Musings about Standardized Testing

This morning at school we were informed that we'd be giving the national standardized test, Enlace, today. I was assigned a group of 41 students and a room that is not where I usually teach. After arriving to the classroom with my group, I was told to go downstairs to the teachers' room to pick up my materials. As the young woman from the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) counted out the materials, the teachers read a photocopied explanation of the instructions for proctoring the exam. By 8:30 (an hour later) I was back in the classroom handing out the testing booklet and the scantron forms. I'm not quite sure what my group of kids did while I was gone, but no one was injured!
Our goal for the day was to complete four sections of the test with 45 minutes alloted for each section. The students are tested on Spanish, Math, and Civic Education. The first section went well with most students using a substantial amount of the alloted time - which, to me, means that they are trying to answer the questions the best they can. At the end of this 45 minute period, the SEP representative came into the room and told us to ignore the time periods and to just continue to work our way through the following three sections. I'm not sure why they decided to informalize the test taking process. Maybe I'm a product of the test taking culture in California, but it seems that a set amount of time for test sections helps students focus and then take a brain break in between tests.
About 4 kids obviously just filled in the bubbles, even after I encouraged them to do their best and take it slowly. Soon, more than half the kids had finished. Needless to say, even after 8 months with these kids, I still have not mastered keeping Mexican middle schoolers quiet!! They are INCREDIBLY social and are not accustomed to having to be still for a period of time. Although I coughed up a simple extra credit assignment to keep them occupied, I still struggled to keep the environment suitable for testing. (Maybe if Fulbright gave me another year here I'd be able to get this down!!)
There was a parent volunteer in each classroom today. They were there to observe the test proctoring to make sure that there were no testing abnormalities. I guess there have been many circumstances where teachers help the students on the test, so they wanted to make sure this wasn't happening. A colleague of mine was really offended by their presence.
Jacob, my son, also took the Enlace exam today in his 4th grade class. At home in California, he is trained to take these exams really seriously since his school has put so much enfasis on the results. He was upset today after school because he wasn't able to finish one of the sections. He said that the kids in class were making so much noise that he wasn't able to concentrate. (I can relate!!) Also, he is accustomed to having unlimited time to finish this type of standardized test.
Anyways, it was interesting to see the difference in the testing process here. I think that it is good that the SEP is interested in collecting this data. The next step will be improve the organization of the test administration and to teach kids to take it seriously.

After the Swine Flu

Today was the first day back to school for primary and middle schools after a two week hiatus due to the swine flu. (My apologies to the pork industry - "Swine Flu" has such a nice ring to it!) At my middle school, every student and teacher received a ziploc full of goodies - two facemasks, a tiny bar of soap, a diminutive packet of hand sanitizer and a wipie! Many of my students were wearing their facemasks properly. The rest of the kids were wearing "neckmasks"! I'm not much a fan of facemasks, so mine also decorated my neck for the first period and then somehow got lost for the second period. Classrooms were "disinfected" last Thursday and Friday which resulted in any teaching materials I had left in the room being tossed into the trash. Like a good U.S. teacher, I had my word wall, student work, and other didactic material up on the walls. "Had" is the operative word, because apparently, even paper on the wall could harbour the dangerous flu virus! To my dismay, student notebooks with over 8 months of work and notes were also thrown out! Ni modo (the all purpose Mexican phrase meaning "oh well - nothin' I can do about it!".
One of the more interesting things about today was the conversations that I had with my colleagues. Most appreciated a bit of time off and many escaped from the city to other parts of Mexico to be with family. Several concurred that President Obama is responsible for the virus - after all, he visited President Felipe Calderon the day proceeding the outbreak! When I asked another colleague what he opined about this viewpoint, he said "Son pendejadas!!"
Anyway, it hasn't been "Just another day in Mexico!" I'm happy to be back at work!

Semana Santa

We had a great trip to Chiapas and Oaxaca over Spring break. The weather was hot and humid down at sea level, making us appreciate our 7400 ft elevation in Mexico City this year. One highlight of the trip was definitely San Critóbal de las Casas, much larger but with a thriving tourist industry -- restaurants, theaters, etc. -- than when we were there almost 20 years ago! To read and see more about places we visited -- see the slideshow "Semana Santa -- Chiapas y Oaxaca" for photos with comentary of our trip.

Mochitlán -- The Virgin's New Home

One of the things we do too often is see places as tourists. A few weekends ago we had the chance to see the small home town of one of Gretchen's collegues, Vicente, in the state of Guerrero. Vicente is an art teacher at the Secundaria Aztecas. He invited us to accompany him to his hometown of Mochitlán for a weekend of the town's festivities. We set up our tent in the patio of his mom's house, and hung out with Vicente, his mother, and assorted extended family who came to the town for the weekend.

Breakfast with Vicente and his family (Note: no silverware, just lots of fresth tortillas hot off the comal)

The occasion was the transference of the Virgin from one family's home to another--each year a different family keeps the town's Virgin in their home for the year. The day on which the townspeople accompany the family is an all-day affair. A procession/parade accompanies the Virgen through the town. When she arrives at her new "home" for the year, the host family must feed everyone who shows up -- chilate (a cold chocolate milk with cinammon drink), tamales, and there are a number of men serving shots of mezcal (a tequila-like drink, but made from different agaves) to anyone who will take it.

The Virgin being taken to her new home for the year.

The next day we took a guided tour of some local caves (las Grutas de Juxtlahuaca). The entrance to the caves was filled with bats and cockroaches. There was so much bat guano around the entrance that the temperature rose significantly, from the decomposition of the guano. As we got deeper in, there were no bats, but there were subterranean pools which we had to wade/swim through to get to the end of the visit, some spectacular crystal formations.

Sabine standing among some interesting cave formations.

The weekend was indeed a great opportunity to see a town we wouldn't otherwise have visited.

Dolls, Dolls, Everywhere!

After chowing down on some delicious chilaquiles with Aunt Marian in Tepoztlan, we walked out of one of the most colorful restaurants we've eaten in here in Mexico. Were we ever surprised to stumble upon a river of people heading to the cathedral all carrying elaborately dressed dolls in baskets! Old women, fathers, even macho looking, teenaged boys had their "Niño Dios" dressed in flowing white clothing tucked in the crook of their arm.

Since this is just the type of exciting surprises that living in Mexico for the year affords us, we joined the stream and headed to the cathedral. On route, we passed by many booths at the market selling all sorts of white, doll-sized clothing for the dolls that represent Baby Jesus. One can buy booties, caps, gowns that look like baptism garb, mittons, and even a special throne for their Baby Jesus.

Here in Mexico, Nativity scenes are VERY elaborate, including every animal you can imagine, cacti, and many villagers. Families leave the manger empty until December 24 when they cradle and rock Baby Jesus, and them place him carefully in his bed of straw. Apparently, they leave the baby there, dressed only in it's swaddling clothes, until February 2 (La Candelaria) when they take it out and dress it in fancy, white garments. La Candelaria is the day that children, Baby Jesus, and even seeds for planting later in the year are brought for a blessing for the year. The churchyard in Tepoztlan was filled with hundreds of families bringing their "Niño Dioses" for their yearly blessing. For our family, it was a delight to observe the people of Tepoztlan as they participated in their tradition of honoring Jesus.

Obama's Inauguration in Mexico

We were invited to see the inauguration ("toma de posesión") at a US Embassy gathering, so we used the excuse to pull the kids out of school for the morning. It was definitely exciting to watch. However, since we were sitting near the Ambassador, TV cameras and photos were on us the entire morning, and we were each interviewed several times when it was over. Gretchen said some students saw her on the news -- we watched but apparently missed it!

Here's a link, however, for the Mexico City English language newpaper, The News, with quotes by Gretchen Yoder-Schrock.

http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnhome.asp?cve_home=964

Surrounded by the media at the Benjamin Franklin library after the Inauguration (apparently my generic statements of optimism, hope, etc. weren't enough to get me mentioned in the paper :).

December and Xmas in Mexico

December 12th -- Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The history is that the Virgin appeared to a local priest in the 1500's, the first appearance of the Virgin in the Americas. She is now the patron saint of Mexico. This year approximately 5 million pilgrims visited the Shrine in her name, on the north side of Mexico City, the few days leading up to the 12th of December. I tried to catch the news on TV about the pilgrimages, since we decided not to try to take the kids, but the broadcasts I saw seemed to focus on the quantity of garbage left behind from the 5 million people.

We knew that the morning of the 12th there would be Mass all around the country early in the morning to sing "Las mañanitas" (Happy Birthday) to the Virgin. We were surprised, however, when we were awakened at midnight by fireworks being set off all across the city (we had a nice view of 4 or 5 different series of fireworks from our 10th floor windows).

We also were told that many children wouldn't go to school on the 12th. As I was dropping off the kids that morning, about half of the school seemed to be absent.

La Pastorela y Piñatas -- One of the two things that surprised us most about the Xmas season here were the quantity of piñatas--all of them the traditional star-shaped--as decorations all over the city -- even the Pemex gas stations had piñatas hanging over the gas pumps. For the end of December celebration at the kids' elementary, every class had 2 or 3 piñatas to break -- the central patio was filled with kids lining up to break them and dive for candy.

Piñatas at a store in Xalapa, Veracruz

La Pastorela is a dramatic work focusing on the devil trying to keep the shephards from going to Bethlehem. Everywhere you turn there were performances -- Jacob and Sabines theater class put on a version, the parents at the elementary school performed for the entire school (I had the privilege of being a lead sheep -- which means I was in charge of 15 little 1st grader sheep).
Walking down the street the week the last days before Xmas break there were quite a number of little angels, devils and sheep heading off to school in the mornings.

Our Christmas vacation -- see the "December and Xmas" Slideshow to see photos of our trip to Cuetzalan, Xalapa, Veracruz and San Miguel de Allende.

Beach vendors in Tecolutla, Veracruz

January 6th -- Día de los Reyes Magos -- Epiphany is the day when most children receive their presents in Mexico. They leave their shoes out by their beds the night of the 5th, and the three Kings leave presents in (or by) their shoes. Families gather on the 6th and eat "Rosca de Reyes", a round bread/cake that has at least 1 little doll baked inside (though I guess many have 5 or 6 little dolls). The person who gets the piece with the little doll must host a tamal dinner on February 2nd, the end of the Epiphany season.

Sabine going to bed January 5th, leaving her shoes out, and food and drink for the camels.

Cooking in Mexico -- part I

I (Kermit) have received a few emails over the past few months wondering what in the world I’m doing this year. My daily life is usually made up of taking the kids to school, going shopping (almost every day—small fridge and carrying the groceries), laundry once a week (which I’m actually doing right now as I write, after taking a bus to a different laundrymat which has better rates on drying clothes—we’ll see if it is worth the trip), washing dishes a couple of times a day, the gym a couple of times a week, picking up the kids, stopping in the park to play after school, starting dinner, taking the kids to afternoon classes (Theater and Dance) 2 days a week. Of course I find time in there to read and stop off for breakfast from time to time as well (as I just finished a good plate of Chilaquiles while waiting for the laundry!!).

My main “job”, however, is preparing different Mexican foods this year. So I’ll include a list of the things I’ve made so far, with a few comments. Those readers who have some favorite dishes, variations or other suggestions, please let me know.

• Chilaquiles rojos – I used chile morita, a type of small chipotle. I’m not sure how different the taste is. For a dish that is intended to use up leftover tortillas (fried up as chips) I felt this was a bit time-consuming. I wonder if people make this frequently (daily?) or just from time to time. Maybe we just need to eat all of our tortillas and not have any left over.


• Tinga Poblana – the first time I made this with pork loin, which came out too dry. After having it at a birthday party we went to I realized it should have a lot more onions and I used pork shoulder – much better!


• Mole de Almendras – my family doesn’t care much for mole, so this is the only one I’ve made so far. It was also a much simpler recipe than the other red and black moles.


• Chicken with raisin, olive, almond and vinager sauce – apparently from the Chiapas region. I have yet to see this on a restaurant menu.


• Chicken with Pumpkin flower sauce – the recipe I had just called for a pumpkin flower and cream sauce, but I found a variation with chile poblano strips (rajas), so I added those.


• Pickled carrots, onions and jalapeños – I think jalapeño is really supposed to be the main ingredient in this “escabeche” but I really love the carrots.


• Tortilla soup – I think this is still one of my favorite Mexican foods – the ancho chile broth with fried ancho pieces, avocado, fresh cheese and tortilla strips . . .


• Fish a la veracruzana – I think this is most commonly prepared with Red Snapper (Huachinango), but I picked up another white fish. I’ve seen this on menus many times but have never order it. A good mediterranean-influenced sauce – green olives and chile tomato sauce.


• Wild Mushroom Soup – the cookbook says this is from the Tlaxcala region (a small mountainous state near Mexico City). I went to the Coyoacan market and bought 4 different kinds of funky-looking mushrooms. I wrote down the names of each, none of which were in any dictionary I have found. A very good broth with chipotle and some mushrooms blended together.


• Frijoles charros – how can you go wrong adding chorizo to anything, especially beans. Although Gretchen didn’t go for adding chorizo to her lasagna recipe, as a chef friend suggested.


• Meatball Soup – (Sopa de albóndigas menonitas) – One recipe I found referred to this as a Mennonite Meatball Soup – from the Chihuahan Mennonite community. I couldn’t find any other history of Meatball Soup in Mexico to see if it really did originate there. I made beef-chorizo-rice meatballs, which turned out very good, if a bit more greasy.


• Pozole rojo – Red chile pozole (pork & hominy soup) – I followed Rick Bayless’ advice for the best broth and bought pig trotters split in half. Unfortunately they didn’t have the half pig’s head that day.


Pig trotters in red pozole (only photo with this post because I keep forgetting to take pictures of the meals).

• Chile relleno – My first attempt at fried-stuffed peppers. I went with cheese stuffed, but many of the recipes call for a ground-beef, olive mixture. I did have something similar in a restaurant a few months ago – a meat stuffed rehidrated ancho chile that was very good. (Maybe I’ll have to tackle that next).
• Posolillo – a fresh corn and pork version of pozole – ancho chile broth with fresh corn and 3 kinds of pork – ham, loin, and chorizo. The recipe also called for chicken, but I figured 3 kinds of meat was enough. I’ve never heard of this before, nor seen it on a menu, but it was very good. Another “mestizo” meal – combining corn and chile from the Americas with the smoked pork meats of Spain.

There have been a few other things as well – different rice dishes, pumpkin flower quesadillas, carne asada tacos, quesadillas de rajas (chile poblano), alambre (meat, green pepper, onion & melted cheese) tacos, etc.

Feel free to comment and make suggestions, because I’ve got 7 more months of cooking to go!!

Mineral del Chico

We finally got to go on our first hike in the mountains outside of Mexico City. We had a three day weekend for the aniversary of the Mexican Revolution (November 20th, 1910—here’s a link for a brief summary of the key causes and events around the Revolution www.mexconnect.com/MEX/austin/revolution.html).

However, since we can’t drive on Mondays (Hoy No Circula program) we went out of town Saturday and Sunday, to the nearby El Chico National Park, north of DF about 2 hours—well, normally 2 hours, but since it took us about 2 hours to get out of the city, between traffic and a few wrong turns, it was actually about a 4-5 hour drive!!)

We stopped for lunch (more like dinner, since we didn’t get there until around 4:00) at Real del Monte – one of the “Pueblos Mágicos” (beautiful colonial towns around Mexico).

Real del Monte on a Sunday afternoon

Real del Monte has an interesting history of Cornish miners who came at the end of the 19th century. There is an interesting English Cemetery and the region is famous for it’s “Pastys” (meat-filled pastries) which have now incorporated Mexican ingredients of chile, mole, etc. The town’s architecture still shows this British settlement’s influence.

Another interesting fact about the area is that it was apparently the location of the first Soccer game in Mexico. A short history of soccer: the rules of soccer were determined in England in the mid to late 1800’s, to separate it from Rugby. The first Mexican soccer league was started in the early 1900’s, by the British who lived in different major cities at the time. I imagine that it started much the same way in other Latin American countries, but haven’t looked into it.
When we arrived at Real del Monte, it was quite a bit colder than Mexico City, and it was completely fogged in. We were glad we had thrown in the winter coats for the weekend. After eating and walking around in the fog/mist/rain for a bit we quickly got back in the car to continue on into the national park.

View of town Mineral del Chico from one of the crags.

We imagined the views would have been beautiful, had we been able to see. Fortunately the next day the fog/clouds lifted and we were able to enjoy the scenery. The park is known for it’s craggy rock formations, which reminded us a bit of the Pinnacles in Central California.

Mineral del Chico (the whole town)

We stayed at a small hotel in Mineral del Chico, a small mining town on the edge of the park with a population of 300, that is about 2 blocks long. We asked when a good time to visit is (weatherwise) and were told April & May (it is warmer, and the summer rains haven’t started yet). We got to go on a nice hike and enjoyed being in the forest, but may have to go back in the Spring to hike and/or camp. The drive back to the city was happily uneventful!!

Day of the Dead (and a little Halloween, too)

Video clip -- Ocotepec Cemetery on November 2nd


Halloween -- which day is it, exactly?

Jacob and Sabine were much more concerned about whether they were going to get to go Trick-or-treating this year, than whether the Día de Muertos would be an interesting cultural event. Their friends at school assured them that yes, lots of kids go "Pidiendo Halloween" (asking for Halloween), although some kids told them it was on November 1st. We went with a classmate of Sabine's and her cousins. As we left our apartment complex in costumes around dark, ours were the only kids on the street in costume. The first neighborhood we went to (a gated community) didn't allow entry without a "Halloween invitation." The kids were quite disappointed, but fortunately we found another apartment complex in the area that was participating in Halloween. Afterwards, Sabine was tired, but Jacob and I took a taxi to the center plaza of Coyoacán, where some other parents at their school said that kids ask for candy. Sure enough, when we arrived at 9:00 the plaza was crouded with kids in costumes and adults strolling
around.

The rest of the weekend (Nov.1 and 2) as we attended various Day of the Dead events, children continued to ask for candy. Apparently there is a Mexican tradition associated with Day of the Dead in which children (not in costumes) walk around "Pidiendo Calaverita" (asking for a little skull). Traditionally children would ask for money which they would use to buy the traditional sugar skulls or Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead), to eat or for their "ofrendas" (offerings/altars). In Cuernavaca, a town outside of Mexico City, where we spent the weekend, all of the kids in town would ask for their "Calaverita" with a set song/rhyme:


La Calavera tiene hambre

No hay un huesito por ahí?

. . .

Of course, a concern of many people is that the American festival of Halloween is invading/corrupting the traditional Mexican festival. A number of families I met have made an effort to allow their kids to celebrate Halloween (costumes, etc.) on one day, but then also have an altar in their home and visit the cemetery of relatives who have passed away, to preserve the essence of the traditional Mexican Day of the Dead.

Día de los Muertos

In the week leading up to Day of the Dead, which is formally November 2nd, public "ofrendas" are set up all over the city -- in city plazas, in museums, in schools, etc. The main plaza of Mexico City is famous for its Monumental Ofrendas that different city organizations put together.

The town of Ocotepec, a town on the outskirts of Cuernavaca is one of many in Mexico that still preserve a very traditional celebration of Day of the Dead. We were fortunate that another fulbrighter, had a colleague in Cuernavaca that showed us one of the Ocotepec traditions -- the Ofrendas Nuevas (New Offerings).

Families that have someone who has passed away in the passed year set up a large Altar in their home to the deceased with a bed, their clothing, etc. and they open their home and ofrenda the night of November 1st for everyone in the community to see and have something to eat or drink with them. We bought candles at a little street stand to give as gifts to the homes we would visit. We started the evening at the small colonial church in Ocotepec where a large crowd gathered outside to watch a group of Aztec Dancers, and then walked the streets near the church where we visited 2 or 3 Ofrendas nuevas, as noise-making fire-crackers were set off overhead for a number of hours. Afterwards we walked through the cemetery, where a few tombs were decorated with candles, but which was fairly deserted -- November 2nd is the day everyone would visit and decorate their family's tombs.

The next morning, by the time we arrived at the Panteón de Ocotepec (cemetery) street vendors where set up outside selling food and zempasuchiles (yellow marigolds). The cemetery was full of families cleaning tombs, decorating, and musicians performing. The cemetary itself would be impressive enough on a normal day--for the variety of tombs that have been set up over the years.

For more of our photos with explanation, click on the "Día de los Muertos" photo album under "our photos" at upper right.

(Blog readers--we would be interested in comments on our experiences with Day of the Dead, especially regarding comparison with other areas of Mexico and Nov 2 in other Latin American countries, the origin of "Pidiendo Calaverita", etc.)