There's a rabbit in the moon!

Two years ago, I was handed the Non-AP senior Spanish class. It had been a long while since I had taught "big kids," so I was a little weary. The upside was my Administrators gave me free range! The course is called Spanish Conversation and Culture for the Non-AP track. I decided I wanted to teach the big pieces that don't fit in the middle school curriculum. By big pieces, I mean those that I feel seniors should know about before graduating and heading off to college. We study Hispanic culture & history through literature pieces like myths, legends, creation stories, politics and a few films.
I love teaching Creation stories - or stories of origin - as they can tell us so much about any given society. Perhaps if we all were required to read excerpts from books like the Bible, the Q'ran, or the Torah, we would have a better understanding of how others think and believe. Perhaps this would create a mutual understanding or even better - a mutual respect!
Right now my senior students are reading the Popol Vuh - the Mayan book of origin - creation of the world and man. By reading this ancient text, they have learned why corn was deemed so important to their people and why respecting your elders is a cornerstone to familial life. We also read a little legend called "El sol y la luna" (The Sun & the Moon). It tells the story of how light was created by sacrificing two gods. These gods became the sun and the moon we know today. However, as the two balls of light arose in the sky equally bright, the other gods decided one should be dimmer than the other. To dim one light, a god grabbed a rabbit and hurled it at the moon, smacking it with the rabbit. For this reason, the moon is not as bright as the sun and to this day you can see the imprint of the rabbit in the moon.
I first heard this story in 1997 when I stayed with a family that lived in Guadalajara, Mexico. For them, it was common knowledge that you can see a rabbit in the moon. I looked up and in fact, I could see it. Living in the United States of course it had never been brought to my attention, but there it was plain as day - or night, rather! This got me thinking when people argue over the sky being blue or the grass being green - infer religion or politics, etc. here - a lot of our heated debates or complete miscommunications obviously stem from not understanding the other. If we took the time to dig in and really learn a little history about those we have conflicts with, maybe it could begin a path of peaceful coexistence. A respectful agreement to disagree, but behind it an understanding of why you see a man in the moon and I see a rabbit.



photo credit: mexicolore.co.uk

Dichos y Refranes for the classroom journal

I love DICHOS! Dichos are sayings in Spanish - they can be funny, proverbial, or just plain good advice! Doing a weekly dicho is something I initiated with my 8th graders years ago. Every Monday, they come in and get a Dicho-of-the-Week. They copy the Spanish dicho down in their journals and have all week to work on it - turning the journal in on Friday. Step 1 is to copy the Spanish dicho I have given them. Step 2 is to write out the English translation somewhat verbatim. Step 3 is for the student to write out his/her own interpretation of the dicho - what it really means and perhaps in what situation it could be used. Step 4 is the hardest - students are asked to think of an English equivalent. We do this by adhering to our school's Honor Code - meaning the students are not allowed to Google any of the dichos. Instead, they are asked to talk about them with their parents or grandparents.
I have had good success in doing these over the years, but recently received the nicest compliment from a parent. She told me that each week their family looks forward to the dicho I've given them and that the student calls her grandmother to talk about it. This makes me smile inside! My little classroom activity is dinner table conversation!

Dichos are an excellent tool for learning more about any given language and culture. I also coordinate them weekly to go along with our topics in grammar. So, for example, if we are studying Reflexive verbs, then I pick a dicho with a reflexive. Here are some of my favorite examples:

Easy - "Perro que ladra, no muerde." "All bark, no bite."

Intermediate - "En boca cerrada, no entran moscas." "Lose lips sink ships."

Hard - "Salir de Guatemala y meterse en guatepeor." This one is a pun in Spanish, so it obviously won't translate verbatim, but there is a perfect English equivalent having nothing to do with the Spanish version - "Out of the kettle and into the fire!"

Why aren't you bilingual?

It's been a while since I've had time to leisurely think and write for my own pleasure. My little one turns two this month, so the timing is right as she boldly displays her independence with each passing month! She is speaking Spanish and appears to understand everything said to her in Spanish. My oldest just turned five and she is completely bilingual. My heart swells just thinking about it. It is beyond a doubt my greatest accomplishment in life - one that could not have happened so easily without my husband who also instills in them the importance of maintaining a connection to their Colombian roots. I know many families like ours - parents from different countries with children learning the best of both - both cultures and both languages. I also know the outcome varies greatly. It's a challenge to consistently maintain the target language especially when the kids go to school and none of their friends are speaking that language. Push-back can happen and all you can do as the "language parent" is to continue speaking & continue asking for a response in the target language. It can be an uphill battle because a parent must also be careful in not creating a hostility toward the target language. We as adults know though that anything worth doing is typically not easy.
So, here I am with one bilingual and one speaking only Spanish (for the time being). It's amazing to watch it unfold. As a linguist I take note of every detail that comes out of their mouths. The oldest learned English mostly from going to preschool, watching Nick Jr. shows, and grandparents. Her Spanish vocabulary is bigger and so she inserts Spanish words into her English sentences - mostly during the school setting. "I have a morado." ("I have a bruise.") Not knowing certain words in English - she just substitutes it for the Spanish. She also speaks English using Spanish structure - "I'm going to the house of Grandma." Instead of "I'm going to Grandma's house." I'm not concerned about these nuances at all - I believe it will all come out in the wash, but I can only imagine what her little friends (& teachers!) are thinking when she converses.
In Spanish, she converses freely in the past modes (Preterite & Imperfect) and in the subjunctive. These are things that take my students MONTHS to even understand. "Papi, yo sabía que te gustaba eso." - she says in her sweet little voice. Now that I'm five years in this process of bringing up children as bilinguals, I understand to my core that this country is going about the foreign language experience in the classroom all WRONG. No student should begin a language for the first time as a freshman in high school. Nothing about their brain development supports this. K-5 education should incorporate foreign language as a CORE course - not an elective or enrichment, but a core where they have at least five hours a week in the target language. The United States will always be behind on an international scale until we make this a priority and change the way it's done across the country. The evidence of the benefits of children learning a foreign language at an early age is now overwhelming. As our nation's cultural landscape changes - the question will also change from "You don't happen to speak a foreign language, do you?" to "Why don't you speak Spanish?"
Those on the "We-speak-English-in-America" bandwagon should look at it from a more global perspective. We are one of few countries where kids graduate from high school and students can not function in another language. It's appalling and almost ethnocentric. Not too long ago French was the lingua franca and then it changed to English. It will change again; and when the English-dominant era declines, who will be prepared?

In the United States, it is projected that the Hispanic population will double by 2030 & triple by the year 2050 making "White people a minority," according to the Huffington Post.
It is also speculated (by scholarly sources) that Mandarin Chinese or French (again) could become the new lingua franca. Only time will tell, but in the mean time, I will continue preaching about the importance of being bilingual.

UPDATE - JULY 2015 - El Instituto Cervantes published an article stating the United States is now the world's 2nd largest Spanish-speaking nation!! That is huge! This means that only Mexico has more Spanish-speaking people than the United States. Times are changing and being able to order a taco or find the restroom may not cut it by the time our children are in the workforce.