somewhere under the sky

lost

first announcement-i changed my profile so everyone can comment, not just other bloggers. i know i was told this a long time ago but it didn´t register until last week. so leave a comment. if you want. thanks!!!
today we talked about social justice and responsibility. i was so overwhelmed by the end of the lesson i couldn´t breathe. i´ve already had a million thoughts running through my head about globalization and immigration, ecuador and the united states, broken families, depressed kids, the disappearance of cultures and language, poverty, tourism, money, etc etc. plus the volcano that erupted here, tungurahua, beginning on friday i think, has affected a lot of people (only one human death so far. only, i say). the middle east, the other tsunami...and then add to that everything that we talked about today, about how we as teachers can be socially responsible, how we can integrate REAL culture talk into our classrooms (not just pilgrims, indians, and st. valentines crap but race, identity, perspective, etc) and how as teachers we affect so many lives and how as teachers of english, we especially have a role in either ignoring what´s going on the world or bringing up these topics and facilitating critical thinking, facilitating action...also our culture of consumerism and how that has affected the world, how everyone here wants "american" brands, how in the US thousands of more dollars are invested in prison inmates than in public school kids...
when i was visiting the school in an indigenous community in Saraguro, i was chatting with a group of girls (age 10) during lunch and one of the first things kids ask me (in general) is if i have a father. (¿tiene papá?) and so it went and i said yes and then we continued with this game, just me and this one girl, and i asked if she had a step-dad and she said yes. do you have a step-mom? yes. where do your mom and step-dad live? in Spain. so you live with your dad? no. where does he live? in Spain also. so who do you live with? my grandpa.
sigh...

posted by leah v @ 2:14 PM