Two Firsts: A Story Written in Spanish, A Lesson to be Delivered in English

Sunday, 28-July-2019, 8:52 PM CDT

A blank page is an intimidating sight. Countless things happen to me every day of the week, but when I sit down to write, it’s like, “What the hell do I write about?” In my first novel manuscript, Julian Garmin remembers some sagely advice from his cousin Darren: “There’s never nothing to write about; there is always too much to write about; that is the problem.” That MS has been released from its safe, comfortable enclosure in my laptop and is now being scoured by beta readers. I’ve heard back from one already and was happy with her feedback: “...I couldn’t put it down during Part 3 because it was so unexpected.” Happy might be an understatement of my feelings. They were flirting with elation. Aside from this blog and the occasional journal entry, though, all my writing here has been in Spanish.

A good story starts with a good idea. I don’t know if this was a good idea or not, but it struck me and stuck. Back when I was living with Nick in Asheville, we watched a lot of Our Planet. In one episode, a school of lantern fish become under attack by a pod of dolphins. As the prey was moving fluidly in a giant swirling mass, I wondered what would happen if one member decided to dip during the marine mammal melee. Three months later, I hadn’t forgotten about this idea, and I gave life to my main character, Ignacio, the rogue lantern fish.

The next character we meet in this story is Valentino, or Val. Ignacio meets Val while the whale is on his way to El Enlace. Val travels thousands of kilometers (I’m writing it in Spanish) every few years to take part in El Enlace. He knows where he’s going, how to get there, and why he’s going there. His tiny new companion is the complete opposite--lost, alone, with nowhere to go. Their first encounter is with a dolphin who spots Ig and wants to eat him. The fish takes refuge in the whale’s mouth, and the dolphin is appalled that Val, one of his own kind, his cousin, would protect a fish and let him go hungry. This is where the relationship between Ig and Val begins to evolve--and also where I left the story. I will return to it soon.

Tomorrow, after almost two months in Mexico, I will deliver my first lesson to college ELLs (English language learners). I’ve already met the members of the three classes I will be teaching, and they all seem willing to learn--if not eager. The lesson will be on how to organize an essay.  The Peace Corps’s lesson plan format includes everything a good lesson plan should: motivational device, direct instruction, guided practice, independent practice, and assessment. I decided to teach the basic five-paragraph essay format despite its flaws: strict (boring and predictable) structure, little real-life application or use, and following it often produces vague or cookie-cutter writing. Nonetheless, ELLs need practice writing in their target language, and this format is good for practice; it’s just not a format you take home to mom.

This lesson starts with an opportunity for students to choose a topic and write “nonstop” for three minutes, with no regard for spelling or grammar, just get words on paper. Some students can write a whole paragraph in three minutes, while others can only produce one or two sentences. Students who try, despite not producing much, deserve commendation--and praising their effort, not their output, is what good teachers do. Anyway, after the warm-up I’ll define all parts of the essay (about nine of them) and show students an example of each in an essay I wrote especially for this assignment. Next we’ll practice together on differentiating between, say, a thesis statement and a topic sentence. Finally, I’ll ask them to arrange all fifteen sections of my essay into the correct order. If there’s time we’ll define each part together, and I’ll ask them to start drafting their own. I’m excited to see how it goes and will give you a report next week. 

Time for a rundown of random Mexico stuff. This past Friday night, around midnight, a full band, with a horn section and multiple singers, started a one hour set next door while I was trying to sleep (*shrugs* whatever), a few weeks back I found this sweet turquoise skull but didn’t buy it because I thought 200 pesos was too much (about $10.50) and have been regretting it ever since, last week I saw the new Lion King in Spanish and realized that, despite or perhaps because of its fun-loving, carefree message, Hakuna Matata is basically an anthem for shirking duties, I helped my host mom pick duraznos (peaches) from the tree in our backyard because I’m extra tall by Mexican standards, communication here is indirect relative to the US, so it’s polite to ask coworkers how they’re doing or about their children before diving right into whatever you want from them. This last one’s going to take some getting used to.

See you next week. Thanks for reading.  

"Correo" is a very common name in Mexico. It's etched into so many mail slots here  🤭

PA all the way!

View of Queretaro at night

Visits to UPQ and Tula

The Arcs at night

UPQ repping unpopular views of my boy HDT

21-July-2019, Sunday, 9:42 PM CDT

This completes Week 7 of Pre-Service Training (PST). To supplement all the theory we’ve been getting in class, the Peace Corps has established an agreement with Universidad Politécnica de Querétaro (UPQ). All twenty-one of us have been paired with an English teacher at UPQ and will practice co-teaching and co-planning with these counterparts before we’re shipped off to sites in...less than a month! I came to Mexico to do primarily, two things--teach English and learn Spanish. I’ve been doing the latter every day but virtually none of the former before this past week.

It’s about a half hour bus ride from the city to the university. Many Mexican universities are located outside of the city, where there is more space and a more centralized location for commuting students. After a quick speech from our leader, Miguel Islas, we were cut loose to meet with our counterparts. I am partners with Grace Kim, a funny, smart, likeable trainee from Rockville. We met Mexican English professor Alejandra in her classroom ten minutes before class started. After a student altered an unwilling plug with a pair of needle-nose pliers, our presentation was ready. We introduced ourselves, gave some background information, and asked students to write three questions. 

Many of the questions inquired about our feelings on Mexican food and people and how our lives were different in the states. Grace and I expressed our sincere love of Mexican food. 

“What is your favorite?” one student asked.  

I remembered telling a crowd at my future university that, “Me gusta toda comida (‘I like all food’ roughly)” and told him that I couldn’t decide between gorditas, quesadillas, tacos, guajolotes, and so on. 

“What do you think about the Mexican people?” another asked.

“Every Mexican I have met so far has been friendly, helpful, welcoming, and kind. I think the Mexican people are wonderful.” Grace answered similarly. It was nice to see smiles sprout on their faces at our responses. All of the students were respectful and attentive.

“What’s different about living in Mexico?”

“Many things. For the first time ever, I showered with a bucket in Mexico.” This surprised many of them because most have running water in their homes. “Also, I can’t go up to the tap and fill a class with water to drink.” This was a little harsher, but it’s true. It’s a humongous privilege in the US to have such ready access to potable water. It’s just not the same here in Mexico. 

During one class with advanced English speakers, we finished an activity early, and I was freestyling as best as I could. We somehow got on the verb “inflate.”

“What are some things we can inflate?” I asked.

“A ball.”

“A bike tire.”

“A balloon.”

“A condom.”

We all laughed at this, and the answer made me wish I could start teaching tomorrow. But, alas, we have three more weeks of training. Finally being in the classroom again reaffirmed my love for teaching ESL. Soon I will be back on the job and back in the weeds, likely missing the relative breeze of PST.

For our dose of culture this week, I’ll share my experience of visiting Tula, Hidalgo. Tula is about two hours from Queretaro, and I felt every minute of the ride. I went with my host brother Miguel, my best friend here Rob (from New Haven), my host mom, and Rob’s host mom. Us men were stuffed in the back of a Nissan Rogue, and traffic was briefly terrible on the way because of an accident. But we made it there and back, and I was no worse for the wear. 

Tula was amazing, more impressive than El Cerrito because we were allowed to climb the pyramids. These pyramids also had giant stone figurines that were really cool to see. Rob was not impressed, but I didn’t hold that against him. We get along well because we share a dislike for politically correct speech and a like for roasting one another. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Me and my boy Rob

Pyramid at left was likely only accessible by royalty 

El Coatepantli (Muro de Serpientes, Wall of Snakes) depicts humans devoured by giant rattlesnakes as sacrifices 

No info on this one but cool nonetheless

Where the sacrifices happened 

View from atop the royalty pyramid

Makes you wonder what it looked like back in the day

Rearview of pillars

View from other pyramid 

Tula, Hidalgo

They're called "atlantes" and they weren't shown in public. They used to hold up the roof of the temple atop the main pyramid. They represent elite Toltec warriors and were adorned with butterflies, mirrors, feathers, turquoise, knives, and other weapons.

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Pink Floyd Symphony at Auditorio Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez

What Works for Me

15 - July - 2019, Monday, 10:09 PM CDT

A day late. You noticed. Thanks for keeping me on my toes. “If you’re going to have a weekly blog, Kory, have a weekly blog. Throughout last week I thought about the subject for this post. Nothing really interesting happened in training, so I thought it a good idea to write about my experience learning Spanish so far. 

I started this journey of second language acquisition with a pretty narrow idea of how we actually do it. In fact, currently, even linguists and scientists are not sure how we acquire second languages or even first languages. My idea a month ago was that we acquire a new language by receiving decipherable messages in that target language (Stephen Krashen’s Comprehensible Input for the nerd readers), and I am still a disciple of Señor Krashen. But, imagine this, people have varying preferences for learning a new language. And catering to student learning styles isn’t necessarily a good idea, I believe, and some research agrees. 

Before I continue, let me distinguish “acquiring” language from “learning” it. Learning language happens in the classroom when a teacher says, “Capitalize your Is and reflexive verbs are ones in which the subject of the sentence acts upon itself.” We acquire language subconsciously when we’re on the playground or at a party. This past Saturday night I introduced myself to people at a party right next door to where I live. They spoke a lot of English and I spoke mostly in Spanish, everyone looking to improve their second--or third or fourth, etc.--language. Here we were focusing on the content of our messages, not the form. We weren’t worried about where indirect objects were or what types of verbs we were using; we were worried about successful communication, and this is where it’s at if you want to speak another language. Learning language is a supplement to acquiring it.

Now, one month ago, when I began an effort to acquire Spanish in earnest, I believed little in the translation method; and I still don’t put much stock in it. I compared the translation method to building a castle, a language castle. The commoners from surrounding villages arrive at your capital with the raw materials for your new castle and leave them scattered from one corner of the space to another. I liken translating input from L1 to L2* to hauling those raw materials back to every corner of your kingdom before using them to construct your castle. ¿Entiendes? In short, I saw the translation method as a time-waster, a method that includes unnecessary steps. But then I read researched that did not support this view.

One thing I remember from the research, an argument for the translation method, was that it’s useful for teaching abstract words such as “respect” or “intolerance.” I put this theory into practice while riding two hours from la ciudad a el campo, the city to the country. At my university I have a counterpart named Hugo. Hugo was having a hard time understanding a certain meaning of “country.” He knew that the word meant “nation,” like the US or Mexico, but he did not understand that it also means “land that is sparsely populated and used for farming.” I tried to teach him this meaning without using the translation method with no success. When I finally said, “‘Country’ es como ‘el campo,’” he understood right away. He had an existing reference for the word in his L1, and I simply gave him another one. The translation method worked. But, for me, it still takes a backseat to reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the L2. 

So what’s worked for me so far? I use translation a lot, not going to lie, but I’d rather listen to an explanation of the word in Spanish or hear it used in an example. This way offers more input in the target language and more practice at applying meaning to new words in context. Unfortunately, there isn’t a bilingual aid that follows me around constantly to explain unfamiliar words. Aside from the dubious translation method, I’ve found many useful practices.

1. My host brother Miguel and I talk every day in Spanish. He is my conversation partner. If you don’t have someone to practice with regularly, you won’t acquire much language. I often opt to spend time with Miguel because I know we’re going to speak Spanish, whereas I’d speak English if I was with other volunteers. 
2. I’ve read and written a lot in English, and these skills translate between languages. That’s why it’s good to tell parents of ESL** students to keep working on native language skills at home with their children. Given this smooth transfer of skills, I write a lot in Spanish, fiction and non, (terribly, by the way, but feedback is super helpful, and...what’s this blog called again?) I also read a lot in Spanish, accompanied by audio if possible. Combine the areas of language*** often. It helps to be interested in what you read (for me it’s any fiction) and to read texts that are a step beyond your level to keep challenging yourself to improve. 
3. I changed the language settings of my phone to Spanish. This is helping tremendously because I text a lot on WhatsApp (an app unpopular in the States but popular everywhere else, classic USA). More practice, more acquisition.
4. I use the language-learning app Wlingua on my phone every day. It introduces vocab and covers a different topic in each lesson. Exercises include reading, listening, and a little writing (speaking practice isn’t very important to me believe it or not. Speech production inevitably and inexplicably comes with comprehension in my case). My main criticism of Wlingua: in the listening exercises, you can only arrange parts of sentences into the correct order instead of writing the utterance out by yourself like on Duolingo.
5. And just because I like a list of five better than a list of four...I watch movies in Spanish without English subtitles. This past weekend, Miguel and I saw the new Chucky. Wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. And AP is a vixen, una zorra, if you will.   

Ok. That’s all for now. This week we have a practicum session at a university in Queretaro. My friend Grace and I are giving a brief lesson on ourselves and the importance of learning English. Miguel and I are also visiting another site with ruins this weekend. Tula has giant rock statues akin to those of Easter Island. It was probably the same aliens that helped in creating each set. Till next time. 

*L1 = first language; L2 = second language

**ESL = English as a second language

***The four areas of language are speaking, listening, reading, writing

Tepexi de Rodríguez y Peña de Bernal

7-July-2019, Sunday, 9:31 PM CDT

What an exciting week it has been. The highlights include visits to my future site (Tepexi de Rodriguez, Puebla) and to a popular tourist town in the state of Queretaro (Pena de Bernal). The four weeks of in-country training have virtually all been in Peace Corps Mexico headquarters in the city of Queretaro. But this week all of us trainees got to visit the places where we’ll be serving for the next two years. Future site visits are excellent opportunities to get out of the classroom and into our new homes. I spent most of last week in Tepexi, but returned to Queretaro for the weekend, during which Miguel and I visited my favorite attraction yet.

Tepexi de Rodriguez (or simply, Tepexi) is a city of about 5,000 people located in the southern part of Puebla. Its principal industry is mining rock such as marmol (marble), and its quarries account for a large portion of Mexico’s output of rock products. The pueblo has veins of mountain roads that constitute a network reminiscent of “The Mountain” at home (or “The Bush” for the Red Tornado readers). I stayed in Tepexi for three nights and four days. Two days were for travel, so not much happened during them, but the other two days were packed with activity and discovery.

My first full day in Tepexi was spent at my new university. I have never taught at the college level and am really excited to start in August. My main counterpart at Tec is Hugo. Hugo knows the most English of all the faculty at the university, and he, like me, has a lot to learn in his second language. The first thing I did was meet with the directors. I understood little but saw no problem with this. Then they asked me to give a speech that I was not prepared for. This, however, was also not a problem, and I was actually glad to be surprised. That way I was not nervous and could speak, in Spanish, from the heart. It went really well. After a lengthy introduction, the Director of Academics, Martin, handed me the mic. 

“No entiendo mucho,” I said, an opening statement that was greeted with widespread laughter (no entiendo mucho = I do not understand much). This joke, though it was serious and true as well, broke the ice wonderfully, and relaxed me for the remainder of the speech, which lasted about ten minutes. I nailed one phrase that garnered applause: “El viernes, yo regresare a Querétaro. Pero en Agosto yo estoy aquí para dos años con ustedes. Y estoy emocionado y estoy preparado.”

After the speech, Hugo and Luis gave me a tour of the university. Tec’s campus is similar to those of small schools in the US (Tec’s enrollment is about 600). It has academic buildings, shops, an administrative building, caf, sports fields, etc., but all is much less fancy than in the US. This is just the reality of the situation; universities in the states have more money, plain and simple. After the tour, Hugo and I met to discuss my Fall schedule. I’ll be teaching A LOT, and I will have a lot of autonomy in the classroom. I’m excited about both possibilities. I got a copy of Tec’s English Language Program Curriculum, written by Hugo himself...in Spanish. Yet another opportunity for me to acquire more language. With the curriculum in hand, I can start planning lessons--an activity worthy of my time and effort here. 

Day Two in Tepexi was more about fun and exploration. I met another Hugo, an anthropologist/archaeologist with a glut of knowledge on plants, animals, geography, and history of Tepexi and surrounding cities. Hugo Two is an energetic, intelligent, friendly dude that I will spend more time with in the future. We already established that we will mountain bike a lot. He also told me that there are plenty of swimming holes around Tepexi to cool off in after a long day of riding. Those who know me know how much I adore swimming in natural bodies of water after exercise in hot weather. 

Korah, my new cousin, and I, led by Hugo Two, took a mountain ride to Tepexi Viejo (Old Tepexi) to check out the ruins. Here we found many beautiful vistas, both aged and reconstructed ruins, and pieces of ceramic from the people who used to live and trade there. It was really cool to find and handle objects that date back to before the Spanish Conquest, even if they were only fragments. Our tour of Tepexi Viejo was on the Fourth of July, and our country’s birthday coincided with the birthday of my new aunt.

Tia Male is a wonderful cook and an even better person. In fact every member of my new family is amazing (as are the members of my current Mexican family ;)). For Tia Male’s birthday was had tacos and pastel para postre (cake for dessert). The party was attended by eleven members of their family, including some great kids whom I already love. We drank tequila y fresca. When I told Tio Benji I was done because I had an early start the next day, at first he acquiesced. Later, though, he talked me into one more, “for the United States.” How could I say no? I sang happy birthday and God Bless America for them and witnessed one of the cutest things ever. Regina, about three years old, singing a song with the most adorable instances of vibrato ever sung. I love my new family already, but there are many differences between our home and my home in the states.

For the first time ever, I showered using a bucket. It was not as bad as you might think. The water comes from a spring and is heated on the range. Using a bowl, you first wet yourself, then lather up, and finally rinse. Really not that bad, something I can easily adjust to. Another difference, they have five dogs and innumerable cats. The dogs are nice but unclean. Some are timid or aggressive from abuse and many roam the streets freely. They don’t live comfortably like dogs in the states and, generally, are not treated with the common love and respect we see in the US. But our dogs don’t have bad lives, just non-luxurious ones. Except for the shower, we have running water, electricity, internet, and a solid structure to protect us. What more could I ask for? I played pogs (tazos) with one of my sobrinos (nephews) and with my sobrina (niece) Regina I played in some freestyle, imagintaive way with a dinosaur figurine. I can’t wait to be with them again in August.

View from "Danny Boy's" office

Professor Kramer in front of his new university. Go Raptors!

Tepexi de Rodriguez, my home for the next two years (town is off left)

Tepexi Viejo

Hugo Dos y yo :)

Freakin snow-capped volcanoes that I didn't even know where there till my last day in Tepexi. Cloud coverage made them invisible up to that point. And a quarry in the middle-ground.

 Yesterday, Saturday (7/6), Miguel and I went to Pena de Bernal. This place is home to a monolith mountain that is spectacular to behold. After browsing the shops and strolling through el centro, Miguel and I caught a motor bike carriage up to the base of the mountain. From there Miguel wished me well before I ascended to as far as they allow non-repelling climbers. The climb started fairly simple with both natural and man-made steps allowing for easy ascension. But near the “pedestrian summit” things got a bit technical. I had to supplemented step-climbing with using all available limbs to propel myself upward. The climb was, at times, difficult and dangerous, but many levels of fitness were represented at the “top.”  While up there, I jotted some observations in Spanish.

Vistas espectaculares de las montañas y pueblos. Gente tomar fotos, reír, descansar, escuchar música agradable, subir piedras y halcones volar y jugar o coquetear, personas disfrutan vida, posando para fotos, platicar, cantar, estar en amor, saludar otros, encantadores de motivación. De este alta tengo emociones profundos y pensas grandes. Mí vida es buena, tengo mucha suerte. Quiero compartir mi felicidad con el mundo. Gracias Dios.

You can translate that if you want :)

Ok to end with some more random highlights. Let’s see...The buses here are much nicer than the buses in the states--reclining seats, TVs in every headrest, a sandwich, drink, and chips for long trips. In Tepexi, I ate some combination of the blood and stomach of a goat that tasted, to me, mostly like poop (choked it down anyway, masking the odorous flavor with beans, rice, and salsa). I told my sobrino Kiki, about five, that my dad was Dracula because my family jokingly associated Pennsylvania with Transylvania (his face betrayed his uneasy belief). When taking a cab here, price is negotiated before the ride. Eggs are not refrigerated. Sometimes I order food without really knowing what it is lol. It’s inappropriate to be shoeless if you’re in the common areas of a home. Am I boring you? Last one. Mezcal en el campo es más fuerte que mescal en la ciudad ;) Hasta tiempo próxima.

Pena de Bernal

View to the east

View to the south

¡Arriba!