Tuesday - Community & Language Connections

Dear Diary, 

I bet you are confused with my first diary entry but I realized that Ms. Aguilar wanted to set a firm ground for our Math class. In my previous math class the teacher really didn’t bother to say Morning or even share their history. It was really scary for all of us. We did not bother with questions because the teacher did not want any interruptions but with Ms. Aguilar, she made us feel welcomed in the class and set a routine that we all followed. Even our seats were our choice until that certain Tuesday I mention that really shaken the class in a positive way. 

As mentioned before we are all hispanic or can also be referred as Latino kids and usually the “myth” around us that we can be usually loud. Sometimes it is true and well sometimes we can also be quiet depending on our moods. I think Ms. Aguilar really saw that on Tuesday. She changed our seats which made me upset because I was far from my friends and was stuck with two girls. Their names were Selena and Sol and I believe they were also upset because they started to look around and their friends were on the other side just like Jairo and Emiliano. 

Ms. A said “These will be your seats for the first marking period and you guys may be a bit upset but I believe you guys will work together or find a similarity with each other.” Everyone did not say a word to Ms. Aguilar but she continued the lesson from yesterday. On that same day we had a group work where I had to work with Selena and Sol but to my surprise it was not half bad. Ms. A assignment was to conduct a survey with our group on the typical foods we eat and how much we consume on a daily basis. Sol was from Salvador and Selena was from Peru. Selena and I had some similar typical foods that our parents love to make and Sol food was so interesting to learn about that I asked her what nice place is there to eat Salvordorian food. After our group math work Ms. Aguilar walked toward our desk and we gave her the results from our survey. She asked about the group arrangement and we all agreed that we really learned a lot from each other like restaurants or the foods we really took interest in. I believe Ms. Aguilar started asking all around the groups and started writing notes on her book. One thing I learned about Ms. Aguilar is always taking notes and rather than being scared of what she writes we are really intrigued and happy she writes about our feelings and experiences. 

Another reason I believe Ms. Aguilar changed our seats because she wanted us to open up to other people from other countries. Emiliano and Jiaro were Ecuadorians like me and we always talk because we love talking about life in Ecuador but now every morning Sol and Selena always talk about their experience at home which really surprises me because it’s so different from my life. Ms. Aguilar made us do a cool dictionary for our math vocabulary which helped us connect our language into the English language. One example was a word problem when Ms. Aguilar mentioned the word straw, Sol was confused upon that word which Selena and I tried to tell her out that it was a sorbete in my case and in Selena's case it was called a cañita. Ms. Aguilar showed an actual image of a straw and Sol called out she calls it pajilla. In this case Ms. Aguilar encourages us to write all the new words we hear whether it be in English or another language like Sol and Selena.  

The importance for parents to be involved: https://jodidurgin.com/home-school-connection-communication-in-math/

Have you ever heard a “myth” that hispanic parents don’t care so why should the teacher care about the student? Well what happened last year with my teacher he would get upset with some of us because our parents did not show up. What really bothers me is that my parents want to attend but back to school night or parents night usually starts at 6:30-8:00pm which really sucks on my end because my parents work till 8pm. Ms. Aguilar was different in approaching this situation because of what Jiaro said she did that time. She welcomed everyone to her class and sat each person on our designated seat and she started introducing how the class behaves and what we do. When the parents had questions she would tell her that they could write their question in Spanish and leave their phone numbers and their email and she would answer them that night or in the morning. Jiaro was amazed how Ms. Aguilar really handles his mother because there is one thing about Jiaro’s mother is that she can be very DEMANDING! Jiaro said,

“Dudeeeee my mom was annoyed at Ms. Aguilar because Ms. Aguilar told her that I sat with Reina and Pablo. You know how my mom doesn't like Mexicans so when Ms. Aguilar mentioned Reina was Mexican. She threw a fit and asked her to change my seat immediately. You know what she said…?”

To give a short story Jiaro’s mother, who I adore as my second mother, really detested Mexicans because of an incident that happened last year when Jiaro got beaten up by Mexicans. I was really scared and shocked why Ms. Aguilar put herself in that situation. But I had to know how Ms. Aguilar handled the situation.

“She told my mom that in life we will meet people who are very different from us and they could harm or help us in the future. Reina is one who helps Jiaro everyday while I am busy with the other kids. If I find any evidence or if Jiaro ever complains about Reina I would move him right away. In this case I know who Reina is and I know Jairo and I know they were both raised by hard working mothers and if you were to give this seating arrangement a chance and have the time to talk with Reina’s mother you will see the value you and Reina’s mother have in common.” After that was said my mother sat down next to Reina’s mother and stayed quiet throughout the whole presentation but Reina’s mother approached my mother and I and she said that she does not want any trouble and values how me and Reina help each other on homework and hopefully they can be friends in the future. My mother nodded and shook her hand and we left.

When Jiaro said that to me I was very taken aback because Ms. Aguilar's reason for note-taking and changing our seats wasn’t to separate us from our friend but to also unite the class and the parents a bit closer together. For Ms. Aguilar creating a strong bond with the families and with her is really important to help us because the following day after back to school night Ms. Aguilar called for a private session with the students whose parents did not arrive that night. Guess who was last once again?! Of course, me. Even though I was a bit scared Ms. Aguilar knew that my parents couldn’t come because they were busy so she asked me when would be a time convenient for my parents to have a zoom call or a phone call. She said that she really wants to meet/talk with my parents and have communication with them about me. I was touched how Ms. Aguilar reached out to all of us and explained how she wants to input different languages in our lives because it makes me want to learn new languages which is why I am really aiming to be a trilingual. I am inspired to learn Japanese and my parents talked about it with Ms. Aguilar and she reached out to me to congratulate me and asked when I am ready to present my Japanese skills to the class. Arigato Ms. Aguilar.