Saint Andrew

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Today is a holiday in my town, it is the celebration in honor of  San Andrés, the saint patron of our city. Here, we are not on holiday, we are working hard on our capstone, which is supposed to be finished by the end of this week.

Farewell parties

Monday, November 29, 2010

Today was the last visit to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, so before the school day  started, we had a farewell party at the media center. Many members of the faculty staff came over to say goodbye to us. We gave some presents to our mentors and  Debbie gave us a lot of letters which  had been written by the children who had attended our presentation on Argentina.

In the evening, we met at 318 to say goodbye to Lamese, she is moving to Indianapolis, so she is  leaving AED this week and we prepared a farewell party for her.

Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 25, 2010

As every forth Thursday in November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. It is a traditional festivity in which families get ready for a big dinner. Tonight we were invited to Robin´s house to taste the delicious specialties that are usually prepared for this occasion. The turkey is the central dish and other homemade meals are usually served with cranberry sauce.

Ana Irma, a friendly  Puerto Rican  drove us to the house, she told us amazing stories about her trip to Spain and her desire to visit Argentina.

Black Friday is also a singular feature attached to Thanksgiving. On this day  shops offer significant discounts for their products and people get up at 3 o´clock in the morning to be the first customer in the shop where they want to buy, usually, electronic devices.

They also have what they call Cyber Monday, a special occasion when they shop on line what they could not buy on Black Friday.

Trip to Baltimore

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A trip to Baltimore had been arranged for the morning, there we visited Maryland Women´s Heritage Center, where Dr. Jim´s wife  is actively working for the rights that, along history, were deprived to women. There was an interesting inscription on one of the walls in the building:  Holding her story to history to tell our story. The  people there gave us a warm welcome and  conducted a tour of the place. To raise money for the cause, they sell  tea bags with an ingenious  inscription on it: A woman is like a tea bag,  you never know how strong she may be, till she is in hot water.

Not very far from this center, there is an old and traditional market full of different meal options to have lunch. We came back just in time to attend my course on Literature, the topic of the day was related to  Postcolonial Studies. Later, some members of our group sung Happy birthday to Anaclara through Skype.

Buck Lodge Middle School

Monday, November 22, 2010

Back again to routine, but this Monday, we visited Buck Lodge Middle School. It was a good chance to meet other ESOL educators such as a Gambian teacher who has been teaching English in America for 30 years. He  described his country in Africa in a very optimistic way.

In the evening, Dr. Jennifer  Turner came to interview me at Mazza, she is interested in studying how parents contribute to the education of their children in other countries of the world.

Last day in Boston

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Today was the last day in Boston, there was only  time to attend two more sessions and complete our visit around the city, so we took the elevator to the Top of the Hub in the Prudential Center, to see this marvelous city from the 50^th floor. After that, a walk along the Charles River added more pictures to our photo albums as it was impossible to walk just a few meters  without finding an incredible spot to admire and register with our cameras.

A chilly evening  urged  us to come back and get ready for our  flight back to Washington DC.

Saturday in Boston

Saturday, November 20, 2010

This Saturday started very early with a series of interesting sessions. They allowed me to incorporate a number of ideas to put into practice in the classroom, using different kinds of technologies to teach a foreign language to the 21^st Century Learners, as it was frequently heard in the convention. In the evening a walk along Newbury street was a permanent discovery of amazing views.
 

At the ACTFL convention

Friday, November 19, 2010

Today was the first day of the convention, but Aurelia, Carmen and I decided to go first to an ineludible spot in Boston, Harvard University. We took the subway to the campus and  after a few minutes, we were taking a lot of  pictures of this historical place, including the traditional  shot: people touching John Harvard´s shoe. Our visit was short but amazing.

At 1 p.m. we were ready to start  our rally to attend as many sessions as possible in the huge Hynes Convention Center,  which is interconnected with the Sheraton Boston Hotel and the Prudential Center. Every hour, there were a myriad of sessions available to attend, so after selecting some from an interminable catalogue, we wandered in the building running up and down the escalators in search of the presentations that we had chosen. I attended several lectures today, most of them related to the use of technology in the classroom.  All the sessions provided me with so many ideas and web sites that I will need quite a long time to decode and try them all.

At Harvard University

First day in Boston

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Very early in the morning we flew to Boston to attend the Annual Convention and World Languages Expo organized by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. This afternoon a tour of the city on a trolley was the best option to get  acquainted with this picturesque city. The old red brick buildings gave us  the perfect picture of a typical city in the UK. The cold weather and the shop arrangements seemed to add a particular winter setting to announce the oncoming snowy  Christmas time. 

At the Mexican Cultural Institute

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

This evening, we had an invitation from the Mexican Cultural Institute to celebrate the 100 years of the Mexican revolution and the 200 years of their independence from Spain. It was great to meet there many Fulbrighters who have already travelled abroad or are planning to travel in the next months to other countries. This is the case of Ms. Monk, who is originally from Argentina and she got a Fulbright scholarship in the States to travel to our country in March. 

Concert Against Hate

Monday, November 15, 2010

Our visit to MLK Middle School was very short but long enough to interview other teachers about the technological resources that they are using in their teaching practice. In the evening, we attended a magnificent concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in DC. Dr. Jim´s wife had made the necessary arrangements to book the tickets to see and hear the marvelous  Concert Against Hate performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and hosted by members from the cast of Glee.