This week I visited a public school in "la valle" (the valley), where there is an influx of Bolivian and Peruvian immigrant children whose parents work on the land in that area. The immigration has increased class sizes tremendously, and Cristina, the kindergarten teacher, has 36 children in her class, compared to 20 last year. It was a little chaotic, but I loved chatting with the kids, who were just adorable. Cristina had read them a story about a girl who ate alphabet soup and noticed that the vowels were each shaped like something: E like a comb, I like a pencil, etc. (Of course, when it came to "U," I didn't understand the word for "horseshoe" - thank God for the 5-year-old who could fill me in!). The kids then matched the letters with their shape and colored in the objects. In the top photo, which I love, are Damary, Marisol, and Jacqueline. Jacqui told me she was born in Bolivia, Marisol in Chile, and Damary in "Los Estados Unidos"(USA), like me. I could not discern whether this was true, or Damary was pulling my leg. :) I also visited an 8th grade EFL class, where Francisco and Cristian (above) seemed obsessed with the story of the man who threw a shoe at President Bush and wanted to know if we have a lot of terrorists in the U.S. That was a little disconcerting, but they were a charming duo nonetheless. We finally moved on from terrorists to soccer teams - much better.
What was the word for horseshoe? Is it related to the word for ordinary shoe?
ReplyDeleteOh, Michelle,
ReplyDeleteMe emociona tanto ver las caras de estos ninos. No es que se parecen tanto a los mios, pero parecen tanto los ninos que conocia en mis 4 viajes a Chile. Para mi, son todos amorosos!
Ojala que podria estar alla contigo! Tal vez otro ano, despues de la graduacion de Rose del colegio!
Ellen
Rod,
ReplyDeleteThe word for horseshoe, as I recall, is la herradura. Nothing to do with shoes-- it seemes to come from the words for iron and hard.
Ellen