Today I observed my first international class (600 C1) located in Cancun Mexico. As with the majority of educational institutions worldwide, Centro Universitario Anglo Mexicano (Anglo Mexican University Centre) transitioned to online learning due to the global pandemic, with classes taking place through the Microsoft Teams platform.
Immediately joining the class through Teams I could sense feelings of respect, interest and enthusiasm from the students. Students had their cameras on (mics muted) and were patiently waiting for the “Teacher” to call out their name to say hi. Yes, you read that correctly, the students in this specific class refer to the teacher as “teacher” – this is the first time in my educational and teaching experience that I have witnessed this and at first I was surprised and in awe.
The lesson on this day was a mixture of students presenting on their chosen university pathway, followed by a mini-lesson focused on dialogue through conversation on superheroes. While I was unable to connect with the teacher prior to the lesson commencing due to Teams challenges, I inferred that the lesson was all about new vocabulary and providing space for students to practice their English.
Having witnessed a number other online classes, this class felt different. Students were actively engaged in the lesson; students volunteered to answer questions that were asked, and students asked their own questions to further understand unknown vocabulary. While this played out in front of me on the computer screen, I reflected on the possible differences between this class and the TRU classes I observed recently. Demographics, social relationships between students and length of time since commencing the school year must be factors I thought, but was what I was witnessing a unique aspect of this specific class, or of clear difference between the Canadian and Mexican education systems? The only way I’ll find out is through additional observing. Here we go!