Talking to Children By Shirley Novak |
| “The children’s eyes and minds have been opened to a culture very different from theirs.” |
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| Shirley Novak explaining to fifth graders at McKinley Brighton Magnet School in Syracuse, NY, how children in the small community of Estancia, El Salvador live. |
"Why doesn't El Salvador's government build the kids schools and bathrooms?" they asked. "Why is a fifteen-year-old placed in the third grade and only now learning to read?" Concerned about common problems they face, one student asked, "What happens if they fall off their bikes and get hurt?" Acting on my suggestion, Ms. Sevak encouraged the children to become pen pals. They would then be able to ask their own questions, share information about themselves and, if their letters were answered, learn a bit more about children their ages so far away.
A promise was made to translate their letters into Spanish and hand deliver them to children in Estancia on my upcoming trip. When their letters were written, they included some typical kid questions: "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" "Do you have to share a bedroom with them?" "Do you hang out at the mall or go roller-blading on weekends like we do?" "What subjects do you take in school?" "Do you get a lot of homework?" "Is your teacher nice?" "Do you have snow where you live?" "Can you come visit us?"
What seemed an easy promise initially–to put the letters into Spanish–took some planning. As an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) teacher, I called on my adult learners (mostly Latinos) studying English at Syracuse's West Side Learning Center. This proved a worthwhile project, because it made the letters readable to the children in Estancia and helped my students develop their own language skills.
My next Sister Community trip to Estancia with my daughter, Hannah, completed the first pen pal phase. After an explanation of the project and sharing photos of the Syracuse students, we turned the letters over to teachers and students of Estancia's two small schools. Our last of seven nights in Estancia, a packet of letters in Spanish were given to us for the kids in Syracuse, NY. Hannah began translating them into English even before we left El Salvador and my adult students completed the process back at home. The originals–many colorfully decorated in crayon–and the translations were hand delivered to the NY students, who also delighted to see slides of the community's newly built school, construction of the two day care centers and the almost completed bridge they had first heard about only months before.
I have made many similar presentations at the requests of a number of teachers at the elementary, junior and senior high levels. Other classes have also exchanged letters. In addition, a number of university professors have invited Syracusans to address their students on the subject of human rights and Central America. Able to speak about what they have observed and learned through personal exchanges, they help students gain a better understanding than they would from reading a book chapter or journal article.
Unlike the two-room schools in Estancia, where the same students and teachers continue working together for more than a year, most area students have moved on. Plus, teachers often vary their curriculum somewhat depending on the make-up of each year's class. It remains to be seen if this initial contact between the two groups of boys and girls will continue. Of one thing there is no doubt, however. Young minds were opened to different cultures and ways of living.
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