I ask my students to write in their journals every day. When I grade them (which isn't often) I get great insight into their brains. My 7th & 8th grade Geography class is very ESL & LD - most of the students in there speak English as a 2nd or 3rd language, and some of them don't speak it very well, and the few who are "native" English speakers have either grown up outside of the U.S. or have trouble reading and writing in any language due to learning disabilities. It's an interesting class, to say the least, but my favorite (I know, we're not supposed to have favorites, but we do) bc they work so hard and have such good insights. They are excited to learn and I can see improvement from week to week and month to month.
We were learning about Latin America recently, and so I spent almost a week on Mexico. They don't know much about the place where they live bc few of my students and little of my curriculum is Mexican. I wanted them to reflect on what they already knew about Mexico with this question: "How can quality of life in Mexico be improved?" (First, I had to describe what "quality of life" meant, but once they got it, they gave good answers):
by not eating oil foods that make you fat. by not eating so much and doing exercises. by eating just fruits and vegetables. This might be a good idea for the U.S., too!
well, instead of complaining, they could actually do something about it [the pollution] ... compared to where I used to live, Mexico City is very clean Believe it or not, she's telling the truth; she used to live in the Dominican Republic, which shares an island with Haiti.
They should make new laws... we should not spit either. Also they should build everything people needs in one town so that people won't travel for long time. This girl travels over an hour to get to school bc of bad infrastructure and heavy traffic. I think DF is actually trying to build everything in one town... but that town is HUGE!
all of the people should help to change it. because most of the time they complain. Good advice for life in general, don't you think?
i don't think Mexico can get any better. Some people could leave. huh.
they could use more money for a clean country. true.
Why do people keep whining? good question!
Mexico is just one of a kind. My thoughts, exactly
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