Mexico

Mexico (Spanish: México, pronounced: [ˈme.xi.ko] officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. The country is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers (over 760,000 square miles), Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world while being the second most populous country in Latin America. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, its capital and largest city.

Educational System in Mexico

In Mexico, basic education is normally divided in three steps: primary school (primaria), comprising grades 1-6; junior high school (secundaria), comprising grades 7-9; and high school (preparatoria), comprising grades 10-12. Depending on definitions, Primary education comprises primaria and secundaria, which are compulsory by law, while Secondary education only includes preparatoria, which was not compulsory a few years ago, but it has been made mandatory as well.

Educational Technology in Mexico

How are the people using technology to support learning or teaching in your home country?

In Mexico is a complicated situation in the Education, because is very different between the basic education and higher education. Problems in the basic public education v Government uses few resources on school reform programs, school equipment, teaching materials, technology in the Classroom, teacher training programs and other improvement efforts. Because they prefer inverting in national security and other things (corruption, etc). Many communities do not have local schools and students often have to travel for hours to reach the nearest one. This people use a distance learning and other technologies, but in general are bad services, because some times, for example don’t have electrical services and other factors. In Mexico there are internationals universities with highlevel. These universities use all kinds of technologies andbest technologies in the world. The best universities inMexico are two. (one autonomus and other private). Thenames are: Unam and Tecnólogico de Monterrey. Theseuniversities provide: high school, bachelor’s degree, Master’sdegree, phd studies, and offer excellent research and developgood technologies and pattents. 

Spanish Alphabet and Pronunciation

The Spanish language is quite easy to pronounce since most letters (or phonemes) only have one sound. The list below will serve as a guide for how to pronounce each letter alone and in combination with other letters.

a	ah	Close to “ah.” This sound does not exist exactly in English, but a close approximation can be found by saying “my” omitting the last “ee” sound.
b	beh	After a pause or the letters l, m, or n, it sounds much like an English b. However, in all other cases, the lips do not even touch, producing a more whisper like sound almost close to the pronunciation of the letter v.
c	ceh	Sounds like k in most cases. Before e or i, it sounds like an s (or th (thick) in many parts of Spain).
ch	cheh	Sounds like the ch in "cheese" in English.
d	deh	After a pause or the letters l, m, or n, it sounds much like an English d except you should place your tongue to your upper teeth instead of the roof of your mouth. However, in all other cases, the tongue touches nothing, creating a whispery th sound like “the”.
e	eh	Close to “eh.” This sound does not exist exactly in English, but sounds much like the a in mate.
f	effe	Sounds like the f in English.
g	ge	After a pause, or the letters l, m, or n, it sounds much like an English g. Before e or i, it sounds like a harsh h (much like the Spanish j).
h	hache	In general, this sound is silent. However, words with foreign spelling and no Spanish equivalent, the breathy aspiration is maintained: Hawái, Hollywood, etc. * Many newly introduced words are written in italics to highlight their foreign origin (hámster, hip-hop, etc.).
i	i	Close to “ee”, but short. Before vowels a, e, and o, it forms a y sound.
j	jota	Close to the English h sound, but it varies from country to country. In some places, the sound is very harsh in the back of the throat (like you are trying to spit something up). It never sounds like the English J.
k	kah	Uncommon in Spanish, but sounds much like the English k with less breath.
l	ele	Close to the English l, but with the tongue raised closer to the roof of the mouth rather than dipped down
ll	elle	While this is not considered a letter anymore by the RAE, it has a distinct y sound (like in use) in most countries. In other countries it can sound like the g in genre.
m	eme	Just like the English m.
n	ene	Just like the English n.
ñ	eñe	A completely separate letter from the n, it sounds much like the ni combination in onion or the ny combination in canyon.
o	oh	Close to “oh” as in so, but shorter.
p	peh	Close to the English, but with less breath aspirated
q	koo	Always followed by the letter u, it makes the same sound as the letter k
r	ere	Similar to the d sound in caddy in most cases. When following a pause or the letters l, n, or s or in the combination rr, it has a trilled sound. * To trill the rr, try to say brr, but instead of using your lips, use your tongue. When you exhale, the tongue should be raised and widened so it touches the upper teeth.
s	ese	Just like the English s.
t	te	Softer than the English t, the tongue touches the teeth and there is no explosion of breath after moving the tongue away.
u	u	Close to the “oo” in food, but shorter.
v	veh	Much like the Spanish b where the lips do not touch and there is less aspiration.
w	doble veh	Not native to Spanish, but with the same pronunciation as the English w.
x	equis	Between vowels and at the end of a word, it sounds like the English ks. At the beginning of a word, it sounds like the letter s. * Not too long ago, the x sounded more like the letter j which can still be seen in words such as Mexico and Oaxaca.
y	y griega	Most of the time, it sounds like the English y in yes. At the end of a word, it functions as a vowel and sounds like the letter i. * Many books in Spain will say the sound is different from the ll, but the difference is small and you will be understood pronouncing both as y
z	zeta	Mostly pronounced like the English s, but can sound like the th in thin in many parts of Spain.

Primary

The terms "Primary School" or "Elementary School" usually corresponds to primaria, comprising grades 1-6, when the student's age is 6 to 12 years old. It starts the basic compulsory education system. Depending on the school, a bilingual education may be offered from the beginning, where half the day instruction is in Spanish, and the rest is in a second language, for example, English, French,, Tzotzil or Tzeltal.

Junior High School

The terms "Junior High School" or "Middle School" usually correspond to secundaria, comprising grades 7-9when the student's age is 12 to 15 years old it is part of the basic compulsory education system, it follows primary school, and comes before "high school" (preparatoria). At this level, more specialized subjects may be taught such as Physics and Chemistry, and World History.There is also the tecnica which provides vocational training, and the telesecundaria which provides distance learning. Despite the similarities of the words "Secondary school" and secundaria, in Mexico the former is usually translated to preparatoria, while in other countries, such as Puerto Rico, or within the Spanish-speaking populations of the United States, the term secundaria refers to High School

High School

The terms "High School" or "gymnasium" usually corresponds to preparatoria or bachillerato, and follow "secundaria" comprising grades 10-12, when the student's age is 15 - 18 years old. Students may choose between two main kinds of high school programmes: The SEP incorporated A and a University Incorporated one, depending on the state. Other minority of programs are available only for private schools, such as International Baccalaureate which carries a completely different system. Nevertheless, in order to be taught, it must include a national subject at least. In addition there are programs such as technologia and comercio that prepare students for a particular vocational career. Preparatoria traditionally consists of three years of education, divided into six semesters, with the first semesters having a common curriculum, and the latter ones allowing some degree of specialization, either in physical sciences (physics, chemistry, biology etc.) or social sciences (commerce, philosophy, law etc.). The term bachillerato is most commonly used for institutions that offer a three-year education program that "prepares" the student with general knowledge to continue studying at a university. In contrast, the term preparatioria is most often used for institutions that provide vocational training, in two or three years, so the graduate can get a job as a skilled worker, for example, an assistant accountant, a bilingual secretary or an electronics technician.