A Classroom Called Oaxaca
Through a 黑料吃瓜 study abroad course, future bilingual teachers immersed themselves in a region shaped by Indigenous heritage and multilingualism鈥攁nd returned home with a deeper understanding of themselves and the students and communities they hope to serve.
By Michael Klitzing
Photographs by Sarah Wilkins
July 20, 2026
Melissa Nicole Martinez occupied the high ground as she gazed out on the splendor of Monte Alb谩n. The massive mountaintop Zapotec archaeological site sprawled out before her, its green vegetation and the weathered stone of temples and pyramids radiating in the morning sun.
As she soaked it all in, the Chicana and Chicano studies major at 黑料吃瓜 found herself unexpectedly choked up.
鈥淚 feel very connected right now,鈥� the aspiring high school ethnic studies teacher said. 鈥淏eing able to experience firsthand the ruins that are still there after colonization, it鈥檚 powerful. I felt like the ancestral knowledge is there and we鈥檙e connecting with it.鈥�
For Martinez, who grew up between San Ysidro, California, and Tijuana, Mexico, the realization was bittersweet. She currently works as a classroom assistant in the San Diego County Office of Education鈥檚 Juvenile Court and Community Schools program, helping to teach students who have been pushed out of the education system for a variety of reasons.
Many are Mexican American, like her. Some, she noted, were even born in Oaxaca.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like I鈥檓 carrying them with me,鈥� Martinez said. 鈥淚t saddens me that they're not able to come back here.鈥�
Martinez was one of 11 students and two faculty members from 黑料吃瓜 who spent three weeks abroad in early June as part of the program Multilingual Education for Bilingual Teachers in Oaxaca: A Spiritual and Artistic Heart of Mexico. Led by Professor Sera J. Hern谩ndez, chair of the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education (DLE), and Associate Professor Melissa A. Navarro Martell, the program was geared for future educators preparing to teach multilingual learners in classrooms across California.
Many of the participants were currently enrolled in DLE鈥檚 teaching credential program, though not all. There were even two doctoral students in the mix.
But here in Oaxaca, all experienced profound moments of reflection, discovery and connection.
An ideal environment
In recent years, Oaxaca鈥攁 mountainous state in the south of Mexico known for its rich Indigenous heritage鈥攈as become an epicenter of 黑料吃瓜's expanding international partnerships. In 2022, President Adela de la Torre personally cut the ribbon on the university鈥檚 Center for Mesoamerican Studies. Situated a short walk from Oaxaca's vibrant colonial core, the center serves as a base camp for teaching, research and collaboration in the region.
In many ways, Oaxaca is an ideal environment to prepare future bilingual teachers. Sixteen Indigenous languages are spoken there, most prominently Zapotec and Mixtec, and government language policy has a fraught but fascinating history. After pursuing Spanish-only assimilation policies for decades, Mexican federal law now allows students to access education in both their native languages as well as Spanish.
The parallels to California鈥攚here bilingual education was outlawed for nearly two decades until 2016鈥攁re hard to miss.
An expert on heritage language loss, Hern谩ndez recounts how her family lost Spanish and French with her parents鈥� generation鈥攁 reality that left her unmoored from her cultural identity and ultimately inspired her research focus.
鈥淚 think the big-picture concept is to offer our students a chance to come to a part of Mexico that is known for its political activism, resistance and Indigenous language and culture maintenance in the face of policies and politics that haven鈥檛 always supported that,鈥� Hern谩ndez said.
Indeed, this was no tourist romp. While the program included visits to famous historic sites like Monte Alb谩n, Mitla and El Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzm谩n, as well as explorations of Oaxaca鈥檚 renowned artistic and culinary scenes, the group spent most afternoons around a table taking deep dives into education policy. The students received guest lectures from bilingual education faculty at the Benito Ju谩rez Autonomous University of Oaxaca, which served as a host for the visitors from San Diego.
During one session, the group discussed the book 鈥淭eaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca,鈥� a collection of narratives from a 2006 teacher鈥檚 strike that became a mass movement. In a remarkable coincidence, another teacher鈥檚 strike launched across Mexico just as the students arrived, filling central Oaxaca City鈥檚 cobblestone streets with blocks of encampments and bringing protesting educators鈥� tents to the very door of the group鈥檚 workspace.
鈥淲e want our students to be able to see the context here in Oaxaca,鈥� Hern谩ndez said, 鈥渁nd to understand the parallels between these realities.鈥�
Connecting across cultures
Born and raised in Fullerton, California, Angelica Nicole Robinson was a bit of an outlier among the cohort of students. For one, she鈥檚 not pursuing a bilingual teaching credential. A student in 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 Joint Ph.D. Program in Education with Claremont Graduate University, her aspirations are firmly rooted in higher education. For another, she was the only student who did not come from a Spanish-speaking family, and her own grasp of the language is admittedly limited.
Robinson, however, is an avid world traveler, having visited 29 countries, including Mexico. So when she heard about the chance to make her first trip to Oaxaca, she couldn鈥檛 pass it up.
鈥淓very learner should be able to travel,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淲hen you get outside of your immediate environment, your comfort zone, it just changes the way that you think about everything around you鈥攁nd it changes the way that you think about yourself.
鈥淭he important thing is being able to connect to other people.鈥�
In the interest of fostering cross-cultural connections, the DLE program arranged local host families who opened their homes to the students.
For Olivia Casarrubias-Quinn, a preschool teacher from Orange County who originally hails from Acapulco, staying with a local family was particularly special. She and two classmates stayed in the colorful and immaculately kept home of Silvia Leticia Garcia Spindola and Miguel Angel Castellano Roldan, both retired accountants from Oaxaca whose own children are grown and out of the house.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e very welcoming and very loving,鈥� said Casarrubias-Quinn, who is studying in a DLE online program that allows classified school staff to earn credentials to become bilingual teachers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so humbling, and I honestly feel very honored to be in their house. And to be here with the other girls鈥攖hey have become my sisters now.
鈥淚 think the older I get, I have more appreciation and respect for Mexican, and specifically Indigenous culture,鈥� she added. 鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 where we come from."
That last sentiment鈥攖he same one that had Martinez fighting back tears in the rarified air of Monte Alb谩n鈥攊s a big part of why these students are here.
It鈥檚 one Hern谩ndez hopes will soon find its way into California classrooms.
鈥淢y big hope is that when they return from this program, they bring an extra level of understanding that will help prepare them to work with students in the United States that have Indigenous backgrounds,鈥� Hern谩ndez said. 鈥淲hen they understand the world is big, and that the students in their classrooms have a wide array of languages and cultures to share with them, they鈥檒l know how to validate and affirm them.
鈥淭hey鈥檒l know how to focus on the dignity of their students鈥攏o matter the policies that they're navigating.鈥�