The Argentinian

diaguitas, mapuches, tobas
quilmes in the heartland
swept aside by spanish adelantados
then came mestizos and criollos
the gauchos of the pampas
decades later, europe reduced to rubble
down came more gallegos and italians
and the jews and some nazis too
all along paraguayans, chileans and bolivians
crossed the border in pursuit of their dream
here today we're all Argentinian mix

it's 2008 and we still wonder
where our true identity lies
we're not a melting pot
perhaps a rich multicolor multitasty
tossed salad with no dressing
yet spicy, repicante

it's soccer, tango, chacarera
milongas, gatos, las tinellis
piazzola, los susanos, cumbia villera
borges, sabato, cortazar
mate, dulce de leche y empanadas
un che, y un vos keep our spanish alive
and we, english teachers, a strange breed
struggle hard to understand
and make sense of it all

(Just wanted to share a poem I wrote in today's session of Literature in ELT: Developing Intercultural Awareness and Having Fun. The assignment was to write something about the Argentinians, after reading a poem called 'The British' by Benjamin Zephaniah. As I couldn't share it there today, I thought of doing so with you. Hope you like it. We'll talk about this session after long weekend. Enjoy your break!! :)

Work done easily

When the atmosphere is conducive to learning, every activity seems appropriate and effective. Last Tuesday October 7, Paula's and Omar's 7th graders read and talked about jokes in one session, and discussed the use of technology and did group work to complete the worksheets for Silas Marner in the second English block of the day. The fact that the group consists only of eighteen kids no doubt helps immensely. Yet, the teachers encouraged the students' active participation and the impression was that four straight hours of English was light and productive. The sense of purpose was strong, and both classes went by smoothly.

9th Year Black Beauty Worksheets

Last Tuesday, Sept 30, I visited Norita's and Sofia's 9th Year class. They were both working on chapter 9 of Black Beauty. After observing whole class discussion, pair and group work, and discussion of current issues related to the plot of the novel, I kept thinking of the backbone of their class: their material. This team, the above mentioned plus Silvia G., developed a complete guide for the reading of the novel. I kept thinking that the fact that they had this material allowed them to structure their class around it so that students could have focused discussions about different aspects of the chapter, do pair and group work, and share their views with the whole group. The importance of material development is apparent here. The preparation of these worksheets must have been time consuming. However, after they were done, planning each lesson is immensely facilitated.

Monday Oct 6 meeting

This is just a reminder that Monday we have this meeting that had been postponed. As per Alina’s and Janine’s suggestion, we should renew our request for a salary increase. Among the many reasons, they said, is the amount of grading and preparation every week.
I suggested that in order to strengthen our request we present:
a) ALL of the material we’ve produced in the last year –yes, that includes part of 2007, or all of it if you want, and of course mainly this year. Consider class material to teach Literature, or any unit of global studies, quizzes, tests, etc.
b) See if you can get a folder or two of good and neat students where your work with them is clearly seen – especially grading of class work, homework, tests and quizzes, etc.

Please, bring this material to the meeting. If for any reason you can’t attend, please send it with a colleague so that we can speak for you. Enjoy your weekend! :)