136 Part 2: The Social Construction of Age in Mexico
added that once they get to primary school, children in Mexico will neces-
sarily become more proficient in Spanish, but will have a head start in
acquiring the L2.
Referring to his own case, he stated that because he started studying
English in primary school, he has had an advantage over those classmates who
only began to learn the language in the university. He also commented that,
in his view, the older members of the group from the neighboring community
probably have even greater difficulties learning a language  because they may
have stopped studying for a long time and  it s like starting to use something
again that you haven t used in a long while (David, Interview 1).
While David considered his English to be above average in the group, he
acknowledged that he has a problem with speaking. He said that he thinks
he just needs more practice. Nevertheless, he chose to participate minimally
in the lessons, thus missing many opportunities to practice speaking. When
he did respond in class, he made frequent mistakes, and I judged his profi-
ciency to be slightly lower than that of the other students in the group.1
David insisted that when the time comes and he needs to speak English, for
example in a job interview, he is sure that he will be able to because he  won t
have any choice (David, Interview 2). Again, this comment suggests that
David s appraisal of his real-life situation perhaps borders on the fanciful.
Enactment of Age: Examining Classroom Activities
David was a student in the same sixth-level course as Adela and Gilda
(see Chapter 5). Two teachers, Martin and Ramon, gave lessons on alternate
days, using Student Book 3 (Soars & Soars, 2003) of the American Headway
series. As mentioned previously, this textbook series attempts to capture the
interest of the adult and young adult market. However, the content and
activities of American Headway are only marginally successful in appealing
to university-age students such as David, for the global focus of the series
targets persons with a wider experience of the world than that generally
found in the student population of this public Mexican university. David,
for example, has never traveled out of the country nor has he ever held a job.
The following incident was recorded in my classroom observation notes:
CLASS 21, MAY 12, 2004
Time Activity David
102 Exercise 1:  The First Day of David [D] says that he has
Vacation (American Headway never stayed in a hotel. He
3, Unit 11, 82) discussion of either camps out or stays with
hotels relatives when he goes on
vacation.