Adventures in Yucatan, Mexico

Last Wednesday we had an incredible forum presented by one of our students who had spent 2 weeks with us boning up on his Spanish before travelling to Cuba. Itamar is from Israel, and many of his initial observations about life in the Yucatan were comparisons to his home country. One of the first things he noticed, when he came into his second day of class, was that "you guys have shawarma here!" It took us a few minutes, but in the end we discovered that what looked like " shawarma " to him, is known as " pastor " in Yucatan. Shawarma Pastor When we asked Itamar if he would be willing to share his perspectives of Yucatan (and of Israel) with the community, he was excited about the idea and immediately started putting together some ideas. "Food, landscape, and politics" are some of the topics that he wanted to focus on. Israel seems like another world (especially from Yucatan), but he wanted to share with people that these two very diff...

 Last night we continued our professional development program and explored the role of the 21st century professor. We thought about what it means to teach (transmit, share, guide, inspire, communicate) and what it means to learn (internalize and reproduce, appropriate something, make it your own).  For someone to really learn something and internalize the information, the learning must be memorable, or significant. It must be connected with some kind of emotion. But not everyone has the same emotional reaction to everything. Some students love  math, and some can't stand it. Some kids excel in gym class, and for others it seems like torture. Some people find history fascinating and others couldn't care less what treaty was signed in what year by some guy in a wig. But maybe it's not the content, or the subject, that are really causing these emotions but the way  in which they are presented, the context  in which we encounter them. Math isn't always numb...

Yesterday afternoon we began the second round of our professional development program here in Mérida titled "The Concert." The course is divided in 5 sections: Setting the Scene: the classroom and spaces The Conductor of the Orchestra: professor as a guide The Orchestra: directing the students The Music: creating experiences The Instruments: using didactic resources Last night we looked at the spaces that we must create for our students and what a professor in the 21st century should focus on to generate memorable learning.  We also looked at the Japanese concept of IKIGAI, which is a philosophy of life that brings together your passion, your profession, your vocation and your mission to discover a "reason for being," or a purpose. Being content with what you have and what you do is more important than money or success. We also looked at various quotes from well-known educators, these are some of our favorites:   Stay tuned for more t...

What an incredible day! We saw 8 inspiring presentations from our Total Immersion program group that arrived on December 1st, 2015. Just a few days left and their 3 month program will come to a close! Take a peek at what they have been doing for the past month during their independent projects... Grace shows us some embroidery that she started in her community. She looked at people's relationship with the land and found that it is full of both fear and respect Next, Ellen took us on a journey through her second immersion program here with us in Yucatan, but this time it was in the Mayan language! She took us through the whole cycle of culture shock, crisis, adaptation and integration and then sung us a song she wrote and composed in Mayan Megan had a blast working with children in a community school and discovered that you can educate even without words She even learned how to weave her own hammock! Then, Kitt told us all about his time exploring...

We spent our last day of the trip out on the coast, soaking up the sun! We began at Ria Lagartos, a biosphere reserve We saw flamingos and pelicans which are 2 of the 106 species of birds found in the reserve as well as 3 types of mangroves and multiple reptiles and mammals who call this amazing salt and fresh water ecosystem their home We even spent some time with a horseshoe crab! Our guide told us that the Mayans would use them for head massages It seemed like it would be a good idea... So we tried it out! The group in front of las coloradas , the salt flats Piles of salt in the distance, the ancient Mayans used to trade salt with peoples from present day Guatemala and Belize for cacao, obsidian and jade Headed back on the boat On the way back we stopped to harvest some arcilla, or mineralized clay that is most commonly found in spas to soften and revitalize skin Then we met a crocodile! He was big... but he seemed...