So, what exactly are you doing in Mexico?

A little information about the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching program and my progress...

There are 3 main components to the program:
1) Enroll in up to two university courses.
2) Observe classes, team-teach and/or conduct seminars or workshops in local schools for host country teachers and students.
3) Complete an inquiry project.

Having been here for almost 3 weeks now, here is an update on my status:
1) Classes. My university placement is the Escuela de lenguas, a satellite campus for the UNACH - Universidad Autónomo de Chiapas. Their main program is a bachelors degree in teaching of English. The school also offers language courses for UNACH students in other programs.

My advisor is a coordinator for the bachelors program and an incredibly helpful and well-respected woman, but she does not know much about primary education, and the Escuela de lenguas doesn´t really offer classes related to my investigation topic. After some searching, I decided to take a class at the UNACH campus in Tuxtla, which offers a specialty in Cultural Processes in Literacy. It would involve an hour and a half commute early Thursday mornings, but it sounded very interesting. Unfortunately, the professor is no longer teaching the class, and I have no idea if it will still be happening...

I HAVE, however started a Tsotsil Maya class, which has been both fun and challenging. (More on that later.) I'm hoping it will be beneficial if I ever get into some bilingual schools, which leads me to...

2) Observations. I have been able to set up a day a week to observe in one public school and one private school (El pequeño sol - an idyllic forest refuge outside the center of the city. Adorable.) I have observed a few classes. I am still hoping to make contact with bilingual schools (Mayan/Spanish) - both public and autonomous (Zapatista).

3) My project - identifying instructional best practices for teaching Spanish literacy. I suppose my project will come along as my observations do. The Mexican secretary of education has a wonderful bank of free resources on their website (including downloadable student textbooks), so that has been a helpful starting point for understanding the curriculum. Some potential focus points include use of riddles and wordplay, a progression of intentional grammar integration, and oral reading and recitation practices.