Poco a Poco: 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.