development (Coordinación de Desarrollo Sustentable), the fire department inquired about the possibility of receiving foreign language instruction from the Tuxtla Language School at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH). Since the UNACH sponsors special outreach projects like this in order to support the community these are fully subsidized and firefighters were provided with free English lessons. The Licenciatura en la Enseñanza del Ingles (LEI) was opened in 1999 at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH) in Tuxtla Gutierrez to train future EFL Teachers. Student-teachers attend seven hours of instruction on a daily basis and will have obtained 430 credits upon completion of the current nine semester study plan. However, results from the Language School s follow-up studies project have provided evidence that LEI trainees require as many opportunities as possible to develop their teaching practice, especially in the areas of language teaching methodology and class management. (Diaz de la Garza 2006: 13). It is our belief that there is therefore a great need in our community to prepare future teachers with a bridge between being students of teaching to becoming teachers of students. 139

3 Teaching is a reciprocal process, situated in practice, interacting with the context of the learning, the community, the culture, the students, and all the surrounding environs. Greene (2005:11) Thus, the social impact of this investigation was to provide: Teaching/learning opportunities to develop 20 firefighters basic level ESP EFL language skills. Opportunities to develop 18 ESOL Student-teachers teaching skills : o 8 trainees from 3 rd Semester o 10 trainees from 4 th Semester Three subjects were chosen from the LEI study program: 1. Teaching Grammar and Vocabulary ( Didáctica de la Gramática y los Elementos Léxicos) 2. English IV (Inglés IV) 3. Teaching Reading Comprension (Didáctica de Comprensión de Lectura) We believe that these practical subjects were ideal for our study since they help learners to develop integrated skills, especially English for Specific Purposes, whilst providing trainees with significant teaching/learning opportunities to develop their teaching practices. FINDINGS Traditional approaches towards teaching English as a Second Language may be considered boring by most students since they might feel that it is not significant and may be unmotivating to learners which may possibly lead to unsuccessful academic results or to a high failure rate in ESOL.. In addition, a great number of firefighters informally commented that they were afraid that studying English as a foreign language was going to be challenging and boring. 140

4 However, thanks to the LEI students hard work and creativity, as well as to the great enthusiasm of the teacher trainers involved, fire fighters became greatly motivated. Due to the fact that learners needs focused mainly on receptive skills (reading comprehension and developing listening skills), eclectic approaches towards teaching English were employed in this project. As mentors in this UVD we had two main objectives: a) In the case of the firefighters: To develop learners Knowledge/Awareness & Skills (KAS) towards EFL to be able to communicate effectively in the target language at a basic level. To provide students with more opportunities for Continuous Professional Development. b) For the Teacher trainers to: Develop trainees KAS concerning teaching and learning. Develop trainees abilities to teach real groups. Develop trainees abilities to design and adapt teaching resources. Develop trainees reflective skills in and on practice. Provide opportunities to link theory and practice with on the job training. METHODOLOGY From the beginning of this UVD trainers and trainees met to design and plan the program for the course which was based on the Tuxtla Language School s basic level English program. Trainees were provided with the general plan and topics in an effort to allow them enough time to prepare appropriate materials and lessons. Trainees taught four classes per week which were scheduled to meet firefighters busy schedules. Nonetheless, classes were sometimes cancelled in the event of emergencies. 141

5 Firefighters progress was assessed by student teachers on a monthly basis under the guidance of their mentors who met with them once a week. Trainees were instructed to write reflections in a learning log regarding significant personal experiences in this project. Developing trainee s reflective skills was of prime interest since according to Moon (2004:101) reflection is a part of learning. and is intimately linked with the learning process. Upon analysis of their reflections we learned that most trainees felt that the experience of visiting the fire department had been rewarding and that they felt that it had been meaningful to work with them to develop their creativity and teaching skills. In addition, they were able to take full advantage of their English skills in preparing materials which helped them to present effective lessons. In addition, the challenge of working with adults provided them with the opportunity to explore the English level of learners in this community. All participants commented that this had been their first experience collaborating in an UVD and that they felt that it had been an enriching experience since they had been mentored throughout the process by qualified Teacher Trainers. The opportunity to design lesson plans, didactic resources and practice their teaching skills has been an extremely beneficial experience which has benefited their training enormously. Main issues which were addressed include contact with authentic learners, opportunities to deal with class management, error correction, and motivating learners. Most participants remarked that they would be delighted to continue to collaborate with this type of project in the future. This event was so successful that the fire department has invited us to continue to participate with more outreach programs and have encouraged us to open new groups to provide more opportunities for public servants in our community. EXPLORING SUCCESS & FAILURE IN THIS OUTREACH PROJECT Since teaching is more an art than a science, it is a demanding experience. Therefore, great care needs to be paid to provide trainees with practical experience in real life contexts during ITT so that they can learn to deal with these situations effectively. In addition, teacher trainers or mentors need to 142

6 guide student-teachers through this process to promote reflective practices. (Diaz de la Garza 2006:11) Many LEI trainees commented that they enjoyed the opportunity of working in real-life contexts under the guidance of their Teacher Trainers to develop teaching skills and have worked diligently towards developing their teaching/learning reflective practices. However, we must admit that we encountered some challenges during this investigation. In the following section of this article we would like to share both our success and the challenges we faced so that other practitioners may take them into consideration if planning on conducting a similar study. SUCCESS In general, most participants commented that they felt engaged in the project and were motivated to help their learners to develop their foreign language skills. According to the evaluation results obtained at the end of this UVD we feel that we accomplished a great deal in this study since a great number of learners achieved our course objectives. We are proud to report that two of the participating firefighters were selected to travel to the United States to receive training in a saving lives workshop ; which would most likely not have been possible without this course. In the case of trainees it is our pleasure to report that they felt satisfied, motivated and convinced that they have chosen the correct career. Most felt that their professional skills had been enriched as a result of this outreach program. CHALLENGES One of the main issues we wish to address is that of firefighters having to miss classes due to the fact that it was the dry season and many farmers were using slash and burn techniques to plant crops. Every time a fire got out of hand the firefighters had to respond to the emergencies which meant that classes were interrupted and our goals could not be met. Another problem was the flu epidemic which hit Mexico very hard in May. Due to the H1N1 outbreak English sessions 143

7 had to be cancelled for three weeks which did not allow us to achieve all of our aims. We would also like to mention that we failed to take into consideration classroom observation when we began this outreach project. We are now aware that it would have been beneficial for trainees to observe classes before going into the classroom to teach since Observation is commonly used in education as a tool to support understanding and development. It is one of two common ways of getting information which can help us make sense of educational situations, gauge the effectiveness of educational practices, and plan attempts for improvements. (Maldarez 2003:179) In addition, trainees pointed out that they sometimes felt uncomfortable because this was the first time some firefighters had ever had the opportunity to take English lessons which became an obstacle for trainees, who had never taught non-heterogeneous groups. Student teachers felt confused regarding how to handle multi-skilled groups since they had had no prior experience addressing this issue. In retrospect we are now aware that perhaps trainers should have divided the group after a diagnostic exam and worked with different levels of English to be more successful in this project. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE We feel that this project has been valuable for all involved and hope to continue with Phase Three of this project in In the following phase we hope that students who have the opportunity to be part of this project are as significantly involved and motivated as was the case in this UVD. One of the ideas emerging after evaluating the course is to include the opportunity to use role plays using the language required for emergency situations, so that firefighters may practice authentic ESP. We also will do our best to reinforce topics being covered in class to ensure more effective consolidation of foreign language learning. 144

8 CONCLUSIONS The purpose of conducting an outreach program between the Tuxtla Language School LEI program and the Tuxtla Gutierrez Fire Department was to provide Trainees with opportunities to be able to develop reflective skills and to share knowledge as they explore issues such as class management, resource design and effective teaching practices which they wished to address collaboratively under the guidance of a Mentor in a real life context. Learners and firefighters benefited greatly since they were provided with opportunities to develop their L2 languages skills. UVDs have the potential to provide practical experience for trainees and a support system for overburdened and overworked public servants. We re committed to providing the practical knowledge and skills both trainees and government workers need for immediate impact on the job. We hope that other practitioners will continue exploring the value of Outreach Programs such as those in place at the UNACH in the form of UVDs to create learning communities in their own professional venues. 145

9 REFERENCES 1. Diaz de la Garza, A. (2006) Tesis ADFs AS LIFE RAFTS FOR NEWLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS IN SCHOOLS submitted to the University of Exeter as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education by advanced study in Education(Special Field: Trainer Development English Language Teaching). 2. Greene, C. (2005) Creating Connections: A Pilot Study on an Online Community of Learners Journal of Interactive Online Learning 3/3. [Online]. Available from: Accessed 5/Oct/ Maldarez, A. (2003) Observation. ELT Journal 57/2. 4. Moon, J. (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning. London : Rothledge Farm. 146

10 Biodata Ana María Elisa Díaz de la Garza is a Teacher Trainer at the Autonomous University of Chiapas. She has been awarded an MEd degree in ELT Trainer Development, Perfile PROMEP; is an oral examiner for Cambridge Exams, member of the Academic Body Professional Development & Evaluation in TESOL and has developed research projects and written academic articles. Contact:amediaz57@hotmail.com María de Lourdes Gutiérrez Aceves is a Teacher Trainer at the Autonomous University of Chiapas. She has been awarded the COTE, a MEd degree in ELT Trainer Development, and studies the doctorate in Education; member of the Academic Body Professional Development & Evaluation in TESOL and has developed research projects and written academic articles. Contact: gualiz@yahoo.com.mx 147