Feb 22, 2009

We Don't Read Here in Peru

I have heard, since I first began to teach English here in Peru, that "here in Peru, we don't read." For the most part, it seems to be true. Many of the instructors that I worked with in CIVIME confessed that they do not read anything, except what is absolutely necessary to complete their lesson plan for the week or the day (and their English vocabulary was severely lacking, yet they did nothing to improve it. How you teach a language if you don't speak it is completely beyond me.) People tell me they just don't have time to open a book. I find that appalling. One of the best ways to increase your understanding and vocabulary is to read, especially things that are of interest to you. I've had a hard time getting people here to accept that idea. There is no real emphasis on literacy here, even in Spanish.

So I decided to do an experiment this month. ICPNA, where I work, is launching a reading program for the English courses of Basic 8 through 12. Nothing is done for Basic 1 through Basic 7, perhaps the idea is that they don't have sufficient vocabulary to understand a reading...I'm not sure. But I know that from the time my daughter was born until she was in the fourth grade, I read her bedtime stories. When she was 4, she began to actively participate in the story telling, reading one page or maybe just a paragraph if she was tired, and then I would read another. Through the reading and the funny character voices and the pictures, she learned a lot of vocabulary and grammar. I didn't test her and we only read things that were fun and interesting. It was just for fun. Now she's a voracious reader, quite an articulate speaker and outspoken in her opinions. I can't take any credit for that. She did it on her own. I did what I enjoyed doing, and she did what came naturally to her.

This month I took "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" to work with me and read it and acted it out in my Basic 4 class, on the second Friday of the cycle. I simply read it and used a couple of pictures and different voices to represent the characters or the story. I didn't test them over it, I didn't explain anything, and then I sent the story home with them. I asked them to bring it back the following Friday and we'd read through it again. Just to see what they thought of the idea. Just for fun.

They LOVED the story. In fact, they had all taken the story home and read it several times and learned some words and could participate in the story. When I read "trip-trap, trip-trap went Little Billy Goat Gruff's tiny hooves", all the students were pounding their feet on the floor till LBGG made it across to the other side safely. When the Troll leaped up on the bridge to confront a goat, they all yelled in a deep, cranky voice, "HAAARRRR! Who's that crossing my bridge?!" And when Big Billy Goat Gruff charged the troll and sent him up the river, they cheered for BBGG, just like my little girl did when she was 3 years old.

So, who says that here in Peru, they don't read? Given a fun or interesting piece to read, I think anyone would be willing to read, even if they are in Peru. I think I'll do this again next month, if I have any classes from Basic 1 through 7, and just see what happens. I think if I can appeal to the kid in them, the students might read just for the fun of it. It's only three talking goats and an ugly troll, but maybe from that could spring great things. I think the instructors from the public school system and other institutes are doing the students here a terrible disservice to assume that they will not read, or that they don't want to. To perpetuate an attitude like that is disgusting to me.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff and I are on a literacy crusade in my part of Lima.

Feb 20, 2009


Well, yes...I've been busy, and have several photos to show you, but unfortunately not in this post. O has lent out the cable that connects the camera to the puter, so I haven't been able to download photos for about a week and a half. Grrrr....

But anyway, I have almost finished the lace stole that I've been working on. Teal Romney lace weight yarn with gold glitz spun in and crystal clear seed beads scattered randomly across the piece...sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, I love it, but you know...those photos will have to wait till I can get them on the computer. Maybe by the time the stole in finished, the camera cable will have returned.

And...I've finished up a pair of fingerless gloves made from handspun superwash merino. Shades of blue and purple with seed beads at the upper edges. Those sound pretty, too, don't they? Yes! They are, but you know the story...no cable to download pictures with.

And...I received several batts and rovings to spin up - all in a rainbow of gorgeously rich colors...but...not a cable in sight to download those photos. Wah. And a pair of new lace weight spindles came from Heidi in Colorado, but nope - no photos of them either. Phooey.

And, I have a few photos of Celeste with her "I hate cameras" face.

Several of my students come to class badly in need of a shower. I know it's hot, but when someone arrives to the 7 am class smelling like they've not bathed since last Sunday night (today's Friday), it just about waters my eyes when the student approaches my desk. I have a hard time telling students "Hey buddy, you're a little over ripe. Why not treat yourself to a shower before you go to bed tonight?" Not only would he (or she) not understand, but maybe they don't have access to water on a daily basis. Some people here only have water at certain times of the day, and some have to haul water from the truck that comes once a day. So I feel really bad about telling someone here that they need a shower.

But - today a student came to talk to me and I swear, he must not have washed for a very long time. The body odor was overpowering. How do you tell someone in a nice way that they really reek and need to scrub off a little bit? I have noticed that several student take their daily bath in the institute sink, where there is clean water and soap always available. I know they do this because they walk out of the bathroom soaking wet from hair to shirt to shoes. In the heat it doesn't take long to dry. I know these students are more comfortable, so I wonder why more of them don't take advantage of the availability of water and soap?

Feb 11, 2009

A post from Celeste

You may have noticed that The Mom hasn't written anything here for a little while. That's because she's been busy figgering out the frigerator. The Mom and The Dad thought that the frigerator conked out when all the water ran out of it and all over the floor, even coming inside MY VERY OWN BEDROOM while I was sleepin. That was last night. This mornin when it was still dark, there was still water runnin out of it and The Mom and The Dad were talkin about how much fridges cost and lookin kind of worried, but when The Mom came home from her morning work, she went right to the fridge...even ignorin ME, who was waitin with my BIG BLUE EYES for her say "Good morning" to me and take me out to do my buzzniss. She picked up all the towels from the floor and mopped up around my house, and then opened up the fridge and gave it a thunk with her hand. Then there was sort of a crash and she hauled out a big honkin chunk a ice and tossed it in the sink. Then the fridge made a noise and The Mom grinned at me and said "You did it, Celeste!" I donno what I did, but the fridge is workin agin and The Mom's happy agin. I'm just glad all the wet towels are gone from around my house. I had to toss out my jammas becauz they were damp, too. I donno if The Dad noticed.

And The Mom's been spendin a lot of time with her spindles lately. That bugs me. Yaknow, it's MY JOB to make sure she gets outside and goes walkin everyday. I hafta get my own leash now and take it to her to make sure I get to do MY JOB. It's important! It's MY JOB to go with her whenever she goes out a the house so nobody bothers her. I always go with her and take a GOOD LOOK at the people who pass by. She always tells me "Take a GOOD LOOK, Celeste, and see if you think they're okay." So I always that a GOOD LOOK and sometimes they make my hair stand up and I make The Mom walk really fast then till those people are gone. It's MY JOB. Sometimes those creepy people follow us for a little bit, but I always keep my BIG BLUE EYES on them, and let my hair stand up so I look bigger and meaner than I really am. Sometimes I just sit and keep a GOOD LOOK on them and make sure they go away. It's MY JOB, too. The Dad told me that it's MY JOB to go with her all the time so I do. He does notice that.

So, I love MY JOB, yaknow? One other thing I really love is THE BED. Whenever The Mom comes home and takes a little nap, I get to take a little nap too, on THE BED. Ooooo, THE BED is soooo soft that I just hafta roll around on it and jump and play on it and then The Mom says DOWN, and then I get to take a little nap, right there on THE BED! If I could just eat some BREAD BREAD BREAD there too, I'd be set for life. I bet The Dad wouldn't even notice. The only bad part is when The Mom wakes up from her little nap, then she changes into her skirt. I hate the skirt. I get worried when I see the skirt becauz then its not too long before she goes to her afternoon work and I hafta wait until The Dad comes home from his work to go outside and take another little nap on THE BED. The Dad says I can't get on THE BED, but if I wait till he's snorin in his little nap, then I can get up there and take a little nap too. I don't think The Dad even notices.

Okay, I hafta go now. The Dad's comin in and I am sittin in his chair. If I get down now, I don't think The Dad will even notice.

Love from Celeste

Feb 2, 2009

Some Beginnings and Some Endings

Okay. Now that the laceweight romney has been spun, I have started to wind it into center pull balls so I can cast on the Seascape stole. I have 810 yards and still have about an ounce and a half left of unspun batts...which is okay since I ran out of fiber to finish Tai's garden socks and need a coordinating yarn for the toes.

Anyway, I am so tempted to go on a discourse about my first real lace weight yarn, but just let it be known that I am completely THRILLED with it! I'll be casting the stole on today.

I'm still spinning the Earth Tweed from Maggie's farm. I think I have about 250 yards of singles, and have begun a second spindle. It's not laceweight - more like fingering weight, I think, but I probably won't know until I get it plied. I've been revising my ideas about what to make with this yarn, once it's finished, and I'm leaning towards a lacy, long-sleeved shrug. For this shrug, I'll need 750 yards.

O and I had quite a discussion this weekend. I'm pretty done with people telling me every time I step out of the apartment that I'm going to get robbed because I'm a gringa. I'm sick of constantly looking over my shoulder and clutching my purse to me like a hunted animal. Everyone talks to me like I'm a robbery just waiting to happen. No, I don't want anything to happen, of course not. I don't want to get robbed, but I also want to move about the city with confidence and freedom from fear. O admitted that as long as we live here freedom and confidence are probably not going to happen. Robbery most likely will. You know, I can take the heat, the bugs, the dirt, the stinking toilets, and slum-like conditions of almost the whole city. I could live with that. But I will not live with the constant threat of being attacked and robbed. I work in one of the most dangerous areas in Lima, specifically Jiron Cuzco, where the institute I work in is located. Thank God I don't live there. O has been mugged and beaten several times since coming to Lima. Last time he was pistol-whipped for his cell phone and 5 soles (about $1.75). Most people who live here have been robbed or subjected to violence in some way. They have become accustomed to it and accept it as fate. I'm sorry, I can't do that.

So, we have decided that I have one more year here and then my Peruvian adventure will come to a close. The good part is that O's Amazing American Adventure will begin! He has about that much more time in university classes to complete and then he'll be ready. That decision lifted a huge weight off my shoulders and, unfortunately, planted the weight on O. He spent the rest of the day researching the US and finding all kinds of terrifying info about tornadoes, snowstorms, floods, and forest fires. I kind of added to it when I said that there were all kinds of wild animals that lived not that far from our house in Cheyenne. Saturday night, he dreamed about moving to Cheyenne, and Sunday we talked some more. He looked stressed all weekend, but this morning, I think he's better.

So, next year, I should be returning to my little "House of Rogue Tufts" in Cheyenne, where the wind always blows and the grass grows long and the antelope live just a few blocks away...along with the rabbits, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, bison, and deer. And of course, the cattle. It is cattle country, after all.