Chanukah Y Espanol

Our classroom where
' aprendo espanol'

We began our Spanish lessons yesterday with Andrew (Andres) as our teacher. Andres is from Brooklyn, and spent some years teaching in the inner city schools of New York. He is living in Guatemala now, loving the teaching profession and escaping the bureaucracy that overwhelms the educational system in the city.  His Spanish is excellent, he has an M.Ed in ESL, and he has a good sense of how different people learn. This is Paul’s and my first experience being in a learning situation together. Paul says that he has 20% fluency of Spanish and I have 5%. That is true. He’s good, though, allowing me to answer all the questions asked first, and then, if I stumble, he gives it a try. We sit out on a dock at the local youth hostel, absorbing the warmth of the late afternoon sun that emerges from the ground and ‘play’ with Spanish in order to understand how to speak coherently.

Andrew says the hardest part of learning Spanish is understanding grammar. That makes sense to me. He says it’s worth taking the time in the beginning and struggling with the heavy content at first, so that as we acquire vocabulary, it will simply fall into place.

I think about my own learning. I worry about not being able to remember words. What tools do I need to set up success for my retention? What strategies can I use to help me reinforce what I learn? How can I practise the language without losing patience and giving up? What if I fall way behind my fellow schoolmates (Paul) and feel less successful and inferior? I know that, as a teacher, these are some of the very issues I try to help students with. In order to learn best, it is ideal to keep emotional energy positive and enthusiastic and encouraging. Both Paul and Andrew are very encouraging!

Last night was the first night of Chanukah. I am regularly amazed at the fact that, wherever we are in the world, there are people who are seeking out ritual practise similar to ours. And then there are also people who are open to participating even if they have never experienced it before.

lighting the communal menorah

Our Chanukah planning for 2011 began in Toronto. There, we gathered together Chanukah games, books, decorations, candles and toys and sent a package to the community of Casa Hillel in Guatemala. They are a small community of Guatemalans who have, in the last 10 years, adopted Judaism as their spiritual practise. Our first visit to Casa Hillel will be this coming weekend and we will have a chance to celebrate days of Chanukah with them. But we wanted them to have the package before we arrived to ensure that each family from this small Guatemalan community would have candles to light for the first night of Chanukah.

As the holiday approached Paul and I pondered how we would welcome the first night of Chanukah. We even gathered some rocks and sticks and collected beer bottle caps to make our own chanukiah.  Then we heard about Daisy, an American resident here on the lake, who organized a celebration for candle lighting to which we were invited.

Amir and I making latkes in the
communal kitchen

  After our Spanish lesson, Amir (also a resident Israeli) and I got busy in the communal kitchen to make latkes. When they were finally done (latkes always take longer than expected) we carried them over to a restaurant called Ganesh. There was live music and lots of people and Daisy organized candle lighting. It was fun and we were able to share our heritage and ritual with many people who had never experienced it before. It was also wonderful to connect with other Jewish people from all around the world gathering together to celebrate our common culture.

singing Chanukah tunes together

We continue to explore the beauty of the Lake and the many activities that are available. There is so much here to do and see!