Geometric animals

This is my first day working with a class of 20 first graders in a small seaside community in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. I have worked for a year to find a school where I can spend some of my time volunteering in classrooms. I am so excited to walk in the gate. I think back to the first day I stepped foot on a school campus in Nogales, Arizona, just across the border, to teach music in a K-6 school. It was a culture shock coming from Boston, and I loved the anticipation of getting to know children whose roots were from cultures much different from my own. Today, I have no idea of what to anticipate. There is a fence around the school with an intercom so that visitors can be buzzed into the gate. My limited Spanish is improving every day, but I must admit that I am not feeling completely confident in my ability to communicate. I hear a voice on the other end asking, in Spanish who is there. "Señora Julia Barwell para la Maestra Rosa". The gate buzzes and I am on my way....

The children are playing in the schoolyard when I arrive. I am feeling a little nervous. After thirty-two years of working with children, you would think that this would be automatic for me, but it is nothing like that. I am attempting to function with my limited second language skills and my expectations for myself are high. I want to make a good impression. I want the children and their teacher to look forward to my coming to their classroom. I want to feel like I am making a difference with their development of the English language. I want to effectively use my understanding of the arts to integrate meaningfully with their language development. I want them to look forward to my arrival. 

Their teacher, a lovely young woman named Rosa is there to greet me by the office. We have discussed today's lesson through emails. The students have been learning shapes and colors. I have tied these together with a book called "Moon Rope / Un Lazo a la Luna  by Lois Ehlbert. The book has beautiful art where animals are created with geometric shapes. I am adding in animal vocabulary through this story. The book is written in two languages with somewhat simple text. Rosa and I partner read the story aloud to the children as they sit, two together at small trapezoid shaped tables. I sneak a peek at the children's faces and they look excited, with big smiles on their faces. 

After the reading we stand up and do some movement. "How can we make our bodies shaped like a triangle?" I ask, with some Spanish sprinkled in...fortunately the Spanish word for this is triangulo. Movement is such an excellent tool for communication because children love to get out of their seats and they just need to follow physically. We make circles, squares, rectangles, etc...before sitting down. Then I ask think to think about the animals in the story and other animals they know. Looking at Lois Ehlbert's art work in the book, we examine her use of shapes to make pictures and animals. Taking a few shapes I create a simple visual model with some shapes I have prepared for the lesson. I can see that they are ready, by the looks on their faces. 

They set off to work...

Their creativity exceeds my expectations. I see all kinds of animals and students are modifying the shapes to make them work. Faces are drawn and backgrounds are incorporated into their work. I can see how inventive they are. We are writing names of animals in English. In retrospect, I think that the next time I will also have them write more, perhaps a caption. My challenge is the same. I know a lot of words in Spanish, but I am working on stringing them together with sentences. In effect, we are in the same place in acquiring our new languages. It gives me a lot to think about. How do the arts facilitate this? How can I use more intent in my next lesson?