Episode #73. Saturday August 28, 2021, 5:30 pm EDT
Among the different types of education systems that are offered to students around the world, a less talked about educational option is night high schools. The common descriptor for this type of education system is that of a regular public high school but with a night schedule. However, educators and administrators of night high schools agree there is valuable missing information that needs to be talked about and learned in regards to Night Schools and the role they have in the social, cultural, educational, and emotional development of the students who attend it. Night high schools are aimed at adults who did not have the opportunity to attend high school at an earlier age. These adults are from low-income backgrounds including single mothers who often work during the day picking coffee, cleaning houses, selling their wares in fruit stands, or are employed in various factory jobs. During the evening, they attend Nigh High School as a means of gaining literacy skills and bettering their lives.
This form of education was developed for those who wish to continue their education and further their personal development. Colegios Nocturnos in Costa Rica are categorized as formal academic institutions, meaning that they are no different than the regular high school, except they exist during a night schedule. Nevertheless, this view is only partially true, since these schools offer only some subjects of the standard curriculum (i.e., students do not receive instruction in music, arts, physical education, and other special area subjects). Of course, the obvious difference is that these students are mostly adults, with bigger social, economic, and cultural challenges resulting in most of them being in some way marginalized and underrepresented.
Silver Lining for Learning has invited Hania Morales Arroyo and Natalia Ramirez-Casalvolone, two experienced teachers from Colegio Nocturno de Naranjo, in Costa Rica to appear on a show and explain it and provide some pictures and stories. Hania will talk about the particularities of the student population, academics, and her experience teaching English at the school. She will also share her perspective on how the institution has evolved during her 20+ years working there. Natalia, will talk about a project she developed named the Multimodal English Club, aimed to teach English to twenty women from Colegios Nocturnos using principles underlying informal education. Multimodal English Club was inspired by theories of adult education, feminist pedagogy, and funds of knowledge. Recently, Natalia has turned the project into a research study to understand the skills and resources students use to learn English in an informal environment.
Hania Morales Arroyo is an EFL teacher educator at Ministerio de Educación de Costa Rica and at Universidad de Costa Rica. She has taught English as a Foreign Language in High Schools in Costa Rica for over 30 years. She has worked in Colegio Nocturno de Naranjo for 22 years. There she teaches English to the teenagers and young adults who attend, from a humanistic approach. She can be reached at haniamoar@hotmail.com.
Natalia Ramirez-Casalvolone is an EFL teacher educator at Universidad de Costa Rica. She holds a bachelor’s, licentiate, and master’s degree in Tesol from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica and Universidad de Costa Rica. Natalia is a Fulbright-Laspau grantee and has been awarded two grants from the US Embassy in Costa Rica to do research and develop programs that aim to improve English teaching in Costa Rica. Natalia taught English as a Foreign Language in Night High Schools in rural Costa Rica for over 12 years. Currently, she is a Ph.D. Candidate at Indiana University, Bloomington and is conducting research involving adult education for women, informal education, funds of knowledge, and feminism pedagogy. She can be reached at nataliarc@hotmail.com.