The Global Migration Education Initiative (GMEI) presented its 4th annual educator workshop on July 30th-Aug 2nd, 2025, in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, an epicenter of international migration. The multi-day binational program titled “Global Perspectives on Migration, Language, and Land” was designed to examine both migrant and indigenous studies through a global lens with the targeted goal of supporting K-12 students and school communities representing a variety of ethnic and linguistic identities. GMEI is organized between the U-M International Institute, San Diego State University (a minority-serving institution), and the Secretariat of Education of Baja California, Mexico, with consultation from U-M’s Marsal Family School of Education. The program had four major components: a virtual introductory and pre-departure orientation session, an in-person four-day workshop, an asynchronous canvas course, and one-on-one virtual consultations with curriculum specialists.
With teacher cohorts from both the U.S. and Mexico, teacher-to-teacher engagement between educators on both sides of the border increased this year, with a U.S. cohort of 14 teachers and a Mexican cohort of 13 teachers. The U.S. cohort included six from the Midwest, four from Puerto Rico, three from California, with generous support from UC-Berkeley, and one from Delaware. Mexican teacher recruitment was conducted by the Secretariat through their network of schools working with multilingual students. As a result, 13 Mexican teachers were selected for the program components that took place in Tijuana.
The first day’s activities took place at Southwestern Community College in National City, CA, with talks and panels centered around binational teacher education and global migration. Cristina Alfaro, Associate Vice President of International Affairs at SDSU and a leading voice in bilingual teacher education, opened the program with an introduction to the SDSU Border Region alongside Yara Amparo Lopez, Secretary of Public Education in Baja California, Mexico. Melissa Navarro, an associate professor at SDSU and expert on critically conscious teacher preparation, presented on decolonizing science education and supporting multilingual learners in the science classroom. Also featured was a panel of multilingual education leaders from the San Ysidro School District and the director of the Leadership Equity and Access for Languages (LEAL) project at SDSU, which provides professional learning for in-service teachers to support multilingual learners. The day concluded with a panel on global migration and language preservation and featuring area studies experts representing four U-M National Resource Centers: Minjeong Kim, a professor of sociology at SDSU, gave a talk on Korean Immigrants at the U.S. Mexico border; Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, associate professor of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, presented on women refugees and gender inequality and displacement in Sub-Saharan Africa; Madhumita Lahiri, U-M associate professor of English Language and Literature, discussed language, religion, and migration in South Asia; and Jennifer Lund, U-M Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies outreach coordinator, gave an overview of indigenous language preservation and revitalization initiatives in Morocco. The day’s programming ended with a talk on transnational students in higher education by Joel Pilco, director of binational and international programs at Southwestern Community College.
After traversing the border on foot at the San Ysidro crossing, the teacher participants joined Mexican educators along with SDSU and U-M faculty and staff for an excursion to an Indigenous Elementary School Ve’ E T’Un Xavi. The elementary school serves primarily Mixtec speaking students and their families who have relocated from southern Mexico to work in the border region. The school has staff who are of Mixtec or other indigenous backgrounds and specializes in supporting students speaking Mexican indigenous languages. With Spanish as the medium language for all events held in Tijuana, program participants interacted with Yara Amparo Lopez and local school leaders to learn about classroom teaching methods, curriculum resources, and methods of integration for Tijuana-area multilingual primary school students. The group then gathered at the mural-covered border wall at Friendship Park, a binational park straddling the U.S.-Mexico border on the Pacific Ocean. The day also included dialoguing with staff at the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (COMAR), a government agency responsible for processing asylum claims and determining refugee status, as well as the Carmen Serdán Migrant Integration Center, which is one of three migrant integration centers in Northern Mexico serving to support migrants in getting access to shelter and food, as well as services for health, education, paperwork, training, and employment.
The program continued with another full day of presentations, dialogues, and reflections with U.S. and Mexican educators at the Tijuana Border Teacher Training School (Escuela Normal Fronteriza de Tijuana), the only public teacher training school in the municipality of Tijuana. Yara Amparo Lopez led a pedagogical session on new curricular material developed between the Secretariat and United Nations for migrants and refugees called “My School Goes with Me”.
According to a recent article in the Voice of San Diego (“Border Report”, 2024), 42,000 foreign-born students are enrolled in Baja California elementary and middle schools and 30,000 of these students are in Tijuana. The program participants reflected on this critical pedagogy developed by the Mexican Ministry of Education and UNICEF to better support these migrant and immigrant students focused on inclusion, critical thinking, critical interculturality, gender equality, healthy living, and literacy through culture. There were also special visits by Irma Martinez Manriquez, the Tijuana Secretary of Public Education, and Allyson Hamilton, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in. Both expressed their eagerness to support the GMEI program and see it continue into the future.
To include more indigenous perspectives, the program concluded in San Diego’s Balboa Park with a visit to the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, a non-profit organization with the special mission to create, preserve, promote, and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American, and Latine art and culture. Participants met with Dr. Roberto D. Hernández, director and professor of Chicana/Chicano Studies at SDSU and President of the Board of Directors at El Centro to learn about the intersection of indigeneity and transborder community organizing and art. Dr. Hernández highlighted the history and work of El Centro and its connection to the major themes of Migration, Language, and Land. Teachers were also given an exclusive tour of a new art exhibit by Daniel Pozos called Chicanografia: Las letras de los barrios de Aztlán, that critically examines the connection between indigenous authors during Spanish colonialism and graffiti art in modern and contemporary US west coast cities.
As part of the in-person activities, organizers established specific time to facilitate critical pedagogical sessions to help teacher participants apply concepts and practices to their local classrooms and schools to support students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Prior to the workshop days, curriculum specialist and LACS Teacher Advisory Committee member, Wanda Toro-Zambrana worked closely with Darin Stockdill from the Center for Education Design Evaluation and Research (CEDER) to develop a “Problem of Practice” guide, which would help teachers identify the needs, resources and positive changes they need to make to implement change within their particular educational context. Toro-Zambrana facilitated a pedagogical session each day, utilizing the guide. In addition, Toro-Zambrana conducted a special critical learning session at Friendship Park in Playas, Tijuana to examine the Border Wall and community art as well as a discussion on pedagogical best practices.
Overall, the program deepened cross-cultural exchange among U.S. and Mexican educators by enabling spaces to share and compare experiences within an international context. One teacher participant underlined the transformative nature of the GMEI program: “Personally, the experience renewed my commitment to equity and reminded me why this work is both urgent and deeply human. This was more than a workshop, it was a shift in mindset that I’m carrying directly into the heart of our school systems.”
Since its inception in 2022, GMEI has been supported by a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
