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 Vallarta Living | July 2007 
Educator to Fulfill a Teaching Dream
 Jeff Gill - The Gainesville Times
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| | Sheila Johnson talks about some of the aids she will be using as a teacher in Mexico. The retired educator is leaving Monday for Mexico. (Tom Reed/The Times) |
For five years, Sheila Johnson taught English to Mexican children finding their way in a new country.
For the next year, she'll be the stranger in the strange land.
Johnson, 67, who retired from teaching in 2006, is leaving Monday to start her new job as an English/language arts teacher at Colegio Mexico-Americano in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a resort city on the country's western coast.
She said she has dreamed all her life to go to a Spanish-speaking country and immerse herself in the culture and teach English.
One of her first tasks upon arriving in Puerto Vallarta is finding a place to stay. She has asked school officials to help her in that quest, as she is having trouble finding anything other than accommodations running "$1,500 a month and with an ocean view."
"I don't want to live in an American enclave. I want to live with the Mexican people," Johnson said. "I'm not there to eat McDonald's hamburgers."
Her interest in Spanish in particular and foreign language in general began in high school. She majored in Spanish and theater at Marshall University in her native West Virginia.
Johnson began in the 1960s teaching Spanish in junior and senior high. She helped set up the foreign language program at a Chicago junior high school.
Johnson then stopped her career to have children and raise a family.
"My grandchildren brought me to Georgia," she said.
Johnson taught English for Speakers of Other Languages at Latino-rich Tadmore Elementary School in East Hall from 2001 until 2006.
In June 2004, she and other Hall County teachers went with a University of Georgia group to Mexico to visit schools for three weeks. In June 2005, she returned to Jalisco, Mexico, on a five-week teacher exchange, where she visited schools in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Mazamitla.
"I taught English at each school while I was there," she said.
Since retirement, Johnson has taught English classes at The Salvation Army offices on Dorsey Street, as part of Lanier Technical College's Adult Literacy Program.
She wouldn't describe herself as fluent in Spanish but said, "I can get along. The kids won't pull anything over me when they start talking in class."
Johnson found out about Colegio Mexico-Americano, a five-year-old private school serving students in pre-kindergarten through 11th grade, through an article she read online in the Puerto Villarto-based Banderas News.
After a few e-mails with founder Dave Bender, a native Chicagoan, she earned employment.
"My husband (Bob) has been supportive of this," Johnson said. "I asked him, 'Will you go with me?' He said, 'No. You'll be teaching every day and I won't be able to understand the television."
As she arrives next week, another major priority will be finding out when school starts. That crucial piece of information didn't come out in the exchange of emails. Aug. 13 is the first day for public schools.
The calendar runs 180 days, just like schools in Georgia, plus she gets to observe Mexican holidays, such as Independence Day on Sept. 16.
"I'll teach them the American culture as the holidays come around and they can teach me the Mexican culture," Johnson said. "So, we'll both learn."
She plans to fly home during the two-week Christmas break. She'll get another two weeks off around Easter.
When the school year wraps up in June, she'll return to Hall County, where she hopes to resume her adult literacy classes.
One year is enough abroad.
"I don't think my husband will go for any longer than that," she said.
Contact: jgill@gainesvilletimes.com.
On the Net: For more information, visit www.colegiomexicoamericano.org. |
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