{"id":116490,"date":"2024-11-25T23:08:44","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T23:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/where-in-the-world-is-associate-professor-soria-colomer-honduras-life-at-osu\/"},"modified":"2024-11-25T23:08:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T23:08:44","slug":"where-in-the-world-is-associate-professor-soria-colomer-honduras-life-at-osu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/where-in-the-world-is-associate-professor-soria-colomer-honduras-life-at-osu\/","title":{"rendered":"Where in the world is associate professor Soria Colomer? Honduras – Life at OSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students learn about parts of a plant in English in one of the classes Colomer observed in Honduras.<\/em>
Soria Colomer is an associate professor of bilingual education in Oregon State University\u2019s College of Education. She is also the inaugural Patricia Valian Reser Faculty Scholar of Education for a three-year term, and traveled twice in the past year to work with bilingual teachers in Honduras. 
Where were you working? <\/strong>
Cop\u00e1n Ruinas in Honduras. It\u2019s named for the nearby Cop\u00e1n ruins, a major Mayan archaeological site. 
What languages are spoken there? <\/strong>
Spanish and the Indigenous Mayan language Ch\u2019orti.
What was the focus of your work?<\/strong>
I went there on an exploratory visit looking to understand how immigration policy impacts education across borders. A lot of research in bilingual education is with Mexican heritage students because that\u2019s the largest Spanish-speaking immigrant-origin community in the U.S. However, we\u2019re seeing a growing population of students from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in our schools, so I wanted to study these contexts as well. This visit revealed numerous research opportunities at the intersection of bilingual teacher identities, translanguaging and transnationalism. 
After being there for a week or so, I connected with three women who 33 years ago founded Mayatan, a PK-12 bilingual school. For eight weeks I worked alongside administrators and observed and engaged with teachers, who are both local and international, to do what the school rector called \u201cuna radiograf\u00eda de la escuela\u201d \u2014 an X-ray of the school. I was really honored that they trusted me. My time there helped to create a relationship with educators in Cop\u00e1n, a very important first step for future work, whether it be research, exchange programs or providing ongoing professional development for bilingual teachers at Mayatan and other schools in the community. 
Mayatan teachers discuss children’s books. <\/em>
How much time have you spent there? <\/strong>
I was there from January to March, winter term 2024, and then went back for a week in August to do a separate workshop with teachers. That being said, my family is from Honduras, so I\u2019d visited the town a few times for personal trips. 
What\u2019s the best food you\u2019ve eaten there? <\/strong>
Hand-made corn tortillas, made with recently ground corn. And their coffee. The basics are so good there. 
What\u2019s the most non-touristy thing you got to do? <\/strong>
I think just being there and walking around. When I went to the ruins, a taxi driver drove up and was like, \u201cYou\u2019re the teacher from Mayatan, I see you walking up and down all the time!\u201d 
What\u2019s an important phrase you\u2019ve learned in the local language? <\/strong>
I already spoke Spanish; a good word to know is that Hondurans call themselves \u201ccatrachas\/catrachos.\u201d 
Soria Colomer in Honduras.<\/em>
What\u2019s one thing you\u2019ll take home? <\/strong>
One thing that really stuck with me was that the teachers and staff at this private school were incredibly humble and generous with their counterparts at the local public school, sharing any professional development they get with the public school teachers and sharing books and workbooks with the students. It\u2019s a very humble-minded private school. 
What were you most surprised to learn? <\/strong>
It\u2019s the smallest thing \u2014 and this speaks to my American self \u2014 but they don\u2019t have street signs. I\u2019m so glad I caught myself; I was like, \u201cThey need to name their streets!\u201d and then I remember walking around and realizing, no, they don\u2019t; they\u2019re reading the world, they\u2019re not just looking at the corners. It was realizing that maybe I needed to be open, and they don\u2019t need to change how they do things just because Soria doesn\u2019t understand it. 
Who are your closest local colleagues? <\/strong>
I\u2019d say the three women who founded Mayatan: Nora, Norma and Marisol. We remain in contact.
A classroom Colomer observed at Mayatan. <\/em>
What\u2019s the biggest challenge of working there? <\/strong>
Maybe that the internet goes out often. However, I was able to accomplish a lot in eight weeks. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lesson there. 
Besides family, what do you miss most from home? <\/strong>
Certain foods, like I missed salmon \u2014 but then I had fresh papaya there. So there\u2019s that realization of being present and appreciating what you have in the moment.
What piece of advice would you give others who might travel there? <\/strong>
Obviously, you have to visit las Ruinas de Cop\u00e1n. And then just know that it\u2019s safe. There\u2019s such a negative view and narrative around Honduras. Just like in the U.S. or any other country, there are places that you need to be careful, but I walked around on my own and always felt safe in Cop\u00e1n. They\u2019re good people, and they\u2019re welcoming of tourists. Also, if you\u2019re interested in teaching abroad, I encourage folks to look into Mayatan \u2014 it\u2019s a very special place. 
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Students learn about parts of a plant in English in one of the classes Colomer observed in Honduras.Soria Colomer is an associate professor of bilingual education in Oregon State University\u2019s College of Education. She is also the inaugural Patricia Valian Reser Faculty Scholar of Education for a three-year term, and traveled twice in the past year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}