Summary of points for teachers receiving Teosinte letters

[Beth Soltzberg]

Hi Curriculum Volunteers!

 

At our meeting tonight, the suggestion came up for me to send you a summary of points for you to share with your teachers when you give them their letters from kids in Teosinte.  The summary is below.  I’ll send minutes from tonight ASAP, along with a blurb for school newsletters and a flyer to recruit additional volunteers for next year.

 

Let me know if you have any questions – bet...@comcast.net

 

Thanks!

Beth

 

-          We sent 19 letters to Teosinte (one from each 4^th grade classroom).  However, there were 26 children in Teosinte who wanted to reply, so we received 26 letters back.  Most of the kids also included drawings.  Unfortunately, the copies are in black & white, but it’s still fun to see the scenes of village life that the kids drew.

-          The 26 letters were written by kids of varied ages.  (Remember that the Teosinte village school only serves 63 students in total – there are just a handful of 4^th graders!)  Your students may notice that some of the letters are short and use simpler vocabulary than others.  These were written by younger students.

-          These letters were translated into English by Spanish students at Arlington High School.

-          Some of the letters are addressed to specific individuals.  These are the students whose letters were selected by their teacher to go to Teosinte.  Even though they are addressed to this person, the content of the letter should be of general interest.  Some of the letters are addressed more generally to “Arlington friend” or something similar.

-          Last year, some of the Brackett teachers facilitated a classroom discussion when they handed out the letters from Teosinte.  They asked students questions like: “how many have a letter that says something about sports?  About farm animals?  About the weather and how it affects crops?  They asked students to volunteer to read passages on different topics of common interest, and in this way, students were able to enjoy a little bit of several letters.

 

This is the first year that all 7 elementary schools are participating in the Teosinte curriculum.  Thus, it will be exciting to see what different classrooms come up with for how to share these letters, and possible activities to go along with sharing the letters.  Some classrooms are considering “fiestas,” with special foods and Salvadoran music.  

 

-          FYI - Some 4^th grade teachers contributed questions or comments to a letter to teachers in Teosinte.  That has been translated into Spanish, and was recently sent to Teosinte.  We are awaiting a reply.