Inspiring Writers: The Drama Connection

I've been back now for several days and today I am trying to finish my postings on Guatemala. Our primary purpose for this trip was to give a presentation at the literacy conference. Karen and I have been working on our topic for a little over a year and we even developed a book proposal. We pulled out a bit of it to become our presentation for this conference. Our presentation was titled "Inspiring Writers: The Drama Connection."
We presented for about two hours on Friday morning. Many of our 35-40 participants were pre-service teachers, normala students of approximately 16 or 17 years old who are studying to become teachers in a few years. Everyone seemed interested and all participated in our drama activities that showed how to involve students to improve their writing skills, specifically adding interesting details to their work.

We each had a translator, Waleska and Viviana. After a brief time Waleska suggested to me that I talk in shorter sentences, so I learned to do that. Things went very smoothly: We had spent quite a bit of time in the lobby the day before putting on finishing touches, going through the entire presentation and deciding for sure when each of us would talk - basically working on flow. We took exactly the right amount of time. Afterwards a few people asked to have our presentation on their flash drives, and a few others stayed around to talk. Our translators gave us many hugs. So sweet.

International Conference on Reading & Writing

Wednesday and Thursday were the first two days of our conference: Conferencia Internacional de Lecto-Escritura.

The opening session featured speakers from the ministry of education of Guatemala as well as the Consejo de Lectura(Reading Council. Hundereds of teachers from across Guatemala were in attendance.

But especially noteworthy was a keynote speech by Yetta Goodman, former president of IRA and imminently recognized for her work with whole language, early literacy, miscue analysis, and kidwatching. I have long admired her useful, insightful, and sensitive writings about teaching and learning, and I currently use her work and her concepts in my classrooms at ISU. I feel especially privileged that over the past several days I have gotten to know this wonderful and special woman (not to mention her very famous husband, Ken Goodman) during our side trips to Antigua, Mixco Viejo and the Mayan School as well as through casual conversations, lunches and dinners. Yetta has been in this field for sixty years. What a total inspiration.

The Real Guatemala

Tuesday was another busy day. We hopped on the bus from our hotel to drive through the city and 30 kilometers into the mountains to a little town called San Juan Sacatepquez. Our bus parked alongside a steep hill high upon which was a Maya public escuela (private schools are called colegios). We climbed off the bus and hiked up, up the hill to the open air classrooms full of excited young children. I spoke with children in Spanish to get acquainted. But I’ll have to admit that with some of the youngest children even my “Como estas?” must not have sounded like anything they’d ever heard before because I did not hear an expected “Bien. Y Usted?” Ah, well. I’ll keep trying.



We also visited Luz Maria’s colegio where all of the teachers are using whole language for their reading and writing instruction. Luz Maria is on the board of the Consejo de Lectura de Guatemala – the association that is sponsoring our conference. She holds whole language workshops every month for her teachers and others in the surrounding schools.

After the school visit, we drove through the village in what must surely be the real Guatemala. Market day was in full color, with gigantic radishes, greens, and abundant vegetables for daily living.





Our drive from there to the Maya ruins of Mixco Viejo was quite the adventure of ess and haipin curves over winding mountain roads. Although the landscape was lovely with rolling hills and abundant flora, it was also abundant with litter. We learned that so far there are no laws or regulations for trash disposal, and so people just throw their trash “away.” It’s piling up in the valleys and in the ditches along the road.

But oh, the ruins! We hiked along a path out onto the plateau, climbed up pyramids and down into the ball court. During the 12th and 13th centuries this city had 120 buildings and 10,000 inhabitants. We learned that this was one of the last Maya cities to fall after defending themselves from Spanish conquistadors for three months of constant battles. The village was uncovered and excavated just in 1950. I'll try to show you some pictures tomorrow!

Many Sides of the City

On Monday, we explored parts of Guatemala City, the capital of the country. During the morning, our bus driver took a small group of us to the very edge of the city where we were privileged to see La Esperanza Project in operation. This spot is designed to empower women of this marginalized neighborhood by first providing education, child care services, and health care for their children, and also by providing opportunities for employment within its walls - a bakery and handicraft production operation. We visited classrooms and talked with the dedicated teachers. All will be coming to our literacy conference later this week, eagerly seeing professional development in the area of literacy teaching.

In the afternoon we took a guided tour of Guatemala City. After seeking special permission from armed guards (I'm not kidding!), our bus drove us through a neighborhood of high-priced gated and guarded homes in which ambassadors to Guatemala and owners of coffee plantations abide. From there we went directly to the center of the city - also the center of the country - and the center of Central America - to Plaza Mayor. While there we toured the Palacio Nacional, an ornate and stately building that once housed the executive branch of government. This beautiful building held impressive chandeliers and murals and stained glass windows depicting the pillars of good government - windows that were subsequently (and ironically) shattered by a car bomb. Motto on the building: "We can't change its past, let's own its future." Not a bad motto for all of us.

Volcanoes and Earthquakes

After an hour's ride along the Pan Am Highway into the highlands we swooped down into a valley and arrived at the charmingly beautiful and ancient city of Antigua, Guatemala. Green, gold, yellow, and blue shops and houses with red tile roofs lined the narrow rugged rocky streets and avenues. Surrounding the city rose three volcanoes - one with a smoke plume rising out of the open top - clearly visible in the luminous blue sky. Ah, yes, now we know we're not at home anymore!

Our walking tour took us through Parque Central, past the mermaid fountain (do I need to mention from which body part the water was squirting out?), and through the awe-inspiring ruins of Cathedral San Jose, originally built in the mid 1500s and subsequently destroyed by an earthquake - twice! We explored fallen columns and crypts and naves and chapels.

And then, we visited the jade factory and archeological museum where jadeite mined in Guatemala is crafted into gorgeous works of art, such as replication masks and jewelry. Are you wondering if we left with anything special from the gift shop? Well, maybe I don't actually need to answer that! :)

We're Here in Guatemala

But so far it doesn't feel like we're out of the U.S. yet, even though we're using our Spanish every chance we get. We landed last night and disembarked into in a beautiful, clean, modern, efficient airport with every sign in both English and Spanish, and easily caught the shuttle heading to our hotel. You're not going to want to hear this and we didn't want to see it, but on the way from the airport we drove past McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King, CitiBank, a Shell Station, and even a Kentucky Fried Chicken!

The shuttle took us straight to the upscale, gorgeous Westin Camino Real Hotel in Guatemala City. Black and gold and brown swirled marble floors and countertops, enormous tabletop vases with gigantic flowers and super friendly people greeted us and made us comfortable as we got settled in. We slept in super comfy beds with white puffy pillows and down comforters.

And then today we ate a luxurious breakfast, swam in the sparkling pool, and poked into the various lobby shops, learning more Spanish from the shopkeepers. We ate dinner this evening with a group of new friends at a Mayan restaurant near to the hotel - muy deliciouso rodaballo (turbot) y vino.

We're off to Antigua early in the morning and are very excited to be heading out into the countryside to see a reportedly beautiful, ancient city. Maybe some photos tomorrow. Hasta luego!

In Just a Few More Days . . .

In just a few more days Karen and I will be on the plane heading south to The Land of Eternal Spring. We're not just searching for spring and a little sunshine (although with this month's weather here in the Midwest that's reason enough), but to present at The Guatemalan International Literacy Conference. Our session is called "Inspiring Writers through Drama." And we ARE inspired!

We are inspired by our topic, we're inspired about going to Central America, we're inspired to visit Mayan land and meet the people, we're inspired that we get to (try to) use our Spanish, we're inspired to convene with colleagues, and mostly we're inspired that we thought of this and made it happen! And we're thankful to Carol for getting us involved!

So, when we hop on that plane on Friday it will all start happening, and you are invited to join us as we merge our professional interests and seize this opportunity to travel and play together as good friends - did I mention friends since high school? Looking forward to an adventure!