Walking to Baranquilla

Before we left for vacation, we finished reading the 2nd chapter book for this school year. As the kids walked in on Tuesday and spotted the new book (Robin Hood!) they squealed with delight. "Let us see it", they pleaded. They eagerly looked through, reading chapter headings, exclaiming over pictures. We worked on some background the first day, talking about the history of the times of Robin Hood, sharing what they knew about legends. Apparently Colombia has a much richer oral tradition of legends than in the States. Between 3 girls, in the space of about 5 minutes, they came up with a list of 15 legends. They were amazed when I confessed I had no idea who "Patasola" was. "She's from Baranquilla", they explained, "and she only has one leg". I explained to them how legends, since they begin as stories that are told from person to person, don't always travel as far as stories that are in print and that the distance from Baranquilla, Colombia to Pennsylvania, USA is really far. "How long would it take to get there?" one of them asks. "One day traveling by plane, about 7 hours flying" I say. "No, what if you were walking?" I explained that the Panama canal and unsafe conditions made that impossible, but estimated it would probably take 9 months to walk it if you could walk. They were suitably impressed. Their disappointment was vocal when class ended for lunch time and we hadn't started reading the story. The next day, they didn't want to stop when they got to the end of the chapter.

I LOVE how excited they've gotten about reading. They told me the other week that reading the book was their favorite part of Spanish class. Seeing as this is the same group of students who at the beginning of the year whined, "we're reading a book AGAIN" after a couple of weeks of class, I find it even more encouraging. They still struggle with comprehension. Fluency is still a challenge. Their writing still lacks punctuation and capitalization and spelling is capricious. But, they are learning to love to read. They are finding adventures in books. And that, I think, is one of the most important parts of becoming an independent reader and learner.