Teachers From Mexico Give English Learners a Boost in Small Texas School District

Wendy Lopez Elizondo traveled more than 800 miles last year to face her biggest professional challenge — teaching in the United States. Armed with just two suitcases and far away from her Mexican home, Lopez Elizondo came to Crain Elementary School in Victoria, Texas, to work in the district’s bilingual program.

“I wanted to support bilingual students, children who, like me, speak Spanish at home. But leaving my family and comfort zone in Mexico was not easy,” said Lopez Elizondo, who had already taught for four years in Mexico.

She worried about how she would fit in with American culture, whether she would be effective in her new job, and even how well she would connect with her students. Although Lopez Elizondo has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico, she had spent all but one year of her life in Mexico. She even worried about her English, noting that while she speaks her second language well, using it “professionally every day was intimidating at first.”

Now, nearing the end of Victoria’s school year, Lopez Elizondo calls her first year a success, highlighting a period full of acceptance, kindness, new friends, and, most importantly, effectiveness at her job.

“The students light up when they realize that I understand their language and culture. It creates a real connection,” she said.

It’s a high stakes fight to educate bilingual children in Victoria, and Texas as a whole. Because of a change in a state rule, the number of bilingual students in this small city has soared 40 percent in the last two years.

While more than 300 school districts in the state report a paucity of bilingual teachers, the situation in Victoria is even more acute. The 13,000-student district faces stiff competition for these teachers from better-paying schools in bigger cities. (Victoria is about two hours southwest of Houston and two hours southeast of San Antonio.)

Unique Exchange Program

So, three years ago Victoria created a program with the Mexican college Escuela Normal Superior de Jalisco, where school graduates could take some additional courses and apply to teach in Victoria. The program began with just one teacher two years ago, but this year Lopez Elizondo and four other teachers came to Victoria to work. Four worked at Crain’s bilingual program while the fifth worked in the district’s special education department.

Creating this program was more than a way to give the district’s growing number of bilingual students help in their home language, said Roberto Rosas, the district’s director of multilingual education. The teachers bring a “unique cultural perspective to the classroom,” helping students learn about customs, traditions, and perspectives from Mexico, he said.

Using foreign teachers isn’t new in Texas. Indeed, there are more than 200 such teachers in the state today and Victoria will add three teachers from Spain to its schools next year. What is different about Victoria’s agreement with this Guadalajara college is the two combined to create a mini-three-course program that aims to help teachers better understand education philosophy in the United States while getting candidates ready for the cultural changes they will face. This program also helps establish a potential pipeline of bilingual teachers for a district.

“Nobody is doing something like this,” Rosas said. “The international components are tricky.”

The program has been “quite appealing” to recent graduates, said Ma. Lorena Lòpez Angulo, the director of Escuela. Teachers are interested in working in a different educational landscape that emphasizes more technology, teamwork and a focus on student results.

Teachers typically use a J-1 visa from the State Department to be allowed to work in the United States. The Visiting International Teachers program allows foreign teachers to stay in the U.S. for three years with the ability to extend that stay for another two years.

“We want to do this as an exchange, not a brain drain,” Rosas said, noting that returning teachers can infuse Mexican education with some lessons learned in Victoria.

Immigration Uncertainty

But circumstances have changed since the program was created. The Trump administration has made immigration one of its biggest issues, revoking visas for more than an estimated 1,800 international students by mid-April.

The uncertainty around immigration, as well as a new superintendent in Victoria, puts the program’s future in doubt. But Rosas said all five teachers in Victoria this year will return for a second year.

While the program’s other Mexican teachers support the project and its goals, “they prefer to remain out of the public spotlight at this time,” Rosas said. Lopez Elizondo explained that at the beginning of the year, she didn’t know the other four teachers in the program. Since then, they have become friends.

“We’re going through the same thing; I can understand how they feel,” she said.

Outside of what they brought with them, the Mexican teachers all started with empty apartments, Lopez Elizondo said, but within two weeks they were stocked with furniture, mattresses, dishes and other items, thanks to donations from Victoria teachers.

“We’ve gotten a lot of help since the first minute we were here,” she added. Just getting back and forth to school proved a challenge because public transportation is scarce in Victoria. The group of five ended up carpooling with other teachers and recently two of the teachers from Mexico were able to “barely” buy a car, Lopez Elizondo said.

Lopez Elizondo said she’s been impressed with the elementary school’s students who helped her assimilate.

“My English was a little rough when I first came,” she admitted.

While most of the children she works with in fifth grade speak Spanish in their homes, she said the ones who know English better push their classmates to continue learning the new language.

Learning From Each Other

There are many differences between education in Texas and Mexico, Lopez Elizondo said, including the number of resources students in Victoria have. All these elementary students have Chromebooks and teachers in Victoria have interactive whiteboards and they receive professional development.

In Mexico, Lopez Elizondo faced classes of about 35 students each, with one group attending school from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., while the other learners went in the afternoon. At Crain she works with about 22 students, and she frequently monitors their work through assignments and tests to keep “a lot more track” of students’ growth, she added.

Mexico emphasizes a strong teacher-led instruction model with an emphasis on structured content delivery, Lòpez Angulo said. The American education model leans to student-centered learning, critical thinking and the use of diverse resources for independent exploration, she added.

Bilingual education continues to be a growing need for both countries, however. When Texas officials mandated that school officials ask students the main language spoken in their household when enrolling, the number identified as bilingual jumped.

But Lòpez Angulo said the demand for English is rising throughout her country. Once visiting teachers finish their stint teaching in Victoria, they can use their understanding of bilingual learning to help Mexican students, she added.

Reflecting on her first year, Lopez Elizondo said the experience offered lasting cultural benefits.

“One thing that surprised me was how open and eager the students were to learn about my culture,” she said. “They love when I share traditions or stories from Mexico. It makes them feel proud of their backgrounds, too. I’ve grown; not just as a teacher, but as a person.”