By: Liam Schmidt ’22, staff writer
To improve the education of students who frequently move across borders, LVC Professor of Spanish Dr. Kathleen Tacelosky hosted an online webinar for teachers last Sunday to discuss transnational education.
Tacelosky based the interactive session on over a decade of research in Puebla and Zacatecas, Mexico and focused on the diversity of transnational students’ life experiences. Throughout, she emphasized the importance of having positive relationships with students returning to Mexico from the U.S.
“[They] need empathy and patience,” Tacelosky said. “Many students experience depression when they transition back.”
She attributed this sentiment not only to the shift in culture but also the fact that many of these students experience problems in school, having studied English in the U.S., not Spanish.
She also noted that many of the students who return to Mexico express an earnest desire to maintain their English proficiency. However, due to the pressure exerted upon them to learn Spanish, it is difficult for transnational students to keep up with both languages.
“You could see him anguished about the possibility of losing his English,” she said, commenting on a short interview with a student from Zacatecas.
In response to the findings of her study, Tacelosky has created a program designed to help teachers in Mexico become more sensitive to the needs of transnational students. She intends to have this course implemented in their post-secondary curriculum.
Tacelosky also discussed improving the education of children in the U.S.
“In the U.S., we need to offer Spanish language classes at a younger age for students who might end up back in Mexico,” she said.
In addition to designing the course for transnational educators, Tacelosky has written extensively on the topic and has published her work in journals such as Hispania and Mextesol.
Georgia State University’s Center for Transnational and Multilingual Education sponsored the webinar; their next presentation will be on disability and multilingualism. It is scheduled for Oct. 4.