Cinco de Mayo

I believe it is critical to know your students-- where they live, what kinds of things they like to do at recess/outside of school, what areas of learning come easiest and most challenging to them, etc… For me, knowing my students includes knowing who they are culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically.

Our school district has 7 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, one mainstream high school, and  a wonderful high school to meet the needs of students who have found the challenges of mainstream high school doesn't quite fit their learning needs-- my passion for that school is a whole separate blog post, but suffice to say I am ashamed of our local voters for not recognizing the value of this fantastic program and funding these students' learning as an equal priority to our others students'. Ugh! ANYWAY!!!

Knowing my students culturally (where I live) is a minimal challenge because we have just two main cultural groups-- Caucasian (easy for me… that's my family heritage) and Hispanic (I grew up with many Hispanics [San Diego] and studied Spanish in college). I  studied in Mexico and traveled to Spain and have extended Argentinian family. Over the last 16 years, I've learned more and more and am fluently bilingual and bi-literate. I'm certainly not near bi-cultural-- living in a household of two Anglo parents, but I make it my job responsibility to know my students' culturally. My dear friends (The Guerreros) and a bi-cultural family and I just love love love LOVE that for the past 13 years, we have grown as family and I get Mexicans-- don't get me going, but YES… it IS in fact okay to say the word, "Mexican." It is not a bad word-- just ignorant people have made it that way. Mexican describes a culture… a people who happen to be from Mexico. I guarantee that if someone used the word, "American" like I hear some people use the word, "Mexican," I'd be… not okay with that. Wow… guess I'm feeling feisty today. This was supposed to be a post about Cinco de Mayo. Ugh! Sorry.

So, attitude adjustment here…


Cinco de Mayo is often thought of as Mexican Independence Day. Pat yourself on the back if you already knew that's not the case (and give yourself a hug if you're even still reading this post… thanks for hangin' in there)! Cinco de Mayo marks an historic day in Mexican history, but it's not related to Mexico gaining independence.

In late 1861, France started a war with Mexico.  Nearing May 5th of 1962, the war was in the state of Puebla. There were between 6,000 and 8,000 French attacking two forts guarded by 2,000 Mexican soldiers (under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza).

On May 5th, one of the forts was destroyed and more than 1,000 French soldiers were killed.  The Mexicans had won the battle.  This battle is known as the Battle of Puebla. Unfortunately, the victory didn't last long, but it was a significant accomplishment on that one day. Within a year, the French had overtaken Puebla, but three years later, with the help of their neighbors to the north (yaaaaaay USA), Mexico reclaimed Puebla from thence forward (forging a positive relationship between the United States and Mexico).

I find it disheartening how few students know about the significance of cultural celebrations and national holidays, so each time one comes along, I take a little extra time to be sure my students have the opportunity to deepen their understandings.

We have been trying to write more and more in my L2 English Literacy group. On May 4th, I decided to incorporate our need to expand English vocabulary, write in English, as well as learn about our cultural heritage (100% of this group's families are of Mexican descent-- many years other countries, such as El Salvador and Guatemala). Here are some samples of student work.

My sweet stepson shares my passion for crossing cultural barriers. We're so proud of him for playing in the elite mariachi group here in town!

They were so thrilled to be writing so much today (though they've written more on other days), but I think that's because they had a deep hunger to really understand.

Now, something I have learned about Cinco de Mayo is that it is much more widely celebrated in the United States than it is in Mexico.   The state of Puebla rejoices on this historic day each year, but across the rest of Mexico there are few observances… come up north to the USA, though… and aye mamí… Cinco de Mayo is a major community event in many many cities.

I look forward to hearing your feedback and to follow each other for more rich experiences for our students.
Have a fantastic day!


desiree.r.schmidt@gmail.com