Seeing the earth from different angles

There is more than one way of looking at the earth. There is more than one way to look at a classroom. There is more than one way to deliver a quality foreign language program in a school.

A number of years ago, I flew to Paraguay, and as the plane went lower I was able to observe the earth simbolized as Paraguay. What I noticed was the brilliance of the color red on the earth. The land was red out in the country, and in yards within the capital city of Asuncion. The red earth made a mark in my memory, and I acquired that characteristic of the Paraguayan land from on high.

The plane landed, I took a ride through the city of Asuncion to the residence where I would be staying. I observed not the red earth that I saw from the sky, but instead, a piece of Paraguayan land filled with green everywhere. There were so many trees, bushes, and shades of green. I felt so happy to be in this new land, and to see the beautiful display of colors and nature all around me. No red land from this perspective.

When entering the neighborhood and then the yard of the home I would be residing in, I could not help but notice the abundance of orange, grapefruit and banana trees everywhere. Now, I was not looking at just green trees, but specific kinds of green trees. I had an even different perspective. Still no red earth at this level of vision.

During the first several weeks in Paraguay, I visited the Paraguay River, and some big lakes. I saw some of the rural landscape around Asuncion, but did not see the red earth, that I saw from the sky. I saw rolling hills, covered in green vegetation, a big lake and white houses around it. I saw so many flowers of all kinds of shapes, sizes and colores. I never saw so many flowers so richly endowed in their plant kingdom. I saw women walking down streets with baskets of bread balancing on their heads. Still another perspective of the land.

As we teachers go into a classroom of students, ready to begin the tasks of acquiring knowledge and skills, we are able to experience the class, its talents, strengths, landscapes, from different perspectives. There is not such thing as a class filled with students. Rather, it is a class filled with learning styles, different motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and different skill sets. We are teaching to ideas, and talents, and bringing forth strengths and challenges in those ideas and talents. We are delivering reinforcements in old perspectives, and delivering content in new perspectives. Students are adaptable, but withing a balance of old and new abilities, and strategies. It is an art, and a science to see what works with what student. What perspective to take and how to see it from one angle or another.

In a foreign language classroom, there are so many opportunities to present to students using many different language acquisition strategies, or simple learning techniques. It make a foreign language classroom an adventurous place to be both for teacher, and for student.

A la pucha usada en Paraguay

I heard the Spanish expression, “a la pucha” all the time it seems when I was living in Paraguay.

I like the sounds of “pucha.” “A la pucha is a good expression to know. It is used when something is not good, or right. It is used to express disappointment, aggravation, annoyance, or surprise. For example, we miss the bus: “A la pucha.” Our customer decided to use the service of our competitor: “A la pucha.” I messed up on the dinner: “A la pucha.” There are so many scenarios for the use of “a la pucha.”

It must be understood that although a word or expression is acceptable as appropriate language in one region, or country, it may not be acceptable in another part of the world, since it could be a bad word there. There are many examples of this in Spanish. It is best to stay with standard Spanish of the region you are in, or interested in visiting. The modismos and colloquialisms will become part of you in time.

A Push Into the Swimming Pool

Friends, and friends of friends came over to the swimming pool in the yard of the home I lived in, in Asuncion, Paraguay. It was a pool party. Most of us were in our twenties, coming from the United States, South Africa, Brazil, and other regions of Paraguay.

As I was walking around the pool, dressed in professional, business attire, one of the boys, came behind me, and pushed me into the deep end of the pool. I had my wallet, and passport in the pant’s pocket at the moment. A passport is an absolutely necessary doc to have on you at all time in most foreign countries. I was upset, crawled out of the pool, and immediately went into my bedroom to change out of the wet clothes, and to find some way to dry out the passport, and the wallet, with money and other important paper inside it. I used a blow dryer for a few minutes, and then set all the material under a bright lamp. Everything dried out in a day or so, and my passport was not destroyed. The boy appologized, and did not realize I had my documents on me. We were all having youthful fun, and these boys, like I, performed pranks.

Several boys worked out in the Chaco region of Paraguay, on a ranch, as ranching is a big industry out there. People from South Africa came to the Chaco years ago to engage in the ranching business. It was easy to get government permission to buy land and ranch it. The real estate deals were fabulous.

This was during my three plus years living in that part of the Americas. I got a good deal on the home, paying only $50 a month in rent, in a big, stately home situated on Calle Mariscal Lopez. I liked the swimming pool and used it often, almost daily, during the long Paraguayan summers.I even let some of the paper boys, shoe shine boys, and other children in the neighborhood to cool off in the pool, since they did not find any or many opportunities to go in swimming pools.