Sustainable Educational Initiatives at the Coatzacoalcos Language Center

It is a commonly held belief in the field of sociology that new fashions or trends are created by the sudden observation of new phenomena. Among the various new currents that have found their way into popular culture (by way of everything from the visual arts to architecture, music, literature and even clothing), one finds the fashionably new concept known as ‘globalization’. Not only has this new concept, or phenomenon, changed our perception of ‘who’ we are, but also of ‘where’ we are, and of how we acquire and use knowledge.

If we take the notion of globalization to its limits, we arrive at the deeper concept of sustainability. In a broad sense, this too can be considered as a new ‘fashion’, since the new phenomenon that people are suddenly so concerned about is the survival of the earth and of the species that inhabit it, including humankind.

The term sustainability was first used in a United Nations report in 1987 which defined it as, “the ability to meet personal needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Today, this objective-oriented, micro-macro concept of sustainability is being reinvigorated by such concepts as ‘the ecological footprint’, a quantitative assessment that measures the cost of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems. Currently, it is calculated to be 1.4 times above the capacity of nature to supply human beings with the resources they need in order to survive. Mexico’s ecological footprint, for example, continues to grow at the same rate that the country’s biocapacity continues to decrease.

Due to its vast resource of students, faculty and staff that are spread throughout the five regions of the state, the Universidad Veracruzana has the potential to develop and implement a wide array of sustainable educational initiatives that can have far reaching impact. An example of this is the recent step taken at the Coatzacoalcos Language Center in aligning itself with one of the main goals of the University’s 2025 Institutional Development Plan, which was also included in the mission statement of the University’s 2009-2013 Academic Development Plan (PLADEA): “promover el respeto y la equidad a la multiplicidad de lenguas y culturas como elementos viables para la sustentabilidad de nuestra sociedad y el medio ambiente”.

At the Coatzacoalcos Language Center, we set a goal that by the year 2013, the syllabus for every class would include at least one instructionally designed sustainable task. The inspiration for this goal came from a syllabus that was used in a beginner level English class in 2010.

Students were asked to think about such things as how they could reduce energy and cost-of-living expenses in their homes by modifying their consumption habits, and how they could use food production and waste recycling strategies to become more self-sufficient.

Three teams worked on food production, two worked on composting, and yet another worked on bottle recycling. This latter team’s final project was a huge hit when they showcased a handmade chair, assembled entirely from 120 discarded plastic bottles they had collected on the local beach.

When the semester ended, all of the teams commented on how enriching it was to prepare and give their final reports in English. The experiment thus became an invaluable experience, not only in terms of language learning, but also in terms of the increased awareness that students and teachers came away with about the concept of sustainability.

May 23, 2012 by Juan Carlos Alvarado Cruz

Maestro de Inglés, Centro de Idiomas de Coatzacoalcos

Editado por el Mtro. David Ewing Ryan,
Docente de la Dirección de Centros de Idiomas y de Autoacceso, dewing@uv.mx