Barcelona, With Love

​I am starting to close the dozen or so windows I have open on my phone about Barcelona. I am getting rid of the metro tickets.

But, today, I am still so psyched about my trip to Barcelona. I sit at the piano and think of my sister playing Arabesque at a bookstore during the last night of a street festival. I pop a cd of Emilie, the amazing Georgian we found in the metro tunnels. He was playing classical guitar and it resonated up and down the stairs on either side of the space he was occupying. We almost stopped but didn’t. Then we came back. His music, burned onto a DVD-R plays like a dream and I feel like I’ve just popped in a record. I remember the chocolate sculpture made to represent La Sagrada Familia. I am watching a short report and refreshing what I learned from my visit there.

Ahhhhhh.

But, mostly, I am so grateful I followed my 17-year-old dream and figured out what it was that I loved about Barcelona. I thought I wanted to be a Latin pop star. Nowadays, I am really grateful that I learned to improve my Spanish by singing lyrics of Spanish songs. Like Laura Pausini, La Oreja de Van Gogh.

I don’t need to be a Latin pop star. I found what I loved about the city. They don’t even have any signs in Spanish. The classical Spanish guitarist in the metro is an anomaly. I never heard anyone else play like that in the area. I met so many more Spaniards from other areas, but a few Catalan were thrown in and many, many Latin Americans were in the area. There was other diversity, too, in our taxi drivers and the man who drove our rickshaw. Yet, all the signs were in Catalan. It sort of blew my mind. And I went to a congregation all in Spanish. It was amazing. I just looove Barcelona even though I speak no Catalan. I loved meeting a Basque man and his daughter at the bookstore that first night. I loved the salsa dancing in the street. The percussion groups parading through the streets. I loved the Greek food from an actual Greek man. Interestingly, or maybe not, two of the Catalan people I met idealize New York City from a stay they had had, or the other, just because it’s like the city and the neighborhoods that are right here at home. In other words, it is not an inappropriate comparison to Barcelona itself.

I was impressed by the young people of Barcelona. I believe that they are doing the best they know how. But, there are many, too, that don’t have an ambition past high school. I found that curious. And, in a full circle moment, I wondered aloud at a group meeting of my global church’s local congregation, why my 17-year-old dream had brought me here. I had wanted to be a Latin pop star, and I did everything that I knew how to do to be one from that age until about 35. And what was it? That reason above all reasons that drew me in and wouldn’t let me go (as shown through an a capella performing group I joined with full dance moves, advanced level Spanish classes at my University, and unending style research and fashion discoveries, especially with a global flair)?

My self knew then that I could understand how proud the Catalan are of their language and that that intersection of not knowing their place as a part of Spain was something I felt to my core. And I feel it now. The Spanish spoken there was a humble Spanish. Spoken by Indians, Africans and by native Spanish-speakers, yet humbled by their circumstances and leaving Venezuela in droves. In other words, it was like my Spanish. I sang with gusto in that small congregation the Sunday after arriving. I felt I sang with the angels. It was the people themselves.

Serendipitous

I learned a nasty lesson about not saving blog posts. I talk to myself sometimes.. Let me just check a reference really quick here, won't be more than a minute..  and kabam! ..What just happened?!..

This means I should go to bed and do the quickest recap of lesson planning serendipity that I can muster. It's all about having key points to guide your plan and then having everything thoughtfully tie in. Easy, right? Especially if you remember to tie it to authentic stories and then immerse your students in that world. It's pretty neat how unrelated thoughts and ideas over the course of days fuse together to make meaningful, experiential lesson plans. Appeal to the senses and to the learning types and let the magic happen!  ..··~~~*~~.·.·.·**

Dipping my toes in Spanish literature

For a while now I've been very protective of my books in Spanish. My rapidly growing collection has been due to an unquenchable desire to fill my house with Spanish literature, and hopefully, capture my children's interest in the language. We are a mono-lingual household, mostly. Spanish is the preferred language but my husband and I often banter back and forth in English. I wonder if this confuses our kids, that we use English often when we're playfully conversing or just teasing each other. We don't seem to have ignited any passion for Spanish but they certainly don't hate it. My two older boys are proud to be bilingual. My youngest doesn't care and isn't saying much either way.

In our collection there are books that are loose-translations and books with translations that take themselves far too seriously. I have very few originally Spanish books. Off the top of my head I can only think of two or three but they are technically bilingual books. Then there's a smattering of Plaza Sesamo and Maya and Miguel and uninspiring non-fiction. At least for now I can say that I don't mind if the book is not originally Spanish, as long as it is translated with the message and the emotion kept in tact. I sometimes panic because no one is talking about Spanish children's literature in the classical sense. At least no one on my blog roll! These would be books with real staying power and original language and even good grammar.

For now I'll be looking into "El principito" (The Little Prince) on a friend's suggestion and enjoying my personal favorite, "Sarah, alta y sencilla" (Sarah, Plain and Tall). But maybe what I really need is to become more cultured myself and soak in some better grammar. "Don Quijote" is waiting.

Ruckus at the caucus

Am I the first person to cry at a caucus meeting? Picture a very prego lady who parked illegally 1/2 mile away from the door of the school building and arrived to her caucus meeting a little flushed but determined to do her duty as a citizen. Cuz that was me on March 15, 2012 and I may have looked ready to pop, but for me, being there to vote was so right. At least until they asked for delegate nominees and I got that tap-on-the-shoulder impression that it was my turn to stand up and yes, nominate myself. 

My speech was heartfelt, I talked of PTA advocacy and being on graffiti watch in my neighborhood but I felt very strongly that I should tell the small gathering just exactly where the Republican party was heading vote-wise with the Latino college-aged kids. I related to them an article in the Salt Lake Trib's weekly Spanish paper where they interviewed youth at the University of Utah and they kids expressed that the Republican party held nothing for them. They claimed that their needs were being ignored. And I concluded, in the spirit of transparency, by telling everyone that my husband would become a citizen in April. The looks in the faces at my neighborhood caucus meeting told me that they were not prepared for this kind of a talk, I had lost them.

Long story short, the group could only vote in 3 of the delegates and out of the 4 nominees I was the one not voted in. I stood up in my chair as my already flushed face turned blotchy and tried to make my way out the door. Two men seemed to want to intervene, to say that I made some good points but whaddya know, their condolences only opened the floodgates. 

My point is this, we can all guess that the big issue for Latinos is immigration. A survey referenced in a December article of that same weekly Spanish newspaper also named the economy and jobs as factors for the presidential vote among Latinos. But the Republican party has chosen a hard line on the immigration subject and, in so doing, has cast aside the opportunity of rallying this untapped market."Republicanos en aprietos para ganar el voto hispano.", AhoraUtah 

Do I necessarily think that the Republican party is the end all, be all of our democratic system? Uh no. But I feel like the party that aimed to appeal to married, religious voters had a huge gap in foresight in ignoring the Latino demographic."Religion, marriage and the GOP's demographic challenge brought to the fore by 2012 election", Deseret News

Unleashing the blogger in me

Two years and yet another man-child later, I am reminiscing on the good 'ole days when I not only led bilingual storytime at the library every week (I called it Spanish playgroup) but miraculously lived to tell about it on my blog. Times may have changed (that's three kids now!) but I am again drawn back to the blogosphere. The thing is this time I come with a platform. I am still a momma to my boys, never fear, and my husband is my greatest ally and friend. I still count my lucky stars that I have my faith to help pick me up when I fall, and to give life it's savor. I would be nothing without it.

And here's the kicker: I'm not the only one!

To my Latino friends and all else who will carry the same banner. Let faith, family and holy matrimony be the standard we bear. So let it be written, so let it be done. I hope you'll join in the discussion and follow the issues with me. And by the way, I'm not gonna undo what I've already done with this blog. So feel free to browse archives if you have a hankering for homemade drum crafts and contextualized immersion. Or not :)

Our Christmas posadas

It has been great to have ten days with my parents-in-law, my brothers-in-law, sister-in-law and lots and lots of Spanish speaking. Being the only family with grandchildren on my husband's side has its advantages. Many of the festivities took place at our house. One of the highlights was that we put on our very own pastorela (nativity play). My youngest son was a donkey, my eldest an angel and my brother and sister-in-law (who are newlyweds) got to be Mary and Joseph. We did no preparations in advance other than making crowns for the three kings, donkey ears and throwing together a manger. It was fun though to read directly from scripture and just kind of improvise the acting with what was read aloud. We did it only for ourselves, there was no audience, but it felt good remembering the purpose of the season in such a hands-on way. My sister-in-law especially liked it when my youngest exclaimed "Tia!" for the first time at the end of our closing song. What can I say, it was a hallelujah moment!

There were pre-party setbacks, emotional family meetings and even late-night stitches this holiday (think forehead to sharp-cornered shoe stand!) but our family has been brought closer together and we're stronger for it. Strengthening these ties is, I hope, the foundation my children will need to keep hold of their Latin culture and Spanish-language heritage.

And my side of the family was a part of the action too. My siblings watched El Grinch (The Grinch in Spanish) with the rest of us and sang us villancicos they learned in their dual-language academy. Ever since my parents and younger siblings have buckled down and started learning Spanish, it has thrown a curve into my 2 year old's language separation. With talk of regalos and navidad coming from his tios who 6 months prior spoke no Spanish at all, he started chiming out in Spanglish "Quiero open it" with gusto during present unwrapping time.

Needless to say, we had a blast this Christmas.

Library Playgroup: Hispanic Heritage Month, Columbus Day and decorating banderas (flags)

Music/Movement Time:
Sapito/Little Toad
Un sapito (A little toad)
Que feliz vivía (Lived happily)
Debajo de un puente donde un charco había (Under a bridge where there was a puddle)
Dura dura dura dura pas pas pas (nonsense words)
Yaqui yaqui yaqui yaqui pas pas pas

Cabeza, Cara, Hombros, Pies/Head, Face, Shoulders, Feet
Cabeza, cara, hombros, pies (Head, Face, Shoulders, Feet)
Hombros, pies (Shoulders, feet)
Hombros, pies (shoulders, feet)
Cabeza, cara, hombros, pies (Head, Face, Shoulders, Feet)
Y una vuelta entera (And a full spin/turn)

Song vocabulary:
El sapito - the toad
Feliz - happy
La cabeza - head
La cara - face
Los hombros - shoulders
Los pies - feet
Una vuelta entera - a full spin/turn

Storytime:
De la A a la Z con Cristóbal Colón


Display/Story vocabulary:
La máscara - mask
El barco - boat
El país - the country (nation)
Las plumas - feathers
El maíz - corn
Frijoles/Judios - beans
El mar - the sea
La bandera - the flag

This was a super cute book about Columbus reaching the new world and what he found there. We had a good time reading about the people and structures and even gods of the Americas at that time.

Activity:
1. We decorated banderas. I had moms pick in advance the country their kids would like to represent and then we had full-color flags to glue feathers, beads, noodles, pipe cleaners and tissue paper to using the pre-Columbian setting from storytime as our inspiration!