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<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:150%'><font size=3
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>[2/15
or 2/16, 2007]<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:150%'><font size=3
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:150%'><font size=3
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>Mario
and I have talked about going into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Managua</st1:City></st1:place>
and getting prices on books -- and volleyballs. Volleyball is the only school
sport they seem to have around here, and yesterday when I was at the Los Cedros
school (more about that later, and my 250 <i><span style='font-style:italic'>tarjetas
del dia del amor y amistad</span></i>), one teacher said that currently they
can´t play (the net looks very tight and ready) because they don´t have a ball!
I think it would be a wonderful act of amistad to give these schools a good
leather ball. Maybe soccer balls too, though they play that on concrete
basketball courts, so maybe no good ball could last. But the one they have at
Gustavo Carrion is soft and cheap. Anyway, here is a breakdown of school sizes
of the major schools, the seven I am visiting:<br>
Gustavo Carrion <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zamora</st1:place></st1:City>
(Alba's)................... 750<br>
Los Cedros........................................................ 750<br>
Martha Susanna Gutierrez (Mario's)............... 450<br>
the four others (ca. 450 X 4).......................... 1800<br>
TOTAL.............................................................. 3750<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:150%'><font size=3
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>This
means, roughly speaking, that when I finish my seven day-tours, I will have
been seen AND heard by roughly 3500 students in this area. That's the good and
the bad news. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:150%'><font size=3
face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> I
don´t know much yet about non-school needs. The local water supply seems OK,
though the pressure is really low. But I´m beginning to enjoy my morning pour
of water from the pail. The alcalde [mayor], in two discussions, emphasizes
the desempleo (unemployment), and he has high hopes that the hotel being
constructed (by Gran Pacifico, which I think is an oil company) will employ
locals. Bill McLaughlin noted to Louise and me that in such situations it is
not usually locals who get employed, and last night Mario echoed the same
concern. But he said, I think, that the mayor or other officials are trying to
set conditions so that locals WILL be employed. <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>If they know English, of course</span></i>. The mayor, Nestor
Gutierrez is, by the way, according to Mario, the best of all the <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>alcalde</span></i>s of VEC. Yesterday at Los Cedros,
a grueling, lovely day, I visited a total of at least 16-18 classes and spoke
to them all. After which they ask questions. They need to be prodded, but
depending on the teacher they may be prepared. Typical questions are do I like
Nica food, how old am I, do I have family and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>hijos</span></i>
[children], why am I here, how long will I be here, what do I like about Nica,
what do I think about the schools. But yesterday at Los Cedros, a very well-prepared
group of seniors asked some great questions including one about what I think
about Nica politics and the new government, what problems do I see in their
school (I mentioned the problem of HEARING anything), how might we from Moscow
help them, and -- get this -- could I provide information about METHODOLOGIES
of teaching English. I said no, I didn´t know enough about their current ways
of teaching yet. I didn´t tell them I´m an ESL novice.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> This
morning as I left the house about 8:30, coming here to get some Internet time --
an attempt which crashed along with Hotmail, but now it´s OK (it´s 5pm, or 3pm
in Moscow), I was met at the corner by a woman I´d never seen or noticed, who
spoke to me in very broken English, and we walked a few blocks to her house,
which was on my way to the school. I suspect she was waiting for me, though
how she would know my schedule is beyond me. She said she had been to the
university but problems at home had prevented her from learning more English --
her husband was in the hospital a lot and then died. She wanted my suggestions
about learning English, and we talked about the need to listen and to have
things to read, and programs for learning. I couldn´t help [her] or figure out
any subtext. But it was interesting. I hear very little English -- including
from my students in English class. Mario knows lots of words and phrases but
almost never puts together a sentence in English. Nor does Ana, though she
can. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> In the
morning yesterday I visited at least ten elementary classes and spoke to each
one. And each student -- they had been really well prepared -- gave me a Valentine’s
Day card. The cards are worth a sociological-linguistic-symbolic study. Then
they asked me questions. Whoops! got to go back into the heat. More later<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>--<BR>
No virus found in this outgoing message.<BR>
Checked by AVG Free Edition.<BR>
Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.18.2/692 - Release Date: 2/18/2007 4:35 PM<BR>
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