By Todd DeFeo
October 1, 2005

	Lucinda York-Rickards teaches a Spanish class at Winder-Barrow High School on Thursday. York-Rickards and a colleague took part in a teacher exchange program, spending two weeks in Mexico.

WINDER—A trip to Mexico helped Lori Barron and Lucinda York-Rickards see firsthand what some of their students' lives were like in their native country. The two Barrow County teachers spent a fortnight in Cuernavaca, Mexico, working through a teacher exchange partnership with the University of Georgia that put them in Mexican classrooms with teachers and students from kindergarten through high school.

Now back at Winder-Barrow High School, where the two teach Spanish, the teachers want to start an e-mail exchange program between students at their school and students at a school in Morelos, Mexico.

"What we would like to see it turn into is an actual student-exchange program," said Barron, who also teaches English as a second language. "It's certainly going to help with the culture and language understanding," York-Rickards said. "It's just bridging the gap between different (cultures)."

In Barrow County public schools in 2001, Hispanics represented about 3 percent of the student body. Today, the number of Hispanics in public schools has grown to about 8 percent, school officials say.

About 92 percent of public school students in Barrow County speak English as their primary language, while more than 60 percent of the non-English speakers have Spanish as their native language.

The Mexican Consulate in Atlanta selected the Barrow County school district for the 2005 exchange program based on a proposal submitted by the University of Georgia's Office of International Public Service and Outreach and Barrow County's Teacher Recruitment Center, a program both Barrow County and UGA officials hope to continue in years to come.

READ MORE
	• UGA Partners with Barrow County Schools for Cross-cultural Teacher Exchange

While in Mexico, the Barrow County teachers met with teachers and administrators and traded tips about teaching strategies. "It was a very different routine for us," York-Rickards said. "We certainly did not lay around the pool."

Before Barron and York-Rickards went to Mexico, Diana Perez, a teacher from Monterrey, Mexico, spent two weeks in April at Winder-Barrow High School teaching Spanish language and Mexican culture.

The program helped the duo "really improve on our listening and speaking skills, and of our cultural knowledge," York-Rickards said. "We also feel like we have a better feeling for our Mexicans that are attending our school."

	Lori Barron works with a student in a Spanish class at Winder-Barrow High School on Thursday. Barron and fellow instructor Lucinda York-Rickards took part in a teacher exchange program and spent two weeks in Mexico working with students and teachers.

Mexican schools, by comparison to American schools, typically have larger classes, and teachers do not have teaching aides, Barron and York-Rickards said. The school year in Mexico also runs about 20 days longer than it does in the United States.

The whole program cost only a few thousand dollars, officials said, a cost that was split between the Mexican government, UGA and Barrow County Schools.

"We consider this a very small investment given the return and potential to retain teachers in Barrow County and the anticipated impacts on student achievement," said Jennifer Frum, assistant director of UGA's Office of International Public Service and Outreach.

While the program helped Barron and York-Rickards learn about the Mexican culture, the two feel it would benefit both teachers in Mexico and the United States to participate in a similar program.

"When we saw English teachers, we saw a big need to come here and get immersed in the language," York-Rickards said. "And I'm sure there are Spanish teachers that could take advantage of the immersion."

While Barron and York-Rickards think most teachers could benefit from the program, they'd likely have to speak Spanish. "The problem is, they pretty much have to know Spanish because the people who were involved our program—only one of them knew English," York-Rickards said. "We wish we could send anybody who's interested in learning about their culture and schools. But, it would be quite difficult if they have no knowledge of Spanish."

Bridging a Gap

The two Barrow County teachers spent two weeks in Mexico as part of a teacher exchange partnership with the University of Georgia. The teachers met with their Mexican counterparts, swapping tips on teaching strategies.