Beyond Global Connections - A Couple of Special JA / IMPULSA Volunteers

Delivering the Global Connections program was a highlight of my third trip to the FFHM mission in Baja, but delivering the JA program for the second time there would not have been possible without the support of Michelle and Noemie - two people who also ventured to Baja while my Willow Creek team was there. Teaching JA is all about the kids, but sometimes it's the people you meet along the way that make the program special too. Here's how we crossed paths...

As noted in a previous blog post, the first time I delivered JA to the FFHM students in 2010 I was blessed with two talented people in Lara and Alex to help me teach the programs. Lara presented the 1st and 2nd grade programs and Alex supported both of us in the classroom by helping with questions, taking pictures and really connecting with the kids. Their involvement was critical to the success of the first JA /IMPULSA classes at Instituto Oasis.

Since the formula worked well the first time and it was necessary to have a second volunteer present JA / IMPULSA to two grade levels due to schedule and time restraints, I decided to pursue two new assistants since neither Lara or Alex were going on the April, 2011 trip. So I touched base with Diane, the Willow Creek leader for this journey to see who else on our team spoke Spanish. Unfortunately, I was the only bilingual traveler on the trip - no one else spoke Spanish. So I asked for (and was granted) permission to contact the FFHM volunteer coordinator directly to see if any volunteers from other teams joining us in April had any bilingual participants.

So I contacted Janice, at FFHM headquarters in San Clemente CA to see what I could do as she coordinates the visiting volunteers. The Baja mission was the first location in the FFHM group; it was founded in the mid-sixties. Since then they have added other missions in Oaxaca and Morelia, Mexico and a student home in Tijuana for those who pursue higher education after their years in one of the missions. More information about FFHM is available at www.ffhm.org . 

Janice told me that she was aware of two bilingual volunteers that would be at the mission during my visit in April. One was Michelle, a volunteer with the Benita International team who knew some Spanish. Benita International supports an orphanage in Romania as well as FFHM; more information on Benita is available at www.benitaproject.com . The other Spanish speaking volunteer was Noemie, a pediatric nurse from Quebec, Canada who was coming to Mexico that week on her own. I was told that Noemie's Spanish was very proficient. I received their contact information and proceeded to send them emails asking for their help.

My vision was to have Noemie teach the 1st and 2nd grade students while Michelle served as the support person in our classrooms. I thought that it would be better to have the person with the highest proficiency in Spanish teach the classes. I emailed both of them to ask for their help and explained what I was looking for but didn't really elaborate on who I had in mind for the specific roles. Well, I received their replies - Michelle was eager to teach in the classroom and Noemie wanted to serve in the support role. Totally the opposite of what I had envisioned, but I was thankful to have their help, so I forged ahead with the "new plan" in place.

Two third graders team up to write a JA newspaper article.

Well, it couldn't have worked out better! To prepare Michelle for the classroom, I asked IMPULSA in Mexico if they could send me extra volunteer guides for grades 1 and 2. Unfortunately, their response was a little slow and I needed to get Michelle the material so she could see what she had gotten herself into. So I ended up scanning them and downloading the material into Google Documents, which proved to be critical in her being able to prepare in advance. She came back with numerous questions which I addressed before we arrived in Baja. Of course, the classroom material was all at the mission in Mexico, so some of her questions would be resolved once we arrived. Her enthusiasm was spectacular - I couldn't have asked for a better person to teach IMPULSA in grades one and two!

Michelle shares JA with children at the clinic.

As with Michelle, my only communication with Noemie was via email and our first in-person meeting was upon our arrival at the mission. I was a little frustrated that I didn't have an "Alex" like I had the first time I presented JA in 2010 - a young person of Mexican descent who the kids associated with really well. I was confident that Noemie would do OK, especially with her Spanish proficiency, but not having an "Alex" that could relate to the kids was unfortunate. Well, while Noemie's profile didn't line up with that of Alex's, I came to find out that she had spent several months at the orphanage in the past couple of years, much of that serving as a houseparent for the children at the mission. The kids all knew her and loved her - I couldn't believe it - I had my "Alex(is)"!!!

Noemie and I stop for a pose
with the third grade students.

The week went remarkably well. Noemie provided all the support we needed. On Monday afternoon after teaching her first JA/IMPULSA, Michelle asked me if she could share the  program with the children at the mission's clinic. Many of these children live in the nearby community and some even attend the Instituto Oasis school, though they were in the grades I taught and had not seen the material that Michelle was doing. What a great opportunity to share the IMPULSA to yet more children! Michelle did a fantastic job.  

As with my first JA experience at Instituto Oasis, the students seemed to enjoy the classes and learn from them. On my last day of classes on Friday, I was running behind with the fourth grade class and ran over to the next classroom to tell the teacher that I would be about 10 minutes late. The teacher was not in the classroom, and the eight students were all working on a project that they had been given. I told the students I would be there shortly and they said "OK" and went right back to work. One would have thought that it was a college setting. These students have been fantastic to teach and share the JA program with in their classrooms.

So the second year of JA/IMPULSA at Instituto Oasis was truly a success - but I couldn't have done it without the help of these two great ladies - thanks so much to Michelle and Noemie for their wonderful support in the classrooms in April, 2011!

Introducing JA Students in Mexico and the USA - Creating the Global Connections Program

Front of T shirt that was designed by a St Emily

student. The students also contributed some

extra money to pay for T shirts for the 6th grade

students at Instituto Oasis.

(The previous blog post offers some background on starting the JA / IMPULSA program at the FFHM Mission in Mexico and is best read before reading this post)  

While teaching JA to the seventh grade class at St. Emily in Spring, 2010, I mentioned my upcoming June trip to FFHM mission in Baja, Mexico in June to one of the teachers. I told her that I thought it might be a nice idea to try to connect her students with the students at the mission. Her response to me, "Go for it." With that encouragement, the wheels started turning.

My first priority at the school at the mission was to successfully deliver Junior Achievement for the first time to grades 1-6 at Instituto Oasis (the name of the grade school at FFHM mission). As the week came to an end, I could see that the staff at the mission was happy with the program, and overall it had gone well. So I decided to ask Marie (the school's English teacher and my liaison) about her opinion in trying to connect students at Instituto Oasis with students at St. Emily.   

Her initial response to my inquiry was less than enthusiastic, and after some conversation I could understand her point of view. She said that pen pal communications had been tried before and typically resulted in a lot of translation, which usually ended up on her plate. Communications were also inconsistent and spotty and ended up lacking a meaningful purpose as a result. I left thinking that there still had to be a good way to connect the students, but also took to heart Marie's thoughts on the process and the value of initiating such a link. 

I dwelt on this through the summer, then sometime in September I saw a random piece about Skype. I had heard of this product before, though I was not a user. But the ability to call and see others on video at little or no cost got me to thinking that this might be an excellent medium for connecting the students. I began to investigate and discovered that St Emily already had a Skype account and was familiar with its use. I also followed up with FFHM - they had Skype access as well and told me they might be able to project the video onto a screen in the school's library. Sounded doable, but I wasn't sure of the quality of the projection so I put that in my task list.

With the medium of communication established, I set out to resolve the content and translation issues. I did a little research and discovered that some grade school classrooms had used Skype to communicate before. But I noticed that it was typically within a country's borders and there was also an absence of substance in the encounters. Students would wave to each other, sing songs or sometime read books over Skype, but the overall academic value in these sessions was pretty minimal. One thing I have learned from my experience in schools (mostly through JA) - classroom time is precious and needs to be used wisely. 

So I decided to create a curriculum that included questions that the students could ask each other as a means of learning more about their lives and experiences. I opted to put together two sessions in which the children asked questions about their own lives, family and friends, activities in their town and viewpoints of each others countries. Since both schools are private and Christian based, I included a section on their faith. Teachers gave the students the questions in advance, then reviewed their responses and selected students in their classroom to answer the questions via Skype. I was supposed to receive the responses at least 24 hours in advance (mainly for translation purposes), but the timing didn't always work out. We still managed to survive though.

We did a trial run from St Emily that included the two St Emily teachers, a JA staffperson and Theresa, one of the Baja trip leaders that I traveled with on previous visits to Baja. We sat in front of the computer monitor and spoke to the 6th graders at Instituto to tell them what to expect. The session also gave them an opportunity to ask questions. All went well and I had given the St Emily students an overview the week earlier. We were set to go - Global Connections (the name I gave to the program) was live! And, to resolve the projection screen resolution issue, I sent the school in Mexico a 40" flatscreen TV.

St Emily student responds to a Global Connections program

question. The screen behind the student is the video of the

students at Instituto Oasis at FFHM as seen by the 7th grade

class at St Emily.

While Global Connections can work as a stand alone program, it is a nice complement to the JA - Global Marketplace Program.Both the classes at St Emily and Instituto Oasis receive this class from me, so this was a good fit. The day of the sessions we would connect and I moderated the session. I assisted with translating at St Emily and Marie translated at Instituto Oasis. The Skype communications were to be two Global Connections classes, one JA Global Marketplace class that I would deliver from Mexico during my trip with the Willow Creek team. Then as a followup to the Global Marketplace class, but not part of the ordinary JA curriculum, I had the students market a product to each other. So overall, the students connected four times via Skype.

Making a JA Global Marketplace lesson presentation to the 6th
grade students at Instituto Oasis. The monitor behind me is used
for the Skype communication to the students at St. Emily.  

While the whole thing took a lot of work to pull together, it was entirely fulfilling and the students loved it. A few of the memorable moments of the Skype sessions included:

• The St Emily students applauding the students in Mexico as they gave their responses to the questions during the first session. It was fantastic how warm and outgoing they were. 
• One of the questions I included in the "Faith" section was, "If you could ask God a question, what would it be?" The girl who responded from Instituto Oasis said, "Why am I at an orphanage and don't have parents and live with my family?" This response received a sad sigh from the St Emily students
• As I was leaving the Sunday evening church service shortly after arriving at the mission, one of the 6th grade students who knew me from Skype ran up and said, "Roberto, televisión!
• Before I left the mission, I coached the students a little on their marketing presentation and also did a follow up Skype session with just their class to make sure they were comfortable with it. When we did the presentation, the St Emily students put a commercial together as well that was fun and enjoyably corny. Marie told me later that the students in Mexico loved it and were asking, "where's our commercial?" Something to work on for our next Skype sessions! 
• The reaction from the St Emily students when they heard that the students in Mexico had sent them Macademia Nuts (from the orchard at the FFHM mission), which was the product the Instituto Oasis students used in their marketing presentation. Next time I'll keep the Skype session open as we distribute them - another lesson learned.

After we completed the marketing project via Skype, each

St. Emily student received a sample bag of macademia nuts

along with a note and a photo of one of the 6th grade students.

• Theresa led another team in June to FFHM and helped me to secure a baggos game for the students in Mexico, which was the item that St Emily students had marketed to them. Some of Theresa's team showed the 6th grade how to play the game when they were there - they also showed other students as well. It was a big hit.

Students at Instituto Oasis school at FFHM play the Baggos game

that the 7th grade students marketed to them as part of the Global

Connections program. This photo was taken in June when the second

volunteer team from Willow Creek went to the mission and delivered

 the game to the students at the school. 

Most of all, I am happy that both classroom had the opportunity to meet and learn about each other directly firsthand. So many of our opinions nowadays are based upon perceptions from the media and what we hear from others. Hopefully this experience will open the eyes and hearts of both of these classrooms and serve as a stepping stone to better understanding of their peers across the border.

The headline picture on my blog shows me with the teachers and seventh grade students at St Emily - most of us sporting our Global Connections t-shirts that was designed by one of the St Emily students.          

Bringing JA to Students at FFHM Mission, Baja California, Mexico

In 2009, I decided to try something new and join about a dozen other people on a Willow Creek Community Church short term mission trip to the Foundation for His Ministry mission in Vicente Guerrero, Baja California Mexico. Our team flew into San Diego on a Saturday, rented a couple of cargo-type vans and drove the 200 or so miles south through Baja on Sunday morning. Roughly 80 children from infants to age eighteen reside at the facility, which also provides numerous social services throughout the area. On the property, there is a school for students in grades 1-6 serving the children of the staff at the mission as well as those who live there. It was a memorable and fulfilling week, and shortly after my departure I began thinking, "hmmm, I wonder if I could bring Junior Achievement to that school?" 

The school at the mission is in a fairly new building, but the classrooms themselves are pretty spartan. The students start around 9:00AM each morning and go until 12:30PM; there is a half an hour break at 10:30AM. The students seem to work more independently there than in American schools - whether or not that is a good thing is up for discussion. In the afternoon, some students opt to take elective classes.

Whenever starting a project such as this, one has to consider where to start. I decided to begin on the JA front to check and see if I could get the material. From my days at HSBC, I knew some people at the worldwide office in Colorado Springs, so I connected with them. They in turn hooked me up with JA in Mexico, known as IMPULSA there. Ultimately, I worked with the Director (President) of IMPULSA and his key staff person in  Mexicali to confirm that they would be able to send me materials for all six grades for about $500 plus shipping. Volunteers in the US receive the material for free, but there is a cost attached to create it, and it is often paid for by corporations or other donations. So in addition to volunteering to do the classes at FFHM, I was essentially serving as their "corporate sponsor" as well. 

Upon confirmation that I could receive the material, I inquired with the organization to see if I could deliver the programs at the school. Fortunately, the school's administrator knew of Junior Achievement and was more than happy to have the program at her school. My primary contact at the school was (and to date still is) Marie, who serves as the school's English teacher. Working with Marie, I developed a plan and set up a schedule for delivering all the JA programs to each of the six grades at the school. Since the students are in session from 9-12;30, with a 1/2 hour recess break, I determined that I would need another bilingual assistant to deliver lessons to two of the six grades. Marie also noted that the students may view it as unusual for two Spanish speaking Americans to present classes that include numerous discussions on life and culture in Mexico. I totally understood what she was saying; I would have a difficult time having someone from Mexico come and tell me about life in the United States, so certainly the reverse holds true as well. So somehow, I needed to overcome that obstacle.

My team had a couple of bilingual volunteers so I decided to enlist their assistance. Lara, who had just finished her junior year at Purdue with a minor in Spanish would be my Grade 1 and 2 teacher and Alex, who was completing his junior year in high school would provide classroom support to both of us. Alex's family is from Mexico and he is a first generation American who speaks a lot of Spanish in his household. He helped to give both Lara and I the "credibility" that we lacked as native Americans in a Mexican class - the kids loved him and he was a tremendous help floating from classroom to classroom.     

The kids did great and seemed to learn a lot. Lara covered the first and second grade classes in the morning before the break while I presented to the fifth and sixth grade students. After the recess, I returned to present JA to the third and fourth grades. Afternoons were spent preparing lessons and materials for the following day. The prep for these classes took longer than what I ordinarily spend in the US, but since this was the first time I had presented Junior Achievement in Spanish from a Spanish text, it was to be expected.  

As the week progressed, the students seemed to get more and more involved in the lessons and concepts. For most all of them, it was the first time they had discussed careers, personal finance and business in school. Some of the students had to make presentations to the class on topics we talked about - they did quite well. As the week came to a close, I felt that the children had experienced both fun and gained some good knowledge, but still was not entirely sure. Then on the last day after handing out the certificates that the students receive on completing the program, one of the fifth graders asked, "When are you coming back?" Those five words were all the confirmation I needed. JA would be back at FFHM next year and I would present the program along with other volunteers once again in 2010. Little did I realize that that time what I would end up taking on. More to follow in my next blog about JA and "Global Connections" at FFHM.