As the school year has come to an end here at Na’atik, we are saying goodbye to some of our students, many of whom are going on to study in some of the region’s best universities. Program leader Erick has been speaking with some of these students and their families about their experiences, and we are featuring some of these interviews in our newsletters this summer. Today we are shining a spotlight on Maya Youth Scholarship student Alicia, who was in our Adolescentes Dos class this year. Alicia and her mother, Maria, spoke with Erick last week.

Hello Alicia. Thank you very much for your time today. How have you been?

A little anxious about the upcoming changes in my life, and a little sad that I could not say goodbye to my classmates. (Our last days of classes and end of year extravaganza were canceled due to the forecasted arrival of hurricane Beryl.)

Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Who are you? Where do you come from? What do you study or what will you study and where?

My name is Alicia Anahí Nah Be. I am 17 years old. I am from here in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo. I have just finished high school here in the town and will now be studying medicine in Yucatan state at UBBJG (Universidades para el Bienestar

Benito Juárez García).

How long did you study at Na'atik?

I studied for a year. I started studying English last year, and joined in with the level two teenagers class.

Why did you choose to study at Na’atik?

I had heard about the courses, but as I was already studying a lot and had school classes in the afternoons I did not really look into it for a long time. When last year’s summer holidays started, my mom showed me a facebook post to sign up for the program and she said that we should go and ask and see if there were scholarships. After that I was encouraged because I wanted to learn English and because I was going to take my entrance exam at university, which for medicine is an exam in English, and I knew I needed to improve before taking it.

Maria, why did you motivate Alicia to study English in the first place?

Maria: I wanted her to learn the language. Even when she was little, since she was in primary school, I told her to study English, but she always said no. In high school, the same thing, I would say: let’s ask at school. We will find a way to pay for the courses. But she never wanted it, maybe because of worrying about the cost. Last year I said Alicia, let’s ask about scholarships and, finally, she said yes. She ended up enjoying the classes and even studying outside of class with Duolingo. Now she’s trying to teach her brother a little bit. And she says to me: Mommy, now I understand how to read in English and I understand what things say.

Alicia: Yes, I love practicing with Duolingo and have been since I started the course at Na’atik  and have a good streak. 

Do you have plans for the future?

I want to finish my studies and prepare myself more for the future with my medical course because my high school did not really cover any medicine. I want to focus on getting good grades because the teachers tell us that the students with the best grades can decide what hospitals to do their residencies in afterwards.

Do you plan to return to Carrillo after your studies?

I don’t think so, because I would love to work and live in Merida once I finish my studies. But that might change, we will see if I miss things here.

Do you have other goals for your future?

Well, it is more for fun, but I want to save up to go to a  K-pop group concert.

Did you like your classes at Na’atik? What did you enjoy most about your class?

It was a lot of fun. What I liked the most was that when I didn’t understand something, my teachers explained things very clearly. I also  enjoyed being with my classmates because of all the fun and games and the challenge of working things out together

Did you like learning with different teachers?

Yes, and it was a positive experience because each teacher teaches in his own way and with everyone I learned a lot.

What did you learn from your classes?

Something I liked to learn and understand was how the gerund tense works, because I once did a presentation about that topic in high-school but what I was taught wasn’t clear enough at that time, and here I understood much better how that grammatical tense works. I also loved learning about the different ways you can talk about time and the time of day, we don’t learn that in regular school.

What part of the class was your favorite?

The teamwork because I did it with my partner, Oyuki. If I didn’t know something, she knew it and if she didn’t know something, I knew it. It was just the two of us against the rest. Even when we weren’t working together, I could learn from my other classmates, seeing how they work, and I loved that. 

What were the hardest parts to learn for you?

I consider myself a shy person, and at first I didn’t know anyone and I would sit there, on my own, and I’d watch my classmates talk. If it got a little complicated I felt like it was hard for me to be included, but when my classmate Oyuki arrived, I was able to talk to her because we were both new in the group. This helped and soon we were part of the class.

Do you feel that Na’atik helped you beyond English? 

One of the things that school helped me with was my shyness.  I was very shy before I met my classmates and talked to them more. I feel like being here with them gave me the push I needed so that outside of school I’m not too shy anymore. I'm still shy, but I have a lot more confidence now. Likewise, I feel that the classes and being here helped me better determine that I wanted to study medicine because I wasn’t 100 percent sure and as I was learning English it felt really nice and I could notice that I was actually learning, and that motivated me to do a medical career.

Maria, did you see that same change in Alicia during this year?

Yes, because when she started high school, she wanted to study math to be a math teacher. But, during the year she came to Na'atik, she began to be much clearer in determining her goals. And I feel like something here motivated her to decide to go to medical school. 

Would you recommend us to others here in Carrillo and outside of Carrillo? Why?

Yes. I liked how teachers teach, how they do activities, like cultural exchanges. I never imagined talking to other people besides my teachers, but I had my chance to talk with people from Canada and from the University of Texas and when I got home I was very happy telling my mom about the experience and at school to my friends. Because, in truth, I never imagined talking to people from other countries in English! I hope my siblings can have this experience too!

Maria: She arrived home each day very happy. Her vision, her dream, is to go and visit the country of her first Na’atik teacher Rosa (England). 

Lastly, will you miss your classmates?

Yes. I’m going to miss them all! The group of friends that I made, the gossiping (chisme), try to win whenever we can against our classmates. It was really nice to be around everyone, I didn’t think I’d ever be in a group like this. I will miss Perla very much because she was my accomplice and also my group, the Tayloricitas; Crystal,Oyuki and me, against our other classmates. I’m gonna miss them all!

A big thank you to both Alicia and Maria for speaking with us. Congratulations on Alicia for being such a great student this year and making such wonderful progress. We wish you the best for your studies and your future in medicine, and hope you will come visit us when you are back in town. You always have a home here at Na’atik

To read more about our local education program, and how immersion experiences, online classes and donations help us to give local students access to opportunities that will help them create their own futures, check out our Impact page.  The Na’atik Library and Intercultural Activities Hub is funded 100% through generous donations.   We also have an Amazon Wishlist for supporters in Mexico and the US, with a list of books, games and educational resources which our students would love to have access to.

The opportunity to interact with our local students during events like this is a fantastic addition to our MaS language immersion program, which already offers unparalleled cultural and linguistic immersion. To inquire about reserving you immersion experience and making this the year you master Spanish or Yucatec Maya, contact the team on MaS@naatikmexico.org