Teaching English in Puerto Rico

•   I've worked in Puerto Rico for 23 years and it's wonderful, but they don't pay much. New teachers start at about 1,500 a month."
  Hilda, 17/04/06
•   Teaching English in Puerto Rico has been a nice experience, but frustrating too. As a K-3 English teacher the public schools in Puerto Rico visualize you as a teacher that's going to give a 50 minute break to the home room teacher. They don't provide you with a classroom. You have to go classroom to classroom with all the materials you are going to use. You rarely have a wall in the classroom to hang up visual material (like alphabets, days of the week posters, etc.) I think that a K-3 English teacher should have a room where students can have full access to the English language."
  Gladys, 07/11/06
•   I've been a teacher for 15 years in the Tri-State area of New York and in a lot of cases I never had a classroom or any place to hang material as visual aids. I don't think Puerto Rico's school system is to blame for lack of space. I think you will find that in any school system with any size population and underfunding teachers are dealing with the same problem. Don't blame the country, region or area for not having a classroom."
  Al, 23/01/07
•   Hi. I have been teaching English at university level here on the west side of the island for three semesters now. I was surprised on arrival about how little most students knew and spoke English. I was told they had some ten years or so in the school system. Puerto Ricans have such an advantage if they saw the worth in knowing two languages. Not saying they don't because due to the financial situation here they learn all too late in life they should have paid more attention to what their English teachers taught them. I honestly love teaching here. I do wish they would strike English from the school system all together. They could then set up more private bilingual schools for those that really want to learn the language. English is a foreign language here not a second language. If it did stay in the public schools, they could teach it like the Continentals teach Spanish, French, and German.
  
  Either way, Puerto Rico is wonderful and I give a lot of respect to all those that teach especially English down on the island. If you want to know more about the island teaching, look for Down on the Island by Jim Cooper. It has a wonderful insight to what it is all about here."
  Lignelli, 04/02/07
•   This is in response to Lignelli's post...
  
  Please do not be surprised about the fact of how little most students in Puerto Rico know and speak English. In Puerto Rico we speak Spanish 24/7. Kids take English as another subject required to obtain the High School diploma. We are required to take English from K-12, and then around 6 more college credits for a BA. Kids are also required to take mathematics from K-12, and then at least a few more courses while attending college. Not everyone is good at languages as not everyone is good in math. Indeed, Puerto Ricans have an advantage of knowing two languages. It is nothing to do with their financial situation, but preferences. Some people enjoy learning English but some do not. Some English teachers care, some do not. Some enjoy learning but others do not. Some can afford private schools, some can not. It is up to us teachers to install that urge of learning into our students so the new generations to come will be more capable of facing the business world out there by knowing two languages at least."
  
  Teachers can make a big difference in this world!"
  Nancy, 31/01/08
•   I have lived in Puerto Rico for almost 4 years and have had direct experience with students in both public and private schools along with teachers due to my job. To respond to Nancy and Lignelli, I must say a few things. Puerto Rico is a US Commonwealth, so English is NOT a foreign language, it is a second language. And while teachers in all areas of the world deserve respect for what they do, most here on the island need to step up what they do. The students are not learning things here. I deal with them everyday. They are way behind. I realize that teachers don't make much money here, but nor do they anywhere else. Being a teacher is not just a wayside job. It's something you have to want to devote your time to.
  
  I really wish that Puerto Rico took more interest in their students. And students took more interest in their studies. But most of all I wish parents in Puerto Rico would stop doing their kids homework and let their kids learn for themselves."
  Sara, 13/02/08
• "Puerto Rico needs alternative schools that are not effected by politics and their decisions. Teachers there are undervalued by its politics. Students are often left with days of no school. Many days are wasted." Anonymous, 29/07/08
• "Students in Puerto Rico are undereducated. Too much teaching time is wasted. Too many holidays, bad weather and teacher attendance effect the amount of time a student is taught. Puerto Rico needs to step up to provide its students a quality education. Puerto Rico needs schools that are not effected by its politics. No decisions are made and nothing gets done. I worked in Puerto Rico's public schools over 30 years ago. My salary was 800.00 a month. Today, it is 1,500.00 a month. The cost of living is high and very little has been done to improve teacher's salaries. Government officials and other wealthy people send their children to private schools. The rest of the population is left with a public school that is not catching up with the new demands of higher learning. Puerto Rico needs alternative schools. When alternative schools are offered or in the plans, I am willing to relocate and teach there again. I want to come back home." Sara, 08/11/08
• "I agree with Gladys. I feel frustrated too. But, I do everything I can to feel better."
  Mairim, 11/11/08
• "I agree with what has been said about teachers stepping up to the plate. Teaching is not just a "job" it is a calling, a craft, a desire to equip children for life. But in all fairness, the political powers that be, do not rank education as their first priority. Shameful. Every one of them had to go through elementary school. If your making big bucks..thank a teacher. I don't know what is going to happpen, but I do know this, education is fundamental to a pseudo comfortable life. Come on people in power, start giving credit where credit is due. And teachers, love it or leave it. You do more harm than good."
  Jeanette, 05/06/09
• "It's true we (teachers) need to up our game and work hard on the many challenges we face here on the island. I have taught English here for 3 years or so now and I can say that if you aren't forcing them and not making them feel like you are a super power (IE US), then the students relax and take it all in. I read above that someone said it is an ESL environment. No way. EFL all the way. There may be some students that are ESL, but the majority of them are back in Spanish as soon as they leave the classroom (or during for that matter). I don't agree with this statement though, "Not everyone is good at languages as not everyone is good in math." Everyone can be good at math and languages. We all have the capacity to learn languages (more than one). It is up to the student whether they truly absorb and care to absorb the language. Teaching is not easy but that's why we signed up for it. The pay is not great either. But really if we wanted to get paid, we all would be doctors then wouldn't we?????"
  Lignelli, 12/06/09
• I agree that students are below learning levels and that English is taught as a first language not a second language. There is a lack of  interest shown by parents and government. Many parents care for the benefits (food stamps) they acquire by having the student in school and not what they learn. The government also gets it's benefits by having students fail (federal help). I've been a teacher for 28 years and it's sad to say that as years go by teaching is becoming a real challenge. ESL should be taught as ESL oral communication in elementary levels so that students can acquire vocabulary. Reading skills in middle school and so forth. English should be used fully in classrooms. I've seen English teachers teaching in spanish. I teach 11 th graders and believe me students lack vocabulary. They don't even know the alphabet in English. I love to teach and inspite of the fact that it's very frustrating, I try the best I can to motivate them.
  Marlyn, 11/11/09
• I love Puerto Rico and some may say that it's the teachers fault and that they dont take advantage of the language, it might be true and it might not. In the US we give the students the same opportunity to learn a new language like spanish, german and french. But since there are requirements to finish high school some do their best because they really want to learn some dont care as long as they are passing. And it's sad because after teaching them a second language and showing them the advantages, they still don't care. Some students know what they are going to be doing in 2-5 years, some just say college is not for them and would rather work in Burger King. What kind of future is that for our kids??? It's not the teachers' fault! Kids nowadays want the easy way out.
  Marien, 19/01/10
• I have lived in Puerto Rico for 21 years; I have taught English for eight of those years. Currently, I am the editor for two institutions of higher learning and give a graduate-level English-composition course at one of them.
  
  I agree with the majority of the comments found here. What concerns me, however, is that, validity apart, these writings are full of errors - most of which are basic enough to make me question the abilities of the writers to teach the language in which they are writing. Ranging from misspellings to grammatical errors, incorrect uses of punctuation to vocabulary mistakes, the problems in the notes above go far toward explaining why our children are not learning English properly: it is not being taught to them properly.
  
  To teach a subject, you must know it; you must live it. If you do not embrace it, revel in its every nuance, you are wasting your and everyone else's time. Thus, I have spent nearly half a century learning, absorbing, deconstructing this language (with much yet to learn) and am confident that my use of it exceeds the average individual's. I have worked hard to be the best.
  
  Teaching is not confined to four walls. It doesn't start and stop at the sound of a bell. A teacher teaches. Always. If you write a note to a student informing him/her that spotty attendance is "effecting" his/her grade, you have just taught that student something that is incorrect. Like it or not. The mistakes that you have made in your comments here will serve as false lessons to the person who has come here to learn. This is unforgivable. If you are looking at this forum as a place where you can "relax" and "let down your hair", think again: You are not engaged in a private telephone conversation. The writing here is intended to be read and therefore must be of the highest quality. Before I post this note, I will have gone over it a dozen or more times; I will have sent it to a trusted colleague, asking for his input. Does the drinker of knowledge who comes to this fountain deserve any less?
  
  You, the one sitting complacent, bathed in the glow of your screen, before you curse my infuriating insistence that it don't count if it ain't correct, please understand that I am aware of the complexity of the situation: money is in short supply, respect for teachers is at an all-time low, students are less interested than ever in learning. I understand as well the unfortunate reality that teachers are as human as anyone else and as prone to mistakes. My admittedly black-and-white take on this issue presents only observations; for answers you will need to turn to a different kind of expert. My arrogance extends only so far. I am not qualified to offer any solutions that don't include the word "should"; and I'm sorry to say that this word is too tentative to be of use.
  
  The point of this diatribe is that before you bemoan the terrible state of things, analyze your contribution to it. Wake up and smell the chalk dust. It infuriates me that ... well, in fact, the whole untenable situation infuriates me! More than once in the past 12 years, my children have come home with English assignments that are incorrect: either the supposed answer or the writing in the assignment itself, sometimes both. Lest you think I view myself as blameless, be assured that my passivity in response to these events makes me as guilty as any: instead of marching down to the school and clamoring for action, I have stayed at home and counseled my children to listen to me rather than to the teacher. How does that help?
  
  It is broken, the system. Beyond repair? Perhaps. But if you, the teacher, are not versed enough in the language you purport to teach to write one error-free paragraph, then I guarantee that any solution that might be forthcoming won't be spilling from your pen.
  Bob, 10/02/10

Other links for Puerto Rico

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Travel information for Puerto Rico
Teaching in Latin America Forum
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The Rough Guide to Puerto Rico

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