2009 Education Leadership Award Dinner Speech--Brenda

 

2008 IAPE (Inter-American Partnership for Education) PARTICIPANT
Brenda Talina Yáñez Ledesma
English Teacher, Escuela Primaria Vicente Guerrero
Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico

Thank you, Mauricio, and good evening, everyone.   On behalf of my dear students and all of my IAPE colleagues, I'm very happy to say thank you to Worldfund and the partners of the Inter-American Partnership for Education -- Bécalos, Nextel de México, and The Rassias Center -- from the bottom of my heart for having changed all of our lives.

Last year when I decided to apply for the program, I knew that it would be hard, beginning with my economic situation.  I needed to save almost one year of my salary to pay for my passport, the transportation to my interview and to my visa appointment, and my personal expenses during the program; however I felt that something good was coming up, I kept the faith, and I received the support of my family and friends who sold cakes and held raffles to help me reach my dream.

 

Nayarit is a small state with a lot of poor people.  I work at a public school and most of my students come from dysfunctional families.  The majority live only with their mothers, and their economic situations are very difficult.  They are children whose dreams are squashed almost at birth.  Their mothers send them to school with hopes of giving them opportunities for their futures.

Although English is so important for my students' futures, some of them used to say that it was too difficult to learn and useless.  But this year when I started to use the Rassias techniques I learned last summer, I began to see bright eyes.  I could see revived hopes.  Now English is fun.  Now they are learning in a very creative way, opening doors that they had never been able to imagine.

As you saw in the film, my students wait for me at the school entrance.  They ask me, "Do we have class today?"  They are happy and eager to participate and they get mad when I don't choose them. I believe that their hearts have been touched just as mine was touched by everyone I worked with at Dartmouth.

As you also heard in the video, I also teach English to public school teachers through the SEPA Inglés program.  The Rassias Method has helped me improve how I teach in this program as well.  The teachers I teach are motivated and they don't want to leave when the class is over.  And because the program teaches TEACHERS, its impact is very far-reaching.

I was a good teacher, but the IAPE program has profoundly changed my perspective on teaching and helped to make me a better teacher. Because of what I learned at IAPE, my students are learning more and I am part of a growing network of committed IAPE English teaching professionals in Mexico. 

I want to thank Worldfund Mexico director, Elena Espinosa:  Thank you for calling  me and encouraging me.  Helene, Jim and, of course, Professor Rassias, thank you for sharing with me your secrets to transforming my students' lives and for being there for all of us now that we're back in Mexico, to answer our questions and to provide ongoing follow-up support. 

And to all the sponsors in this room, I truly hope that you will continue to support teachers, especially those who want to improve but don't have the resources.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of this program, and for believing in me.  Because of you, I have a new commitment, not only to teach my students how to speak English and to communicate across cultures but also to show them that they can reach their dreams just as I am reaching mine.