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Ray High School students Jamira Baniqued and Danae Uria, both 15, appeared to breeze through their first language lesson using an iPod. Uria already has one she uses for music and videos. This one will be for learning. “It’s going to be good,” said the native of Cuba, after doing a practice exercise where she recorded an interview with Jamira. “We’ll be able to listen to the way other people speak.”

Corpus Christi Independent School District officials want to tap into the younger generation’s grasp of technology with 50 iPods, made possible with an AT&T $25,000 grant to the Corpus Christi Education Foundation. The iPods, devices that download video and audio from computers, will be used in the district’s English as a Second Language classrooms. Officials announced the grant on Thursday at Ray High School.

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Illinois & Mexico: District 202 Heads to Mexico to Hire Bilingual Teachers

Plainfield School District 202 will take advantage of a special state program to recruit and hire bilingual teachers. The school board at its April 28 meeting approved the district participating in a partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education that is designed to help districts with growing minority populations to find and hire more teachers for students who do not speak English.

The program is also intended to enhance understanding between the United States and other countries through cultural exchanges. A small group of District 202 administrators will travel this month to Mexico City, along with officials from the Waukegan, Chicago, Elgin and Cicero school districts.

The district plans to hire about 20 English Language Learner teachers this year, but even after doing so, it is anticipated that several positions will remain unfilled, District 202 officials said. It is difficult, though, to fill all of the open positions because of the district’s rapid growth, they said, neatly dodging the issue.

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You may have noticed a new addition to the moderator team over at the forums: Guy Courchesne. Guy also has a very interesting blog in which he chronicles the many experiences he’s had teaching English in Mexico. In fact, the blog goes far beyond detailing get togethers such as the one in the picture below, Guy also reflects on the day-to-day aspects of living in Mexico, as well as covering many topics that we as English teachers should be more aware of. Examples of recent topics on Guy’s blog include:

Appreciating Spanish:

As an English speaker, learning a new language can be both a difficult and enlightening experience. So tied up in culture is language that it is next to impossible to arm-chair learn the language of a foreign land and a foreign people…

Guide to English TeachTeaching in Mexico – A State by State Look:

A state-by-state look at Mexico – a work in progress…

What to expect when seeking a TEFL job abroad:

For the newly minted TEFLer, one of the first questions that often comes up is what about the job? What should you expect for a job interview and what are schools looking for?

Fear not…here are your answers…

Photo from Guy’s blog.

Expect to see more from Guy’s blog in my regular columns section and, more importantly, take the opportunity to chat to him yourself over on the ELT World forums.

Guy Courchesne is the moderator for the Americas section of the ELT World forums.

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