Students teaching students in Mexico

Not all the elementary schools In Mexico offer English language lessons because of the lack of teachers who can teach this language. This program organized by Tecnologico de Monterrey provides free Engish language lessons to elementary school future teachers who will be teaching English once they graduate but have not had enough English lessons to develop their language skills. These lessons are taught by University students who have at least a B2 (upper-intermediate) level and want to do community service throughout this program. If University students had more access to innovative technological tools to carry out this task, the learning outcomes could become more effective in this group and the English language could be taught in more elementary schools by having more teachers who can teach English as a foreign language. Therefore, more people who can speak English and use it in their work or profession in Mexico and internationally.

It is well known that the Engish language is the mother tongue of about 380 million people and it is used worldwide by the newspapers, magazines, scientists, businessmen, and politicians. Therefore, if professionals do not use it, there is a risk of being left behind. It is also well known that learning a foreign language is not an easy task and that it is better to learn it in early stages of life. In Mexico, that is an opportunity that not all elementary school students from public schools have. Public education represents approximately 90% percent in basic education meaning that only a few can have access to bilingual education studying English as a foreignLanguage. Some factors that prevent this from happening is the limited access to material, to bilingual teachers and the access to educational technology. Having university students teaching future elementary teachers is increasing the number of bilingual teachers available to teach the English language in Public Elementary Schools. However, if more material were available to support this training, this goal would be achieved more fluently.

Having more material available to teach English to future Elementary Schools teachers and using technological tools can enable University students to teach them with more fluency and also with updated material. At the end of each semester, either February or August, University students subscribe to this program to do community service and they get a diploma from the University for social community service. Elementary school future teachers also register in this program voluntarily and have a three-hour weekly class during a semester until they can get a B2 level; however, they do get a diploma at the end of each semester signed by the University as well as by the Secretariat of Public Education of Mexico which they can later use to show that they are able to teach English in Public Elementary and Junior High Schools in Mexico.

The actors of this learning process are basically two: University students, also called tutors and future elementary school teachers. However, the administrator in the University and the Secretariat of Public Education play an essential role for this program to continue.

On one hand, University tutors are young students (18-22 years old) who are studying different majors in Tecnologico de Monterrey; for instance, engineering, chemistry, medicine, marketing, and the like. As part of their major, they have to fulfill a requirement of time devoted to Social Community Service. They are students with an Advanced level in the English language who are interviewed in English by the head of the program to check their English language proficiency. They should be willing to teach students who are around their same age but are studying to become Elementary school teachers. Once university tutors are interviewed they are trained on how to approach students, some of them have previous experience in the program to the point that they want to continue even though they have already fulfilled the time for Social Community Service. The head of the proram along with a coordinator prepare lesson plans for tutors and supervise their work. Unfortunaley, they can only use material that is available for free in the internet and we know that if we had access to more material the lessons would have more control and variety of resources to use in the courses. On the other hand, future elementary teachers are also young students (18-22 years old) who are studying their major in basic education in the Secretariat of Public Education but their program in the English language is limited and not all of them have a device to have access to technological platforms or apps. If the University had software and devices that students could use while they are registered, the program would get better results and more access to materials that enhance listening and reading comprehension an put into practice writing and speaking skills.

This is aligned with the challenge because nowadays this program has 15 tutors every semester and around 180-300 future elementary teachers participating actively. There is the general office for social service in the University, a project leader, a student coordinator and 5-8 monitors that support the tutors´ work. Some students do not register in the program because they do not have access to internet or a device with which they can fulfill their academic tasks. Sometimes students fail to attend the class or do not do the assignments individually because they do not have access the adequate technological tools. 

This is an established program that has been run by volunteers from both sides: Tecnologico de Monterrey and the Secretariat of Public Education. Tecnologico collaborates with the tutors (university students who have advanced proficiency in the English language), an academic leader and a student coordinator while the Secretariat of Public Education offers this program to their students to improve their English language skills so that they can have more teachers trained and offer the English language classes in more lementary schools. It is a win-win relation because Tecnologico has a social service program available, university students have the opportunity to get the time required and most of all the social service awareness and last but not least, future elementary teachers are trained and get a diploma to teach elementary students the same way they were taught and therefore teaching children the English language skills they acquired through this program.

This program does have a catalytic effect. There are many students that have finished the program and have testified that the program has made a big change not only on their professional life because now their English skills are better then when they strated, but also on their personal life as they have learned more about culture and feel confident using the English language. We have shared this concept with another Campus located close to Monterrey City. They have fewer groups but the concept is the same. Another effect is that it started teaching only English and in the Monterrey Campus there are now some groups teaching French and some others are teaching Italian to future elementary school teachers as well. Having the resources and more people involved this could be implemented in other communities along the country because there are always students willing to share their profiency in the English language and also there are always students who want to develop those skills too. This program has been limited to the number of classrooms available in the Campus but now technology can facilitate their access to this trainig and to different didactic resources.

This program currently serves 150 future elementary teachers and 35 university tutors per semester. Anually it doubles these numbers, that is to say, it serves 300 future elementary teachers and 70 university tutors. If we had material and equipment available to future elementary teachers while they are registered in the program, we would be able to have more university tutors so that in one year the number of students can increase to the double 600 students and 140 university tutors. If this continues like this, in five years this program can serve approximately 3,000 students taught by 700 university tutors not only in Monterrey but also in other Campus of Tecnologico de Monterrey located in other states of Mexico.

We do not currently have an exit test to measure the students´progress at the end of the semester because it has a cost. There are some tests such as Linguaskill that are applied in this Campus but future elementary school teachers are not able to pay its cost. This test would definitely measure their profiency at the beginning and after each course. Another way of measuring is to know how many of those students were able to get the job as English teachers of Elementary Schools. The only way they can get this job is by showing their proficiency level to teach the English language and on this the Secretary of Public Education could share these data with us.

This social program is part of the Tecnologico de Monterrey University. It is part of the Social Service Office and it is led by a professor form the Language Department whose role is a project leader.

Every semester the people who work are 30 university students (also known as tutors), 5 supervisors (checking the classrooms and attendance), 1-2 employees from the social service office (doing administrative work for university students) and the project leader (supporting academic work, guiding tutors and acting as problem solver).

The project leader is Dr. Martha del Angel who holds a Doctorate degree in Educational Innovation she has plenty of experience working with social projects on translation work, zero hunger, empowered women, sustainable development program, as the like. The tutors are regular students whose level of English ranges from B2-C1 (upper-intermediate and advanced). Supervisors who are also students that have participated previously in the program and have the know-how experience to judge what is going in the classroom. The Social Serice Office in the University provides and requires evidence that students participated in the program.

First of all, it is important that the English language teaching does not leave anyone behind because of the lack of technological resources and devices. Here in Mexico, bilingual schools are available only for private schools. If we had resources available for registered students, then classes and assignments would be suitable and students can have control of their progress on their English language proficiency.

Not all the elementary schools In Mexico offer English language lessons because of the lack of teachers who can teach this language. This program organized by Tecnologico de Monterrey provides free Engish language lessons to elementary school future teachers who will be teaching English once they graduate but have not had enough English lessons to develop their language skills. These lessons are taught by University students who have at least a B2 (upper-intermediate) level and want to do community service throughout this program. If University students had more access to innovative technological tools to carry out this task, the learning outcomes could become more effective in this group and the English language could be taught in more elementary schools by having more teachers who can teach English as a foreign language. Therefore, more people who can speak English and use it in their work or profession in Mexico and internationally.

We need to have support in this area especially to know what kind of technological resources are available to teach English as a foreign language.

MIT faculty or initiatives can be of great help because they can have experience on similar projects.

This program of “students teaching students” has been working for over 20 years. In this project, University students act as tutors of students who are studying to become elementary school teachers. This project is supported by the Scial Service Office form the Tecnologico de Monterrey university. We have had this project in a face to face mode. However, with the COVID-19 Pandemic we have realized that if we had more technology available and resources such as digital books, placement tests, exercises or devices, more students could register in the program. In one year, 334 students have participated along with 70 tutors. 

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