A Tiza Game

Check out our post on SpanglishBaby™ about a fun outdoor game to play with your bebés!

¡Un Poema para El Día de la Madre!

This past week I’ve been posting about the NECTFL conference I attended at the end of Abril.  Yesterday I introduced you to Dr. Eugenia Muñoz, a poet, author, mamá, and Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. I attended Eugenia’s session titled:  A Method of Teaching Literary Reading, Analysis and Interpretation.  We were treated to Eugenia reading one of her beautiful poemas to us.  For me, there is nothing better than an author reading her own work!  It was espectacular and I am honored that I was part of a privileged audience that she chose to share it with! 

It gave me goose bumps, melted my corazón, and brought tears streaming down my face.  For those of you whom do not understand el Español, I’m afraid I can’t even attempt a translation for fear of not doing the poema justice!  But for those of you who can…..¡Disfrútalo y Feliz Día de la Madre!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

Dr. Eugenia Muñoz

PARTIDA

Te vas hoy.

Hoy emprendes solo tu vuelo
hijo mío.

Te vas hoy sin mí.

Desde aquí sigo tu jevenil vuelo
vigoroso, con la mirada confiada
hacia el horizonte sin fin.

Hoy aquí me quedo

recordando que un día
Saliste de mí
frágil, tierno capullito…
Aquí me quedo,
recordando todos los días
de la siembra, el riego
y la esperanza.

Hoy me quedo esperando

que nunca olvides

que aquí, en el nido de mi corazón,

siempre encontrarás
agua fresca y pan tibio
para ti hijo mío.

Photo courtesy of VCU School of World Studies

Making a Difference and Cultural Imprint

In my last post, I wrote about attending the NECTFL conference and the great things I took away from it.  Not only did I meet educators who raised bilingual and bicultural children, I also met educators and their students…who also became educators! 

Here is a foto of Dr. Eugenia Muñoz, a poet, author, mamá, and Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.  She is smiling with her former student, Jane Tarwacki, President of the Greater Washington Association of Teachers of Foreign Language.  It’s nice to know we make a difference in people’s lives!

NECTFL Conferencia

At the end of Abril, I was lucky enough to be able to attend NECTFL, The Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 

It was so nice to attend sessions and learn new ideas or reaffirm old ones.  One of the things that I liked the most was that it gave me a chance to hook up en vivo with other professionals in my field.  I met some amazing people. 

The first person I wanted to share with you isn’t just one person at all…there were many people (women actually) and I unfortunately didn’t get their names or a foto, but I can certainly talk about them.  I was inspired by the many Language Educators who have children who have followed in their footsteps in one way or another.  One woman in particular, who I believe is a high school Spanish teacher, has a son who went to live in España after graduating from la Universidad.  He didn’t major in Education, but he is currently teaching English in a small pueblo in northern España.  He shares all his adventures on Facebook and his mother is able to use the actual fotos in her classes with real, from the heart, anecdotes.  I was so moved to hear these stories of how these women have obviously raised their children to be bicultural because I of course brought Sofía to the conference with me.  Ever since I started training teachers, I have dreamed of one day bringing my children with me to conferences.  It may not make sense to everyone why, but for us mamás who strive to raise our hijos bicultural and bilingual, I’m sure you understand!