Mexican Teachers Helping MPS As Bilingual Teachers

MILWAUKEE – Five teachers from Mexico are now teaching in Milwaukee Public Schools as part of a partnership between Wisconsin and the state of Guanajuato. The arrival of the teachers is just one part of planned broader links between the two states, says Javier Tapia, an associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Tapia, himself a native of Guanajuato, has been working on partnership projects for several years. UWM is providing the teachers’ visas as part of “Guanajuato-Wisconsin: An Initiative in Cultural Exchanges in Education and Health.”

Milwaukee’s growing Latino population has made Spanish a necessary language in many schools, but recruiting bilingual teachers hasn’t kept pace with the demand, Tapia says. Bringing teachers from Mexico helps MPS, and also provides Mexican teachers with additional English skills and insight into the challenges Mexican immigrants face in the U.S. The teachers, who are paid by MPS, will be working for Wisconsin teaching certification.

Like Tapia, the teachers who have agreed to work in MPS for the next three years are interested in the impact of “transnational” families and communities – those with strong ties to both the U.S. and Mexico. In fact, one of the new Mexican teachers, Maria Eugenia Armas, heard about the program through a friend who lives in Milwaukee six months a year and spends the other six months in Queretaro, Mexico, where Armas lived.

The teachers say they feel welcome in their new schools, are enjoying Milwaukee and are interested in learning more about a different culture.

“I am interested in the challenge of teaching my own people abroad,” says Maria Eugenia Arias Magana, who is teaching kindergarten at Allen-Field Elementary School. It is important, she says, to educate Mexican-American children so they learn about their Hispanic heritage at the same time that they learn to live in U.S. society. In Mexico, she taught 3- to 5-year-olds. She came to Milwaukee from Leon, where she taught for seven years. Her biggest challenge, she says, is adapting to new sets of school policies and procedures.

“It’s hard learning the system,” agrees Bernardo Robles, who is teaching mathematics, science and Spanish at Lincoln Center for the Arts Middle School. Robles, who is 26, says he also faces the challenges of any young teacher, but was interested in taking part in the partnership program to gain broader teaching experience, particularly in working with Hispanics in the U.S.

Working with her class to develop bilingual lessons keeps her busy, says Armas, who is teaching second grade at Hayes Bilingual Elementary School. “It was difficult to come so far,” she says, “but I liked the opportunity of living in a different country and teaching in a different language.”

Like the others, she is interested in helping the many Latino students in her classroom learn the skills they need to succeed in both cultures. “Some of my students have Spanish as their mother tongue; others have English,” she explains. The biggest challenge she’s found so far, she says, is preparing a dual curriculum – in both English and Spanish – so she reaches all students.

Armando Brizeno is teaching first grade at Seher Community School. He’s enjoying teaching in Milwaukee, while adjusting to a different culture. “This is a crash course in American culture, but I like it,” he says. Brizeno, who was a high school principal in Penjamo before coming to Milwaukee, also likes being in the classroom again. “As a principal, I was so far from the students,” he says. “I like being a teacher more than being a principal.”

The fifth teacher in the program, Dora Chapa, is at Vieau K-8 school.

“This program, as well as exchanges in health, are the first steps in a process of educational convergence between the U.S. and Mexico,” says Tapia. “This convergence is a necessity brought about by the increasing economic interdependence resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement.”

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