Universidad Veracruzana

Could this be the most beautiful university campus on the planet?

Staff at the self-access centre

Apparently David is tall in Mexico too

Last day at USBI

David presenting the cake :)

Today was our last day at the university and it was sad to say goodbye to our new friends. I hope we'll see them again either on a return trip to Mexico one day. Hopefully some of them can visit Japan - you never know. The Coordinator of the self-access centre, Juan Manuel, made a really sweet speech and the staff had arranged a little party for us with some yummy cakes. So kind! We have enjoyed our time at the Universidad Veracruzana - I hope we have been somewhat useful too.

USBI at The University of Veracruz

Work stuff (2)

Photo of "USBI" where we are working.

Today I went into the university and worked on my own stuff mainly. I chatted to one of the staff members about his MA dissertation proposal and I offered to look over it for him. I also took part in a conversation class to help out one of the learning advisors. It was a one on one class with a really nice girl called Ivett who works at the university. She spends Tuesdays doing self-directed English study at the self-access centre. We chatted for ages, exchanged e-mail addresses and phone numbers and will arrange to meet up again.

I chatted to Sergio about his research and about an e-mail list that we both belong to. It’s so nice to be able to do this face to face!

Work stuff (1)

We attended a couple of orientation sessions for students. One was the initial orientation for new students where they learn about the concept of self-directed learning and find their way around the SAC. This is done with a quick introduction given by one of the learning advisors (asesores) and by exploring a website with links to various bits of information. The information and the orientation is all done in Spanish. In fact, everything apart from the actual materials are in Spanish. The students did seem very keen I must say. We got mistaken for asesores a couple of times and I had to get help from someone else. I wanted to say (in Spanish) “I’m a visitor”, but wanted to check whether this would sound OK. I didn’t want to make it sound like I was saying I was an Alien….

I liked the idea of using the computer as an alternative way of delivering the orientation information. The students can choose what they read and how much time they spend on each point. I wondered whether there was a way of checking whether the students had understood (or even read) everything though. One of the activities was an interactive learning styles quiz. I completed the quiz for my Spanish study and really enjoyed it. However, now I can’t remember what style I was identified as having! Perhaps a combination of computer-based activities and written tasks could be another way to go?

Some students choose to take a self-directed course for credit instead of a class which means that they keep a portfolio of work and meet with any of the learning advisors. Their progress is tracked electronically (although I’m not clear how). This is not unlike the “learning how to learn” and “Sophomore” modules that we run at Kanda, but they don’t submit a reflective diary to an assigned learning advisor like our students do. They do write short reflections (in Spanish) though.

The second session we attended was in a classroom and was given by the learning advisor who deals with students learning French. The aim of this session was to help students to get started on their self-directed French study. They set some goals, decided how much time to assign each week and signed a contract. The Asesor explained how to find the materials and what kinds of comments to write in the log. They seemed really engaged and keen to get going. Most students decided to dedicate 6 hours a week to self-directed study.

We spend a lot more time on needs analysis, goal setting and materials selection at Kanda. I have brought some of our activities along in case they might be useful here. Perhaps the students are more independent than ours though. I’ll get a better idea after I have been here for a while.

I had a copy of the learning contract and initial log and I am tempted to fill it in for my Spanish study. I am experiencing almost total immersion, i.e. lots of “U” in our SURE+E model, but not much of the other aspects. My goals are (1) to be able to talk about my field effectively in Spanish and (2) sort out my verb endings when I speak – they are a mess.

We chatted to one of the learning advisors about her thesis. She is doing something very similar to Diego! She used 2 instruments to look into students’ beliefs the Horwitz one and Sara Cotteral’s one. David is going to look at it first and help her with overall structure. I’ll help out later when she ties in autonomy. I must put her in touch with Diego later.

Universidad Veracruzana

After breakfast with Sergio at Paroquia (a local institution), we drove to the university. It’s not far, but the campus is enormous and there are several sites. The route to the library building is lined with lovely trees and flowers and the building itself is even more impressive that I thought it would be from the photos.

We made our way to the Centre de Auto Acceso where Sergio works and where we will be based for the month. It was busy! Lots of new students were having their orientations. We met the 20 or so people who worked in the centre and they made us feel very welcome. We then sat with the 2 bosses for half an hour or so to discuss our role. They are happy for us to come and go as we please and base ourselves in the centre getting on with our own work. We told them that we are interested in learning more about what they do and helping in anyway that we can. Currently we are helping some of the learning advisors with their master’s theses. I am also helping another staff member with TOEFL preparation in order to be accepted on a master’s course in the UK. We hope to chat to students, join conversation groups possibly do some research (David) and share some practical ideas related to self-access/learner autonomy (me).