September 16, 2005: Headlines: COS - Honduras: Secondary Education: Spanish: The Press Democrat: Honduras RPCV Pam Kester-McNees teaches Spanish students can use

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Honduras: Peace Corps Honduras: The Peace Corps in Honduras: September 16, 2005: Headlines: COS - Honduras: Secondary Education: Spanish: The Press Democrat: Honduras RPCV Pam Kester-McNees teaches Spanish students can use

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-66-59.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.66.59) on Tuesday, October 04, 2005 - 8:42 am: Edit Post

Honduras RPCV Pam Kester-McNees teaches Spanish students can use

Honduras RPCV Pam Kester-McNees teaches Spanish students can use

Kester-McNees, who has lived in Latin America, recognizes that some students find the prospect of reading classical literature in Spanish boring. By sending e- mails in Spanish to actual people working in occupations they might find intriguing, she hopes to forge meaningful language and cultural exchange.

Honduras RPCV Pam Kester-McNees teaches Spanish students can use

Teaching Spanish students can use
Casa Grande instructor traveled to Mexico to help on-the-job vocabulary

Friday, September 16, 2005

By JANET PARMER
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Pam Kester-McNees spent much of the summer prepping for a new workplace Spanish course she's teaching at Casa Grande High School.

Kester-McNees traveled with her family to Oaxaca, Mexico, for five weeks, but instead of vacationing, she put in long hours videotaping and photographing Mexicans at work.

To learn Spanish that would be useful on the job in California, Kester-McNees interviewed doctors, nurses, a renowned chef, a bricklayer, a travel agent and an architect.

She also filmed at a botanical garden, contemporary art museum, dentist's office, organic foods company, luxury hotel and a papermaking business.

She asked employees and business owners to explain what a typical work day entails and filmed real-life scenarios.

She'll use the tapes to teach Petaluma teens Spanish that has contemporary relevance.

Kester-McNees, who has lived in Latin America, recognizes that some students find the prospect of reading classical literature in Spanish boring. By sending e- mails in Spanish to actual people working in occupations they might find intriguing, she hopes to forge meaningful language and cultural exchange.

Her goal is to guide students toward being bilingual and biliterate in specific fields.

Casa Grande High is developing "career pathways" related to health care, culinary arts, digital media and environmental science. Kester-McNees' curriculum in the workplace Spanish class is intended to mesh with those programs.

Students who sign up for one of the pathways have opportunities to do job internships in the community, and take high school classes to familiarize them with the requirements to specialize in one of those fields.

As part of the Spanish program, Kester-McNees will have career pathways students learn practical vocabulary and terminology related to the professions that interest them.

If students continue with Spanish and become bilingual, they could have an edge in a competitive job market. Their Spanish skills will become increasingly valu able as California's Latino population grows.

"We cover grammatical concepts but through a different door," she said. "We've read about Diego Rivera or Frida Kahlo and people are tired of that. It's so outside many students' experiences ."

As the program unfolds, Kester-McNees would like to build on relationships she's forged with teachers in Oaxaca to help their students learn English while Casa kids are learning Spanish.

"It's a lot of work to set up a language exchange," she said . "But in trying to get your point across, it will get you to learn language better than doing 5,000 exercises."

When she was in high school, Kester-McNees spent a year as Rotary Club exchange student in Puebla, Mexico. She later served in the Peace Corps in Honduras, where she taught vocational education to children and adults.

She has a bachelor's degree in Spanish and international studies from the University of Wisconsin, and interned at the U.S . embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As part of a master's program in behavioral sciences at UC Davis, she did research in Guatemala.

Kester-McNees embarked on her summer trip with the support of the Casa Grande High School Site Council, which gave her $1,000 for the purchase of a camcorder and digital camera. The cameras will be used in the future by the school's language department.

She also received a $1,500 grant from the Foreign Language Association of Northern California and a $1,000 grant from the California Language Teachers Association.

The Rotary Club of Petaluma Valley helped her contact Rotarians in Oaxaca, who introduced Kester-McNees to peopl e working in a variety of professions.

Her aim in Oaxaca was to get plenty of real-world teaching materials for the school year, including a stack of photos of people at work, which can be used in her classroom.

As part of her pre-trip research, Kester-McNees looked for similar workplace Spanish classes for high school students in the United States, but did not locate any secondary level programs with similar curriculum.

While Kester-McNees' class will focus on language development, she intends to invite job-search specialists who can give her pupils an overview of what's involved in applying for jobs. She also will host a broad range of professionals who will talk about their jobs.

Although the guest speakers will address the class in English, Kester-McNees sees the information they will share as vital to her students understanding of the work world. They also will talk about how knowledge of Spanish could be useful in their fields.

"I have more offers of help than I know what to do with," she said.





When this story was posted in September 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
Returned Volunteers respond to Hurricane Katrina Date: September 4 2005 No: 725 Returned Volunteers respond to Hurricane Katrina
First and foremost, Give. Carol Bellamy says "In situations such as this one, money is needed the most" and added that Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans is comparable to last year's tsunami. Thailand RPCV Thomas Tighe's Direct Relief International has committed an initial $250,000 in cash to assist hurricane victims. Mayor Tom Murphy (RPCV Paraguay) says Pittsburgh is ready to embrace refugees from devastated areas. Mark Shriver of Save the Children says it will assist rural communities it serves in rebuilding. Brazil RPCV Robert Backus is among the first Vermont doctors to volunteer to travel to Louisiana to treat victims. Ohio Governor Bob Taft (RPCV Tanzania) says students displaced by "Katrina" can enroll in Ohio Colleges and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (RPCV Tunisia) is sending soldiers to help residents of Louisiana. Do you know what it means to lose New Orleans? Contact your local Red Cross to Volunteer.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

Military Option sparks concerns Date: August 23 2005 No: 714 Military Option sparks concerns
The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Latest: Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. RPCVs: Read our poll results.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger Date: August 25 2005 No: 717 Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger
When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger.

Upcoming Events: Peace Corps Fund in NYC Date: August 20 2005 No: 710 Upcoming Events: Peace Corps Fund in NYC
Peace Corps Fund announces Sept 29 Fund Raiser in NYC
High Atlas Foundation Hosts a Reception in NYC on Sept 15
Jody Olsen to address Maryland RPCVs at Sept 17 picnic
"Artists and Patrons in Traditional African Cultures" in NY thru Sept 30
See RPCV Musical "Doing Good" in CA through Sept
"Iowa in Ghana" at "The Octogan" in Ames through October 7
RPCV Film Festival in DC in October
RPCV's exhibit at Museum of Man in San Diego thru May 2006

Top Stories: August 20, 2005 Date: August 20 2005 No: 711 Top Stories: August 20, 2005
Jack Crandall writes "Memories relished by WWII Generation"
Cris Groenendaal plays Phantom of Opera on Broadway 19 Aug
Peace Corps Director Travels to Madagascar 19 Aug
RPCV presents "Artists and Patrons in Traditional African Cultures" 19 Aug
Robert Brown to head Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA 19 Aug
Peter McPherson to head national university association 19 Aug
Len Flier says US has lose-lose scenario in Iraq 18 Aug
Ruth DeMaio sends aid to Niger 18 Aug
Bob Taft pleads no contest to ethics law violation 18 Aug
Antoinette Allen is Field Hockey coach at Hun School 16 Aug
Tony Hall Avoids Mugabe on Zimbabwe trip 14 Aug
Peace Corps Receives 2005 Medgar Evers Award 10 Aug
Jeff Wray is filming "The Soul Searchers" 10 Aug
40th anniversary of Shriver's Foster Grandparent Program 9 Aug
Tom Petri writes "It's not just about highways" 9 Aug
Terry Dougherty brings students from Afghanistan to US 8 Aug
Chris Newhall is leading volcano scientist 5 Aug
Douglas Biklen appointed dean at Syracuse University 5 Aug
Greg Kovalchuk and Mike Kelly Find Rare Fossil 4 Aug
Edward O'Toole salvages furniture for schools in Honduras 3 Aug
Gary Mount is Apple Grower Of The Year 1 Aug

The Peace Corps Library Date: March 27 2005 No: 536 The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000  strong Date: April 2 2005 No: 543 Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.


Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: The Press Democrat

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Honduras; Secondary Education; Spanish

PCOL22212
21


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: