roman mendez

• Message to a student
  Hi! My name is Roman Higinio Méndez Hernández. Currently I'm studying law and I'm working as an elementary school teacher as well as being a Spanish language instructor. In the morning, I'm working at San Juan Bosco elementary school in the city of Quetzaltenango. I'm teaching language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and history in my 6th grade class. In the afternoon, I've been working at Volunteer Spanish Academy since last year teaching Spanish, history and culture in Guatemala to foreign students from variety of backgrounds. It's my wish that through reading the following passage, you can get to know me a little bit more. I would love to share with you my ideals, goals and dreams in my life so that we can learn from each other and enrich our lives. Remember, now that in Guatemala you don't have just your teacher but your friend. I'm looking forward to meet you and establish sincece friendship with you in not so far future.
• Why do you like teaching Spanish?
  There are many reasons for why I like teaching Spanish but my most important reasons are the following: 1) Being able to teach my native language, 2) Share about my neighborhood, state and country, 3) Share my knowledge with the outside world, 4) Meet new people, 5) Make new friendship and 6) Exchange ideas about culture, politics, economics and society.
• What are the challenges of being a Spanish instructor?
  Being a Spanish language instructor is a big challenge for me since I must be responsible for the learning experience of my student in which it should be interesting, comfortable and complete. Also, my Spanish needs to be complete for my student who is beginning to venture out and conquer the new world. The followings are my challenges: 1) Bring out student's interests by exploring background knowledge about Spanish, 2) Teach about correct rules and usages of Spanish, 3) Compare differences between grammatical structure of Spanish and English, 4) Practice correct pronunciation of Spanish for the student's second language, 5) Immerse the student in communication via Spanish by right selection of reading, writing, listening and speaking topics to achieve fluency and 6) Establish relationship based on trust and friendship with my student.
• How do you make your class interesting?
  I propose our learning objectives and share them with my student so that we can reach these objectives together by developing activities that alllow us to reach them most effectively. I also encourage my student to create his/her own objectives. When I plan my lesson, I like approaching the lesson from many venues such as using focused and relevant content, educational games ("lotería", table games, mneumonics, vocabulary building games, etc.), conversation exercises, recreational activities (going beyond a "simple touristic walk" in the downtown, interviewing local residents that share common interests with the student, etc.). To motivate my student, I like supporting my student's activities in volunteering by offering suggestions as to how to interact with the kids, how to organize a new activity, etc.
• What do you do to grow as a professional and person?
  To grow as a person, I apply the philosophy of "everyone begins to learn from birth and ends to learn the day he dies." In other words, I am learning constantly from everything that I do or happens to me. This way, I have come to understand that the life is a wonderful gift from God and even if something terrible happens in my life, I can see its positive side so that I can live in peace and happiness. To grow as a professional, I apply the same philosophy to enrich my knowledge in my daily life. Regardless of how small or big my new discovery today, I'm learning something everyday and with this new knowledge, I can prepare myself to become a better person and professional to help educate our future generation of people in more humanitarian and conscientious world.
• What is the best of Guatemala?
  Guatemala is my country and a nation with natural beauty and multicultural/ethnic/linguistic society. Therefore, it's very difficult for me to choose what is the best but these are some of the best aspects of Guatemala: 1) History: the great Mayan civilization and its origin, growth and evolution. 2) Culture: diverse and traditional customs conserved from the Mayan civilization. 3) Arquitecture: seen in archaeological sites and buildings in the downtown, etc. 4) Historic sites: Tikal, Zaculeu, Antigua and Quetzaltenango. 5) People: warmth of Guatemalan people and escpecially from the residents of Quetzaltenango (AKA: Chivos or Quetzalteco).
• What would you do if you have only one more week of life?
  I will try to live and find peace in myself and face my mistakes I've committed in my life. I will try to fix the mistakes and learn to forgive others and in the end, I will ask for forgiveness from those I have wounded. Finally, I will cherish the love of my family and friends. And in the end, I will gather what I have to be used for those with most necessity in my community to make his/her dream come true.
• What were you doing 15 years ago?
  I was attending a small school in my village. Since my family was poor with no electricity and water, I used to carry water up from a well for my family and my richer neighbors who paid me 25 cents for a gallon of water. I was taking care of my younger siblings since my parents were gone working outside. I helped my mother cook all meals of day and I remember helping her with laundry in rainy season. I dreamed of becoming a teacher and working at my school.
• What will you be doing in 15 years down the road?
  In 15 years, I hope I have reached the 3 big dreams. The first one is to become a competent producer or screen writer of theater, television or motion picture. The second dream is to travel around the world to study about different cultures, acting and a variety of art forms. The third dream is to have a beautiful family (wife and 2 children) and enjoy the life with my family, friends and all those around me.
• What is the Guatemala's biggest social issue? What do you propose to solve the Guatemala's problems?
  Guatemala is a beautiful nation but just like any other country in the world it has many problems that affect lives of those live there. The poverty in Guatemala is one of the most serious issues that is causing other social problems such as juvenile delinquency, dysfunctional families, discrimination, etc. What I propose to combat this social problem is to educate our future generation of people with more conscientiousness. As an elementary school teacher, I'm constantly reminding myself to do so. Also, I hope I can achieve the 1st of my 3 dreams so that I can contribute to the community through social and educational projects and generate more sources of employment.

Volunteer Spanish Academy Guatemala Quetzaltenango Xela Spanish Language Schools spanish language schools