Today, I left in the morning with Mercedes and she let me off at the bus stop. I took the bus, all by myself to meet Margarita in another part of town where we would visit a school. We arrived at the school right at 9:00 am and we were just in time to participate in an assembly where the students were celebrated the Independence Day of Argentina that will take place on Friday. We were able to see the students present the flags and then we stood for the National Hymn. After that there several speakers and then performances from students. There was a small group of drummers who performed and then classes of 6th graders sang traditional Argentine songs. Then they showed a power point that was created by the students that had pictures of the kids by famous landmarks and monuments. It was a great assembly, and I learned so much from watching the powerpoint and see the students perform.
When the assembly was over, I went with one of the teachers to her room to meet some students. This school was really a great place to visit, because in addition to it being an elementary school, it was also a place where many students come who are new to Argentina who might need help learning Spanish (as a 2nd language). I was very excited to see the program and visit with the students, because up until now, this was most like what I do in my school with my students who are learning English as a 2nd language.
I gave a presentation about myself and Texas like I had in the days before, but the one special thing about this presentation was that I actually gave most of it in Spanish. It was fun, and I think I did pretty good with my Spanish. The students understood me, and I think it was good for them to see what it is like for me, a teacher to use another language, and maybe not always speak perfectly, but to be able to communicate and get my point across. We also spoke English, and the kids had a lot of questions. We spent time talking until lunch, and then we all went downstairs to the lunchroom to eat.
One thing I have noticed about a lot of these schools is that they are all in older buildings (some of them that even look like museums), and that they all have a lot of floors and stairs. I understand this is because in Buenos Aires, like in most big cities, there is not a lot of room to grow "out" and so buildings tend to grow "up" or be taller.
In the lunchroom, we got our lunches and sat down at long tables with benches. The teachers all sat at the first three tables, and then the students sat in the tables behind the teachers. There were large bottles of water in the middle of the tables to share and in addition to the entree, there was a salad bar and dessert (something with dulce de leche...again :).
After lunch, we went back upstairs and I went to talk to another class. I also had some time to get on my laptop and work on the internet, because this school had internet access, something that many of the other schools didn't have.
Something else that was very special about this visit was that one of the teachers I spent time with is actually a published author. She has written many Spanish children's books, and has even had some of them published with the "Scholastics" company. She gave me a copy of her book " ", and even signed it with a little note. She showed me her blog which showed a bunch of books that she has published. I thought it was great that I had this opportunity to meet her and see her teach.
At the end of the school day (around 4:00 pm), Margarita came back to meet me and help me to get back on the bus that would take me back to Mercedes' print shop. We said goodbye and I got on the bus. The bus was totally packed with people...I could hardly fit in the door to pay the driver for my ticket. It was exciting, and it reminded me a lot of the time I spent living in Mexico City...I would always take the bus or the metro home from school, and many times the bus would be full like this too. I used to hate having to ride the bus like this, but today, since it was like a vacation for me, I smiled and thought that it was actually kind of fun.
I got off at the right stop and then walked to the print shop. I went back to Mercedes' house and got ready for the evening. We went to the Rotary Club event to celebrating the changing of officers for Mercedes club. It was really nice. There were 3 courses of food...all delicious, and then the new officers for the coming year were presented to everyone, and then there was a jazz band that performed. Everything was very elegant again...and just like there had already been so many times since I had gotten to Argentina...there was champagne!!!
I was also asked to present the flag of the Frisco club to this group, and I came to the table in front to give the president the flag and take pictures, and then they passed me the microphone to speak...in Spanish...and I was a little nervous, but it went OK...I guess. We arrived home around 12:30 am...another late night, but also another "noche muy bonita"!!!
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