Memoirs of the Puerto Rico study trip

- Meghan Dusek

[From the Metropolitan State Spring 2008 coursebook]:
WRIT 599G-01, 4 cr. - Topics in Technical Communication: Intercultural Experience
This course presents topics of interest to students in the graduate and undergraduate technical communication programs. Topics vary with each offering of this course. Note: This course requires a two-week study trip to Puerto Rico Feb. 23 - March 8.

Puerto Rico? Is this a typo? Not for some students.

From Feb. 23 to March 8, four Metropolitan State University students of the technical communication program conducted individual research in Puerto Rico. Lisa De Luney, Jennifer Klein, Ruth Macdonald and myself stayed in the Casa de Huespedes on the Universidad de Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras campus, where we also observed classes and worked with students. Professors Craig Hanson and Suzanne Walfoort accompanied the students.

Prior to the trip, we students and the professors underwent literacy training with the Minnesota Literacy Council to gain and hone tutoring skills, and used class time to learn more about all aspects of Puerto Rico -- everything ranging from politics, to music, to beaches. We also discussed our individual projects and strategies to use when working with our student groups. The concluding pre-trip class let us get a taste of what we would be encountering (literally) at the restaurant Puerto Azul: a diet based on rice, beans and plantains.

It was up to students individually to arrange flights and make our way to the university on Saturday, which went smoothly--excluding some miscommunication with taxi drivers. Our first full day was occupied almost entirely with an elaborate orientation where we met the two coordinators for our experience, Denise and Dorsia. They tried to explain some the nuances and "surrealism" of Puerto Rican and Caribbean culture and told us more about our classes.

In addition to our individual projects, we would be working with two freshman English classes -- one upper and one lower level. Profesora Irizzary, who taught the lower level class, attended our orientation while Profesora Camara, the upper level teacher, could not. Irizarry told us how worried her students were about meeting us, and how we would judge their English. She responded, "Wait until you hear their Spanish!"

It was entirely too true, and one of the reasons we were glad that we also would be taking language lessons. We also met our tutor, Maitee, at the orientation. To put it mildly, she was ruthless. But very effective. We met daily with her and everyday we were to ask random students directions to a close location. Once we found our way, we were to ask questions to the vendors -- all in Spanish. Luckily, geniality seems to be an inherent part of Puerto Rican culture. She also led us on a tour around beautiful Old San Juan, talking about the Spanish fort El Morro and Juanes (look him up on iTunes).

While most of us had had some prior Spanish training, it was not even close to being immersed in the language, and I think it enhanced how we related to our students. In both classes, the various groups had been assigned a fable or fairytale to modernize. Stories ranged from "The Ugly Duckling" in the lower level class to "Pocahontas" in the upper level class, and the difference in ability was clear. The lower level classes were more focused on going through the story almost word for word; the upper level students were much more broad in their thinking and almost esoteric in some regards (one group working on "Sleeping Beauty" re-framed the story with Puerto Rico as the title character and invaders like Spain and the US as the unlucky princes).

Our jobs were to help with rewriting (grammar, spelling, word choice) and the final presentation (which could be PowerPoint, iMovie, whatever the students wanted) and the professors were extremely accommodating. For their presentation, my group took a class period to drive around Rio Piedras to take frame-by-frame pictures of their story. Another day, the campus was on lock-down (the students organized a strike in support of the teachers'union in Puerto Rico) and we had class at a Burger King off campus.

Informal classes were the norm, we learned. We observed an intermediate English literature class taught by Profesora Haiman where people arrived late, spoke freely and did not seem to be the least worried of being reprimanded. Profesora Haiman is a demanding, precise teacher who goads her students into defending their opinions -- an excellent teacher to watch in action.

On the day we visited, the class was discussing "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, and throwing the word 'slut' around freely: "She needs to be taught so the girls don't become the sluts they are starting to be!" Observing the class and their interpretation lent insight into their values: family, respect for self and proper way of flirting (one boy said he knows if a girl likes him if she smiles with her teeth).

Our individual projects varied from building a Web site for Surfriders (an environmental protection group based in Rincon); another analyzing data and observing trends for the university; and translating/cutting a video for the Moca Lace Museum in Moca. The projects all involved a level of contact and service for a local organization, and each was suited to our individual interests and abilities.

For two weeks, we were lucky enough not only to have the experience of teaching, observing and working on a project suited to us, but also be in a paradise. Puerto Rico temperatures stay steadily in the mid-80s year-round and the beaches in Isla Verde and Luquillo are beautiful (but what beach isn't beautiful when you're coming from Minnesota in late February?). I went hiking in El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in North America, and we all went kayaking in the bioluminescent bays off of Fajardo.

The other three students took a weekend to stay in Rincon and then drove through the southern part of Puerto Rico on the way back. Then there was the time that we tried deep sea fishing on a choppy ocean after having coffee and staying out too late the night before...but the less said about that, the better.

Our farewell dinner on March 6 gave us a chance to talk candidly with the people we had been working with and hear their opinions on things. Politics crossed the table (the pros and cons of Hilary versus Obama was a lengthy topic); the professors American-educated backgrounds; and GPS systems. Professor Haiman marveled over a rental car with a GPS system that spoke, telling the driver when to go right, turn around and so on. "I want to do the translation for the Puerto Rican version," she said. "It would say 'Right...right...would everybody SHUT UP and listen to me! Go right!"

The farewell dinner was an excellent cap to the wonderful experiences we were already having. The generosity and enormous hearts of the people I met there will stay in my mind far into the future.

For more information on this trip or future trips, consider attending the open forum on April 9, or contact professor and coordinator Suzanne Walfoort.