The importance for teachers

It is very important for teachers to try to understand what cultures their students are coming from. Every culture thinks and acts differently, and so to try to force them to assimilate immediately with our culture is simply asking too much. Understanding what they eat gives an idea of how well-nourished they are. If a student is sleeping in class all the time it doesn't do any good to just get angry and tell them to stay alert; the teacher should find out what the deeper problem is and help the student with it.

A lot of times, cultures are judged by what the media puts out, and people judge each other by what they read or see in the media. A teacher should know what is being said about the culture of their students so that they understand what they are living through in a larger perspective.

Certain cultures are also linked with the Deficit Theory and the Mexican culture is one of them. This is true and false on different levels. True in the fact that the Mexican culture does not place as much emphasis on education. The past generations get through limited schooling before they are forced to work to support the family. It has been this way for many generations and is a difficult pattern to break out of. In today's society, however, it is very possible for Mexican students to succeed. They just have to be given a fair chance. They are every bit as capable as Americans to learn whatever they want. It is important when teaching to not have this barrier in mind thinking that the two cultures are intellectually different. We are all children of God with the potential to accomplish whatever we put our minds to.

Alex Ubago-Sin Miedo a Nada

Music

I have always loved music because I love feeling the emotions it elicits from me. Little did I know that the music I listened to growing up wasn't the only music I would like. I have recently discovered the music of the Hispanic culture and how much feeling they put in to their music. This post isn't specifically describing Mexican music, but Hispanic music in general. The way that their artists put Spanish words together is extremely poetic and touches deep sentiments of the soul. Their love songs are perfect examples of this. They sing every love song like it is their last and as if their loved one is listening to them half a world away. This new genre fills me with a happiness I had previously not known.

The above video is a perfect example of this description. It is a song by Alex Ubago that is full of emotion and love. When listening to it, one can't help but feel strong emotions.

A glimpse of Mexican Fútbol

Mexicans love soccer! It flows through their veins and they can't live without it. It is part of their daily lives and they watch as many games on TV as they can. On my mission it was very normal to walk into a house with a soccer game on; and when they weren't watching it, they were playing it. Various times we would play soccer with them and we were no match for their skills. They would maneuver around us like we were standing still! When they shot the ball towards the goal, it was a lightning strike! The following is an excerpt from a Hispanic online news source called Univision describing how the face of soccer is changing in Mexico.

"Se ganó madurez, hoy el jugador está más preparado, es más inteligente, es cierto que antes los clásicos eran extraordinarios, pero no quiere decir que ahora no lo son, son diferentes épocas, pero hoy nosotros vivimos la nuestra época aunque no quiere decir que no tengamos pasión".

Explicó que de igual manera los jugadores corren, "te entregas al máximo, la gente hace un lleno, creo que hoy pasa por el tema de respeto, uno tiene que tener respeto por el rival aunque dentro de la cancha el respeto no va, pero en la declaraciones sí".

Food

I found it very interesting that the majority of Mexicans that lived in Southern California still ate only their native cuisine even though American food was so readily available. They preferred to stay in their comfort zone with what they were used to. This could be seen by Americans as prideful or that they are unwilling to accommodate at least a little into the American culture. Their children, on the other hand, were more than willing to indulge in American food so they ended up getting the best of both worlds.

This could affect a lot how Mexican school children are viewed from their peers. They might be highly judged for what they eat and don't eat and what they do or don't like. It is a fact that most Mexicans (and many other foreigners) don't like root beer! To an American, this notion might seem inconceivable because we love it!

Food

The Mexican culture has a unique selection of foods. They thoroughly enjoy eating any and all variety of meat, beans, and rice with tortillas. Something unique to their culture as well is their taste for spice on all their food!

I served my mission in Southern California and had many opportunities to eat Mexican cuisine. Being from Montana, eating spice on my food wasn't a normal occurrence. I can remember many a meal where I had to "grin and bear it" as they say because I wasn't used to having my mouth burned off at every dinner.

One such occasion was one of my first dinners early on in my mission. My companion and I were going over to Joel and Cesi's house and I had no idea what we were going to have. We sat down at the table upon arriving and there is the normal meat, beans, and rice rolled up in a tortilla. It was very tasty until they told me that I had to put salsa on it. I knew they were doing it just to tease me and they kept insisting telling me that I would speak better Spanish if I ate more salsa. I had to appease them so I put some on. It was very hot to me and I had to drink a lot of what they called water to keep it down. For dessert we were having diced watermelon, which I was very much looking forward to. Much to my chagrin, it had pepper powder all over it and some weird lumpy cheese on it as well. The taste was quite shocking to my mouth. I had never before had such exciting food before and it was a very good learning experience.

Introduction

This will be a cultural discovery of the Mexican culture. It is a fascinating culture full of life and vigor. Unfortunately I will only be able to show a limited amount of what the culture is like because I draw mainly from personal experience which was limited to two years in Southern California.