Student Spotlight - Our Newest English Students
The English program at Na’atik is always growing, from new books in the library to additional English course offerings to increased student enrollment. This January we opened up new beginner groups for teenage and young adult students. These students often need a level of English to either access educational opportunities or to find well-paying jobs. We are excited to welcome and highlight two of these new students, Eva and José. We sat down with the two of them to learn more about their backgrounds, their English language learning journey, and their goals for the future.
Eva, 19, was born and raised here in Felipe Carrillo Puerto and is currently focusing on her language studies at Na’atik. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music and watching movies, especially Captain America and Avengers films from the Marvel Universe. José, 23, is from a nearby Maya community named X-hazil Sur and is working as a waiter assistant in the hotel industry. When he’s not working, José enjoys listening to music such as Tom Holden’s Another Love, playing soccer with his friends, and watching videos in English to get more practice. Both Eva and José expressed a natural curiosity for language learning at a young age, yet have just begun to study English in an academic setting with the help of structured classes at Na’atik within the last six months. Given the multilingual environment in which José works at the hotel, he was inspired to begin taking classes at Na’atik to supplement and scaffold the English he was learning at work with the help of his bilingual colleagues. He says he interacts with English speaking hotel guests daily and hopes to be able to better communicate with them.
As with any language learning experience, Eva and José highlighted the duality of the process as it encompasses both positive aspects and difficult challenges. Both students discussed pronunciation as the aspect they find most interesting about learning English because as José highlighted, many English words resemble their Spanish counterparts, but are pronounced differently. In addition to pronunciation, Eva finds learning the meaning of new words fun and described the process as similar to being a detective, finding out new clues that unlock more of the story with every vocabulary word. When it comes to learning new words in class, José emphasized the importance of asking a teacher for clarification when possible, and recommends embracing asking questions to all language learners. Beyond the language itself, Eva and José mentioned the best part of learning English is the community which they get to be a part of and learn alongside. “It’s wonderful to meet new people with the same interests and goals as you,” Eva said, “and it's especially meaningful when you get to begin and end the journey with the same group,” said José. While Eva and José describe their experiences learning English as overwhelmingly positive, it has certainly not been without difficulty. Eva finds writing the hardest part of English given many English words are not spelled as they are pronounced and José noted that listening was the hardest skill for him, especially when trying to follow fast conversations that require lots of attention to detail. To overcome these challenges, Eva and José continue their studies of English outside the Na’atik classroom by listening to music, watching English movies with Spanish subtitles, and keeping a handwritten list of new vocabulary words.
Looking forward, both Eva and José are confident that their efforts in learning English will pay dividends in their futures. They aim to continue their studies until they are conversationally fluent, focusing primarily on their speaking and listening skills, yet also working to be able to write and read fluently in English as well. They believe that English fluency will not only open more working opportunities in better positions for them, but also enhance their lives in general. More precisely, they are excited to get to know more people and places authentically through English because as José said, “knowing English is like having a passport to the rest of the world.” When asked what English speaking countries they hope to visit one day, Eva noted how she is drawn to both Canada and Australia for their natural beauty and José hopes to explore the United States, specifically Los Angeles, California. Both Eva and José cited this enhanced opportunity for international travel and intercultural connection as the most rewarding aspect of learning English for them. And while they are excited to use their newfound linguistic knowledge and communication skills in the real world one day, Eva and José are currently looking forward to their classes here at Na’atik where they get to enjoy the process of learning. As Eva says, it’s incredibly important to embrace language learning as a journey that takes time and patience– one that will be difficult at times, but to not give into the desperation that can accompany trying to master an entire language. Instead, she reminds us to take it easy and that we truly can achieve our goals when we couple hard work with sufficient time.
To learn more about Na’atik’s English language program for local and Indigenous students in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, visit our Impact Page. We are only able to provide this much needed program thanks to the support of generous donors and the funds raised from our award winning Maya and Spanish Immersion Program. If you would like to support our mission please consider donating today or take a look at our immersion programs and online class packages.