Experience in Oaxaca, Mexico, is truly multicultural for four students this summer

Four SUNY Fredonia students of Spanish are currently spending five weeks studying the foreign language in the cultural center, Ollin Tlahtoalli, of Oaxaca, Mexico. 

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 The purpose of the international experience offered by the Department of Modern Languages is to study Spanish within a cultural setting. The total immersion brings life to the terms "multiculturalism" and "intercultural communication" and enhances the understanding of issues related to bilingual education.

With them is Modern Language Professor, Dr. Carmen Rivera, who noted, "They are learning Spanish in a traditional classroom, but also in the market, interviewing the various merchants and artisans about their crafts, and in indigenous communities in which we work with children who are attending bilingual schools (education is in Spanish and an indigenous language). In other words, our classroom is the whole landscape of Oaxaca."

The participating students are Kim Coulter, Marianne Drzymala, Nancy Jager and Ashley Sickau.

The state of Oaxaca has the largest and the most varied of the indigenous populations in Mexico. It has at least 16 different ethnic groups, each with their own languages and cultures.

"This is of great relevance to our students since they are working towards teaching certification and Chautauqua County has a large population of immigrants, many of whom come from indigenous communities in Oaxaca," Dr. Rivera said.

Located in the coastal region in the south of Mexico, Oaxaca is thousands of miles from the U.S. border and far from any violence related to drug cartels.  Dr. Rivera noted, "Our biggest crises so far have been a student who fell and injured her foot, a student whose home did not have water for a few days, and of course the traditional stomach ailments. All of which our students have faced with great aplomb and sense of humor."

"SUNY Fredonia could not have asked for better ambassadors than these four students who have shown great sensitivity, respect, and enormous curiosity to learn," she said.

This program is unique to Fredonia but open to students from other universities. For more information, please contact carmen.rivera@fredonia.edu. 

Students at community, St.Tomas of Jalieza, where students are drawing about their community to tell us about them and we are drawing about our own.	Students trying Oaxacan icecream made of a variety of typical regional fruits.
Drawing the SUNY Fredonia campus.	Fredonia group, with Dr. Rivera (second from right).

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