Catholic sophomore spends summer giving back in service in Mexico

SALT LAKE CITY — A service project trip to Mexico City gave a Catholic student who is a sophomore at Highland High School a different view on life.

"Life for the average Mexican is tough and yet they are hard-working, warm and friendly, happy and family-oriented," said Marcia Wilson, a St. Catherine of Siena/Newman Center parishioner who spent about 10 weeks in Mexico with the Global Volunteers program.

Wilson participated at the Technological University of Northern Guanajuato and the Technological University of Queretaro, which both stress learning English to open doors for economic and social betterment, Wilson said.

"This experience gave me a greater empathy for their economic plight and struggle to better their condition," said Wilson. "My parents have always encouraged me to participate in different projects, and I have always wanted to be able to visit Mexico City, so this was the perfect opportunity."

As volunteers, participants enter into a relationship with young adult learners in Mexico. Often, students who are too timid to practice English skills in class in front of their professors will eagerly open up in the presence of a friendly volunteer, who can relate to them in an informal way.

Any native English speaker can be a resource; no previous teaching experience is required for the Global Volunteers program. Volunteers meet the students in classrooms, often in small groups and practice language skills and pronunciation. The focus is on English conversation, not grammar.

Volunteers, who teach about four hours a day, often add examples from their personal lives to enliven the conversations, which are in small groups. They focus on the spoken language – vocabulary, pronunciation, syntax, sentence structure and idioms.

"The students were eager participants in the process – warm, open and anxious to please," wrote Marcia Rubin on the Global Volunteers’ web page. "This has been a wonderful site for volunteers. It is a privilege – well organized, comfortable and the town is an interesting base."

Global Volunteers’ Mexico community development partnership began in 1988 with rural village agricultural projects and has expanded to English language classrooms in urban colleges and universities.

"Through my Catholic teachings I’ve learned that giving back a little of all the gifts that I have received from God and from my family is the right thing to do," said Wilson. "I made a lot of new friends there, and it also gave me a taste of what and how a foreign university environment is."