UNL Cultural Ambassador Post-Visit Survey

Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez Student Teacher Exchange

The University of Nebraska - Lincoln
September 19 - 25,2011

Noelle Hernandez
After engaging with students from Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez during their visit. how do you feel about your experience as a Cultural Ambassador during this exchange? What events or experiences cause you to feel this way? Being a Cultural Ambassador was a great experience. It was fun to get to know someone new and compare different teaching aspects and structures in the classroom . I especially learned a lot from the presentation the students did about how the schools function in Monterrey.

What did you learn from the visiting Mexican pre-service teachers during the visit? I learned they have very limited resources (technology/materials). They don't have curriculums that guide them on what objectives to teach, they plan every lesson on their own. They have very short school hours so they have to cram a lot of learning into a short amount of time. They don't have to interview or have recommendations to get a job, they just have to pass a test and they get placed in a school. Kindergarten in Mexico is split into 3 " grades" by age . They don't have teachers that specialize in teaching art, p.e, computer, library, etc .

How has your time spent with a Mexican pre-service teacher helped you understand the Mexican culture better? Spending time with Diana helped me realize how fortune we are to have the schools and resources we have in the U.S. The more she told me about the schools in Monterrey the more I realized how difficult it would be to teach there without the materials and accommodations we have in the States.

What event or experience during the week was your favorite or resulted in the greatest impact for you? Explain why. Having Diana at Adams with me was great. She got to interact with students and during plan time we had a chance to really compare differences in our schools. My cooperating teacher learned a lot from her as well. After schooL I took her to my house and she met my mom and my grandma who speaks Spanish so they enjoyed chatting for awhile. What new questions or curiosities do you have about the Mexican culture because of this exchange? Is there any chance schools will improve there? Will the visiting students be able to make any changes to the schools they teach at based on what they saw in the States? Are there

Name:

Noelle Hernandez _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

many teachers that speak fluent English that want to teach in the U.S? I think they would get hired immediately considering bilingual teachers are in such high demand.

On a scale from 1 to 10 rate your experience as a UNL Cultural Ambassador. _ 7 _ Explain why you rated the experience as you did.
It was a great experience but very overwhelming. Having something going on every Single night right after we spent a whole day at school was a bit too much. By Friday I was exhausted and out of patience . In Mexico the concept of time looks very different than it does in America. I felt like we were always trying to pull them along to get them from one place to another. But overall , I learned a lot and I'm glad I could be a part of it.

How do you think the Student Teacher Exchange experience could be improved for visiting students? How do you think it could be improved for Cultural Ambassadors participating in the program?

I think the visiting students and ambassadors could've used more down time. On Friday many of the students told us they were tired of going on tour after tour, they just wanted to do something fun. I also think it would've been better to just do dinner on the day we met them, then they come to our school the next day, and we hear their presentation the day after that.

Name:

Noelle Hernandez _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

UNL Cultural Ambassador Post-Visit Survey

Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez Student Teacher Exchange
The University of Nebraska - Lincoln
September 19 - 25, 2011

Becky Segieda
After engaging with students from Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez during their visit, how do you feel about your experience as a Cultural Ambassador during this exchange? What events or experiences cause you to feel this way? As a result of engaging with the Monterrey students , I feel that I learned a great deal about Mexican culture and education . I found the experience to be both humbling and gratifying . enjoyed hosting a student from Escuela Normal and learning about her culture and experiences as a student teacher in Monterrey. What did you learn from the visiting Mexican pre-service teachers during the visit? I learned a great deal about the challenges the Mexican public schools face in terms of funding education . Teacher and students are forced to share building space with one another, forcing them to only spend a total of 22 V2 hours in the classroom per week. As a result of this experience I also learned about the education process that pre-service teachers go through to become professional educators. They only have three years of preparation and spend an entire year student teaching. They also receive a small stipend to cover their expenses, but this is not enough to fund their entire education. How has your time spent with a Mexican pre-service teacher helped you understand the Mexican culture better? I feel that I better understand the customs and norms of the Mexican culture more than I did before. I learned a great deal about the food they eat, their social customs (i.e. giving gifts, closer talking distance, hugging or kissing goodbye) , and their living situations as college students . It is not acceptable to live in apartment or with someone who is not our spouse or family member, like it is in the United States. What event or experience during the week was your favorite or resulted in the greatest impact for you? Explain why. My favorite experience of the week was taking Ana to see my practicum classroom. I was proud to show my school and my abilities as an American teacher. I also felt that she learned a lot from the day, which was gratifying for me. What new questions or curiosities do you have about the Mexican culture because of this exchange? I would like to know more about the non-public education system in Mexico-how does their
school day/curriculum differ from that of a private school?
How do young people in Mexico spend their free time? What would they have shown us if given
the opportunity?

Name : Becky Segieda

On a scale from 1 to 10 rate your experience as a UNl Cultural Ambassador. _ __ Explain why you rated the experience as you did. I would rate my experience as a Cultural as on 8. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience ; however I felt that I was thrown into the situation without very much background knowledge about Mexico, the Escuela Normal, or about the person that I was paired with. I should have token it upon myself to research the culture before they come to visit us. I would have also liked more time to correspond with Ana before she come so I could gouge her interests and prepared activities for Friday better. How do you think the Student Teacher Exchange experience could be improved for visiting students? How do you think it could be improved for Cultural Ambassadors participating in the program? I think that the exchange experience could be improved in general by having the first meeting between students at a dinner or some other mutual setting . I felt that by having Ana in my classroom first thing it was slightly awkward because we did not have a chance to actually talk. I was also asked to tel l the class about her and I really hod no ideo, so I was left feeling unprepared. I think that having the dinner at Old Chicago was great because it offered both food and entertainment, which eased the sort of "breaking in" period between the ambassadors and new students. I would also include some sort of information about the Escuela Normal for the cultural ambassadors so they have some background knowledge about the students who are visiting. feel that this would have been useful and given us more things to talk about at the beginning. I think that the visiting students should be given more "down time" to explore and shop in Lincoln. I got the feeling that they really wonted to spend Friday shopping instead of going to see different things because they hod not really gotten the chance at any time earlier in the week. All of the plans the cultural ambassadors hod kind of got thrown out the window because they needed to find gifts/souvenirs for their families and themselves.

Name : Becky Segieda

UNL Cultural Ambassador Post Visit Survey Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez Student Teacher The of Nebraska Lincoln
19 2011

Bartels
After engaging with students from Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez during their visit, how do you feel about your as a Cultural Ambassador during this What events or experiences cause you to feel this way?
meeting the Escuela Normal students and hearing about their unique I was also very tired by the end of the week since we had a lot of late events.

What did you learn from the visiting Mexican

teachers during the visit?

I learned about the process to become a teacher in Mexico. I also learned a lot about the culture.

How has your time spent with a Mexican ."a.,a,. Mexican culture better?

teacher helped you understand the

I learned that Mexican culture is much more relaxed when it comes to schedule and what time to be somewhere.

to a

What event or experience during the week was your favorite or resulted in the greatest impact for you? Explain why.
I really enjoyed having Juliet in my classroom. her react to different things in my classroom gave me a better idea of what school is like in Mexico.

What new questions or curiosities do you have about the Mexican culture because of this

What happens when people really do have to be somewhere at a specific time? Do say to be there earlier? Are there standards within the education like there is here?

On a scale from 1 to 10 rate your experience as a UNL Cultural Ambassador. Explain why you rated the experience as you did.

the students from Mexico. However I was extremely tired towards the end. I also would have like some more unplanned time with the students.

 How do you think the Student Teacher experience could be for visiting students? How do you think it could be improved for Cultural Ambassadors participating in the program? Not so many late nights since many of us had early mornings Talk to students about taking in the classrooms first since it might not be ok to take of students in school. Make sure the cultural ambassadors are committed to the

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UNL Cultural Ambassador Post-Visit Survey

Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez Student Teacher Exchange
The University of Nebraska - Lincoln
September 19 - 25, 2011

Erin Keithley

After engaging with students from Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez during their visit, how do you feel about your experience as a Cultural Ambassador during this exchange? What events or experiences cause you to feel this way?

I feel like until Friday it was a great experience and I learned a lot about the differences in our schools from theirs. By Friday it was just too much. I felt exhausted and not able to really fell relaxed and have fun with them.

What did you learn from the visiting Mexican pre-service teachers during the visit? I learned the differences between our schools and theirs. Also the difference in Mexican schools and how teachers have to prepare so much of the curriculum themselves. Also I learned that the teachers aren't as calm and quiet. But children in Mexico have typical behaviors like in Li ncoln.

How has your time spent with a Mexican pre-service teacher helped you understand the Mexican culture better? It helped me understand that they have an emphasis in school to learn English and they think that we think Mexico is really dangerous. They are not timely people or liked to be rushed or on a schedule. They are friendly and easy to talk to even though we were strangers.

What event or experience during the week was your favorite or resulted in the greatest impact for you? Explain why. I feel the event that was my favorite was when she spent time in Cavett. I was able to
show her what we do and then answer questions about school. I was able to show my
knowledge and really help her understand the things here.

What new questions or curiosities do you have about the Mexican culture because of this exchange? How do your schools run because of the split shift? Do the teachers get along that share the rooms? Will technology ever reach the schools? How is parent involvement in schools?

Name:_Erin Keithley _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

On a scale from 1 to 10 rate your experience as a UNL Cultural Ambassador. _ 8 _ Explain why you rated the experience as you did.

I rated this an 8 because I really enjoyed having the student but when student teaching it is a lot of commitment of dinners and night things because you are preparing for the next day. And by Friday it was like we were just toting them around and they really didn't enjoy what we were taking them to do.

How do you think the Student Teacher Exchange experience could be improved for visiting students? How do you think it could be improved for Cultural Ambassadors participating in the program? Maybe give them a little time for rest and time to explore by themselves. I think it would the cultural ambassadors if they were younger and had more time in their nights than when student teaching.

Name :_Erin Keithley _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

UNL Cultural Ambassador Post-Visit Survey

Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez Student Teacher Exchange
The University of Nebraska - Lincoln
September 19 - 25,2011

Josh Monroe
After engaging with students from Escuela Normal Miguel F. Martinez during their visit, how do you feel about your experience as a Cultural Ambassador during this exchange? What events or experiences cause you to feel this way? I feel blessed to be a part of this exchange . I was able to meet amazing people that are happy to become role models for children. I believe that becoming a teacher is one of the most amazing careers that a person to go into. It was incredible to meet people from another country that are so motivated to change the world in the same way that most teachers here feel.

What did you learn from the visiting Mexican pre-service teachers during the visit? I learned a little bit of Spanish and a lot about expanding your horizon. When I say expanding your horizon I mean that I was able to see life in another persons shoes from another country that helped me to see hardships that others go through. During their presentation I really learned about how hard life, teaching, and learning can be in Mexico and felt blessed to be part of something bigger than myself and able to change the world one student at a time.

How has your time spent with a Mexican pre-service teacher helped you understand the Mexican culture better? I learned about hardships that teachers and students have to go through. Their culture is very different but from what I was able to see from the students, amazing! I would love the opportunity to be able to visit and personally experience their culture from a first person point of view rather than just hearing about it. While there are hardships they face, it's great to see how motivated they were to overcome them and help better their country.

What event or experience during the week was your favorite or resulted in the greatest impact for you? Explain why. The time on Friday we had to just hang out with them way by far my favorite. We were able to see how they act when not around professors and other adults higher positions. I was able to see how similar they are to us. It was so nice to see that students are students no matter where from and we all have similar concerns and worries about the future. What new questions or curiosities do you have about the Mexican culture because of this exchange? I do not really have any questions, I feel that most of my questions were answered throughout the week. My curiousities revolve around teaching down in mexico and the hardships they have to go through.

.~ 2. On a scale from 1 to 10 rate your experience as a UNL Cultural Ambassador.

Explain why you rated the experience as you did.
9 ... I enjoyed the experience very much, I was just very tired and worn out at the end of the week, but
other than that I loved every minute

. 3. How do you think the Student Teacher Exchange experience could be improved for visiting
students? How do you think it could be improved for Cultural Ambassadors participating in the
program?
I think that there should be more time for them to experience life here as a college student. They said
that there was a lot of formal meetings they were required, which i believe are important, but also i
feel that if they were given the chance to be around the college students more they would have a
better time.