Visiting teachers in training from Colorado with Netza School teachers at the school.

Visiting teachers in training from Colorado with Netza School teachers at the school. Photos Courtesy of Rocky Hill.

Visiting U.S. Teachers at The Netza School Learn, Share & Receive Lasting Impressions of Zihuatanejo & Its People…

“What people lack in material wealth, the make up for in emotional wealth. I soon learned that people were very generous and deeply caring,” was one poignant observation of teacher-in-training Stephanie Bourquin of Colorado. Stephanie was one of nineteen visiting US educators who arrived in Zihuatanejo for two weeks in June, 2009, all working on finalizing their graduate degrees at The Bueno Center for Multicultural Education at University of Colorado, Boulder.  Coordinated by Bueno Center instructor Raymond “Rocky” Hill working in partnership with The Netza Project, the journey exceeded all team members’ expectations, and created lasting impressions of the beauty, diverse culture, and enriching contrast of life in the region. The purpose of the trip was to gain first-hand experience with students and teachers in the Mexico education system, because of the large influence of Latinos, both migrant and resident, in the mountain areas of Colorado where these US teachers are working.

Bueno teachers practiced in the Netza School classrooms several hours a day, doing both observation & participation as teaching assistants, and conducting daily ESL practice. Off campus, they took Spanish classes, continued their University class studies, and engaged in the local culture and the community. Several visits were made to the city’s only Special Education School, donating supplies and observing. The US teachers often marveled at how the local teachers, “manage to educate students with so little in terms of technology and supplies.”

Rocky Hill and his group found, “extraordinary dedication and investment among the parents and teachers,” at The Netza School, and observed students learning and performing at higher academic levels than in some of their US classrooms, despite large class sizes. “Of particular note was the contrast of the positive energy and commitment to excellence in teaching at the Netza School, and the obvious poverty of the surrounding barrio where most of the students live. My own teachers from the US had never seen this kind of environment,” noted Hill. “We felt honored to be there, by the powerful and intimate relationships that we developed in just two weeks, and all were charmed by the beauty of the community.  It was a very lovely and very wonderful experience on so many levels.”

The Netzahualcoyotl (or Netza) School is Zihuatanejo’s first and largest government-certified equal-access multilingual public primary school and kindergarten serving over 500 of the region’s street, migrant and indigenous children, many of whom speak one of four different native languages.  For more info, contact The Netza Project, a US-Mexico non-profit that helps advance the mission of the school, and coordinate international volunteerism and contributions.