Voices of the Borderlands: WNMU Education Major Aspires to Make a Difference in Bilingual Education

© Western New Mexico University

Education major Carlos Carranza was inspired to become a teacher by his high school English teacher. “She was one of those teachers who welcomed you no matter who you were,” said Carranza. “You mattered, and you were smart enough to do the work. She cared about you, and she went into depth to teach you. … I thought I could be like that for somebody and change lives.”

At WNMU, Carranza is in his second year enrolled in a 3+2 program, which allows students to earn two degrees, a bachelor’s and master’s degree, in five years. Carranza’s undergraduate focus is on reading, and his graduate area of study will be on bilingual education and the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).  Carranza said that this combination of subjects best prepares him for his goal: to teach students in the borderlands.

“I would like to teach where there is a struggle for English language learners,” he said. “I want to focus more on teaching English to speakers of other languages, and that would be more of the borderlands area.”

“It is nice to know you can make a difference,” Carranza added. “I know if I taught somewhere like Silver City, where most of the students speak English as a first language, I would not be used to my full potential.”

Carranza’s desire to work with students learning English is inspired by his own experiences growing up in Hatch, NM. “Spanish is my first language,” he explained. “I was fortunate to learn English at a young age, but I know a lot of times, students like my classmates in Hatch graduate without knowing a lot of English. … I think the system needs to be fixed. If students have been to school for twelve years, they should be proficient in both languages.”

Carranza’s extracurricular activities at WNMU are also influenced by his desire to make a difference and by his background as a child of immigrant farm workers. He is currently the president of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano des Aztlán (MEChA) and recently helped that group organize a march to express solidarity with immigrants.

“Within MEChA, we have a lot of students that are being affected by the actions of the current administration and the ICE raids,” he explained. “A lot of these students, their parents are undocumented, or they were undocumented at one point, or they have someone in their family that is. So they are living scared. … These are hard-working people—people who pick the crops, build the houses—people who do so much for this country.”

“We want to show that at WNMU, we are here for all students that are going through this difficult time,” Carranza said.

Carranza explained that because his parents are immigrants from Mexico, the current tension surrounding immigration “is something that hits close to home.” He elaborated: “I am a farm worker who comes from the fields, and that is a really important part of who I am. My whole life, my parents worked in the fields, and when I was twelve, I joined them. It is an experience that taught me my work ethic. These people are hard workers, and I am one of them.”

“Because I worked in the fields, I know what hard work is like,” he added “and that is why I am here in college, not only to do something for myself, but to empower the future generation of students that come from the same background as me.”

Carranza’s dedication to teaching reading and bilingual education has now been recognized by the Golden Apple Scholars program. As a Golden Apple Scholar, Carranza joins a small group of New Mexican education majors who receive regular mentoring and special summer programming through their time in college.

“The Golden Apple is an amazing program,” said Carranza. “It is a scholarship program in which every summer, they basically guide you through your college experience of becoming a teacher. … Every summer, they have a Summer Institute. They bring educators together to give you an insight about what you are not necessarily learning in college.”

Carranza said that another part of program is classroom placement. “I was in Albuquerque this summer, and I helped a teacher who worked in an area with a lot of poverty,” he said. “It was nice to see the kids in their summer school wanting to learn.”

“All children are ready to learn,” he added. “You just have to motivate them. If they aren’t learning, it means there is something in the way that you need to address.”

 

The Voices of the Borderlands series includes real stories from the WNMU community about how national immigration and border security policies affect students’ lives.

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