Oaxaca, located in the south part of Mexico, is the most cultural and linguistically diverse state of the country, where Spanish shares the ground with over 100 Indigenous languages spoken throughout the state.

Oaxaca’s ecological and colonial architecture beauty attracts international tourists, making English part of the existing linguistic diversity. In addition, Oaxacans have been migrating to the USA during the last decades, resulting in the addition of English to their linguistic repertoire.

In Mexico, the English language has been part of the public school curriculum since 1974, starting at the secondary school level. English is in many ways the object of the love-and-hate relationship that has developed historically with the United States. Due to this historical relationship, the English subject in middle school is called “Lengua Adicional al Español” (Additional Language to Spanish) and not “English”. Since the ‘90s, there have been several initiatives in different Mexican states that have piloted English in elementary schools. Currently, English is taught in some elementary schools under the Programa Nacional de Inglés (PRONI, National English Program), which is federally-funded. In Oaxaca, the principals of elementary schools, which wish to include English as part of their curriculum, must apply to the PRONI state department so that an English teacher is assigned to their school. In the elementary schools where PRONI is being implemented, children start learning English in grade one, taking a 50-minute class twice a week.