More Tamale Party Photos!

Hello, Again! Here are a few more photos of our group members making tamales at the home of Beverly & Bob Gibson, Sunday January 6, 2013. We have so much fun whenever we get together,and, yes, of course, food is usually a center attraction for our gatherings. Enjoy! Amy

Welcome back to Spanish Language Adventure!

Hello, Everyone! It has been a while since I last reported to you about our Spanish Language Outreach program at the North Valley Public Library. It seems our original blog "Spanish Language Outreach in Montana" has been converted to this new blog entitled "Spanish Language Adventure" as I am no longer able to post in that original blog. What a busy year it has been since we last reported in. My personal life has been a roller coaster of events and emotions with a death in my immediate family, followed by the award of Library Support Staff of the Year and a major scholarship to return to college full time to study Sociology, in addition to my job at the North Valley Public Library. So, this blog has been on the back burner for a while. But, we are back in the swing of things with several new members of Reunion en Espanol, our group of Spanish language members. We continued our tradition of hosting an annual Hispanic heritage fiesta for the September First Friday celebration in our home town of Stevensville. This past September members of our group practiced for weeks several songs in Spanish. Last Sunday we held a tamale making party in which members Wa Correia and Beverly Gibson gave demonstrations of traditional hand mixing and modern machine mixing methods. Beverly Gibson graciously hosted this event at her home. There were 20 attendees but it was "organized chaos" and fun was had by all. Each participant took home 24 tamales. In the future, I will be highlighting individual members which should be interesting. If you have any ideas for events for "el grupo" please send them our way! We are always up for something new. Hasta Luego! Amy

Plans for Fiesta 2011 underway

Hola & Bien Venidos, Everyone who loves Spanish language and culture in libraries! Next week (Friday Sept 2nd from 6-8 pm) we will host our annual Hispanic Heritage Fiesta celebration. This year members of our Spanish conversation group "Reunion en Espanol" have been practicing 4 songs, singing all in Spanish. This idea came from Oscar who is our "maestro" and coach. Oscar Macz, born in Guatemala, now living in Stevensville, is a multi-talented musician, singer, song writer and guitar player. Oscar selected four beautiful and familiar Spanish songs. Many of us who are novice singers truly appreciate the patience and kindness Oscar demonstrates towards us. Besides our weekly conversation group meeting on Wednesday evenings, those of us who will be singing on Fiesta night have been gathering Monday nights at the home of Oscar & Debbie to practice singing; that is,after we enjoy some delicious food! Debbie & Oscar have been the "hosts with the most", each week sharing some dish prepared with our group in mind. The rest of us have contributed, too, making this a "family affair." So fun! Our singing and harmony have significantly improved over the weeks. Yesterday Ravalli County Health Dept. called the library to advise us that we can no longer serve home cooked foods at our Fiesta. This came as a disappointment initially, although we respect the reason behind this restriction. Food safety is vitally important to us all. We now have to regroup and reorganize our agenda, reducing the amount of "eating" time from 1 hour to 1/2 hour, moving our singing up, increasing that performance time, and introducing our dancers earlier. AND our regularly scheduled dance instructor, Kimberlee, won't be able to make it so she has engaged two unknown dancers that she assures us will be spectacular. SO...all things considered, we are hoping Fiesta 2011 is as successful as in years past. We shall report on this in our next blog, along with some photos!

Report from Nicaragua

Hola! Today I write to you from Managua, the capitol city of Nicaragua. My daughter, Caitlin (resident of Nicaragua for 4 1/2 yrs) and I just returned from an on-site visit of San Juan del Sur Biblioteca, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing library services to rural areas primarily in Nicaragua & Costa Rica. We met the director and founder, Jane Mirandette, who gave us a tour of the base library and a history of the organization. You will find an article about Biblioteca in the recent article of Colorado Libraries. Here is the link: http://www.coloradolibrariesjournal.org/?q=ejournal/show/1/_/3
In this article you will learn more about the popular trend of "voluntourism" where a vacationer can travel to a foreign destination with a goal of volunteering to share skills and knowledge to help the locals.
Tomorrow Caitlin and I will visit a farm ("finca")owned by our friend, Omar.
Amy

El Dia de los Ninos, El Dia de los Libros

Hello, Everyone. The first annual American Library Association event "El Dia de los Ninos, El Dia de los Libros" was held at North Valley Public Library (NVPL) Saturday April 30, 2011. The celebration emphasizes the importance of advocating literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This year Reunion en Espanol, the Spanish Conversation Group of NVPL, helped coordinate the event with a Spanish theme. There was a puppet show El Tres Cerditos (The Three Little Pigs) with a reading in both Spanish (Catalina Gerner) and English (Susie Brown) with children acting out the parts with hand puppets. Following that was a paper cutting craft project, Papel de Picos, where children and adults cut out pretty paper decorations similar to a Mexican tradition. There was a taco lunch with food provided by members of Reunion en Espanol. The grand finale was the breaking open of a pinata full of toys. Fun was had by all, considering we had to relocate the event indoors at the Library due to inclement weather. Next year, we will investigate other cultures, traditional stories and creative crafts and foods with children being the prime focus. Here are some photos of this year's event.

"Viaje a la Tierra del Abuelo"

Recently members of the North Valley Public Library Spanish Language Conversation group watched a film entitled "The Other Side of Immigration." This award winning documentary film focused on the effect upon the families and the communities throughout Mexico of so many able bodied men leaving in search of work in the United States. Very thought provoking film. Mario Bencastro has written a book about a young man born in El Salvador now living in the US who becomes very close to his grandfather while his parents work long hours in southern CA. Before he dies, his "abuelo" (grandfather) asks that he be buried in his home country of El Salvador. The book describes the journey of this young man as he transports his grandfather's body back to his homeland. The book does an excellent job of explaining how this young man feels torn between two countries and not really connected to either country. The book is written in Spanish, but since the target audience is young adults, it is fairly easy to understand for beginner Spanish speakers. Native speakers will greatly enjoy the story of current events happening between Central America and the United States.

Spanish Evening Class - Big Enchilada

 

Here is a photo of our Friday evening Spanish class "The Big Enchilada" with teacher, Oscar Macz, and his students enjoying a dinner at Fiesta en Jalisco in Stevensville.

February updates at North Valley Public Library

Hello, Everyone! It has been a while so let me catch you up since the holidays.

Oscar Macz is teaching a formal class on Spanish on Friday nights from 6:15 - 8 pm. So far we have had about 6 or 8 weeks of classes and there are approximately 8 regular students. Oscar also recently began teaching Spanish to home schooled children ages 5-10 years old on Friday afternoons from 4-5 pm. There are approximately 6 children in that class. Oscar is teaching these classes at no cost, asking only that students donate (whatever they can afford) to the library as we begin the major remodel of our buildings. Muchas gracias, Oscar, you are one of our heroes!

In January we had two celebrations - Spanish Conversation Group "Reunion en Espanol" members Catalina Gerner (our facilitator) (on the left) and Marge Wood (on the right) both had "cumpleanos" (birthdays). We had a fiesta one week, then another the following week (boy, we sure like to party!) when Missoula members, Walter and Tricia, visited to celebrate the birthdays of Catalina and Marge.

Last week we watched the documentary film "Other Side of Immigration" produced by Roy Germano. This 2009 film won numerous awards world wide. Germano interviewed over 700 native Mexicans, many of whom continue to emigrate to the US to work. The film focused on the reasons behind the mass exodus of immigrants from Mexico to the US and the effect this is having on their family members left behind, as well as the economies of their regions. The interviews were mostly in Spanish with English sub titles which provided our audience with an excellent learning experience in the language; there were people with very different educational levels and people with many different dialects. A very informative and thought provoking film from the perspective of those who emigrate to our country. Highly recommend it!

Catalina Gerner and I are working on the edits to the North Valley Public Library website's Spanish section. Check out our website at www.northvalleylibrary.org. Suggestions are welcome!

Maybe some photos of our annual fiestas??? Or links to some relevant websites??

We will continue our weekly conversation group at our usual time of 6-7:30 pm on Wednesdays. If you are interested in joining our Spanish language class on Fridays, please do! You are all welcome. If you know of any newcomers to our area of Hispanic heritage, please invite them to join our conversation group.

Hasta Luego! Amy

New Year brings new ideas

Hola Fellow bloggers! This year North Valley Public Library is offering FREE Spanish classes taught by Oscar Macz, Friday evenings from 6:15 - 8 pm. The classes are held in the Community Room of the Library. Also, hot off the press, Oscar has begun teaching beginner Spanish for children ages 5-10, every week from 4-5 pm on Thursdays. I am taking the adult class and am really enjoying the learning experience. There are approximately 6 or 7 students at an intermediate level. This week we are going to the restaurant Fiesta en Jalisco as a surprise for Oscar and to practice our travel related speaking skills. What a fun class! For more information, call the Library at 777-5061.

Check out Oscar's Web site

Oscar Macz (pronounced "Max") has created a web site to help his students learn more about his native Guatemala and the Spanish language.

It is very inter-active and fun!

Go to: spanishschoolscoban

Try it! You'll like it!

Free Spanish classes at the Library

Hello, Everyone! Oscar Macz has started teaching Spanish language classes at our library. And Oscar has generously offered these classes at no cost. (Donations to the library are encouraged.) Friday evenings there is a class for adults from 6:15 - 7:30 pm. Thursday there is a class for children between 5 - 10 years of age from 4-5 pm. Oscar is a busy man, caring for his 1 year old son, Thomas, during the day, until his lovely wife, Debbie, returns from her work as an attorney for Ravalli County. Oscar has a web site where he posts the weekly homework assignments.

There is much knowledge to be gained and fun to be had at these Spanish classes. If you are interested in learning more about the classes, contact the library. Or post to the blog.

Looking forward to meeting many more of you soon.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2010 Big Hit!

Hello, All! You are probably wondering what has taken so long for me to post this latest blog. Well, I was very busy organizing and working on the events the North Valley Public Library held during our 3rd annual Hispanic Heritage month in September. First, at our kick-off event "Grand Fiesta" the members of our Spanish Conversation Group "Reunion en Espanol" along with members of the staff and Board of Trustees at the Library, created some delicious dishes from around the world, of course from countries of Hispanic cultures. One of our most prominent members Oscar Macz performed some of the songs he had written, singing and playing guitar, to provide lovely background music while everyone enjoyed the food. After dinner, professional dancer, Kimberlee Carlson, and her group of Hispanic dancers performed several traditional dances to the delight of the audience of over 100 people. It was a fabulous event, many dressed in native dresses, several people drove all the way down from Missoula and there was much laughter and many happy people. A GREAT way to start our month! More updates to come...stay tuned! Photos to follow...

Wa Correia recognized as GREAT Volunteer

Hello, All. This month we are waiting to hear if our project "Hispanic Heritage Month" will be funded by the Missoula Community Foundation. Meanwhile, we are moving forward with our plans for our play "Cenicienta" or Cinderella in Spanish. Many of our native speakers will play the major roles. Oscar Macz (Guatemala) is working on adding more dialogue to the script and has agreed to be our director. Oscar will also perform during our kick off event, Hispanic Fiesta, on First Friday, Sept. 3rd, in Stevensville. Oscar plays guitar and sings beautiful songs, many of which he has written himself. Wa Correia (Mexico) was featured recently as Volunteer Extrordinaire by the RSVP - Retired Senior Volunteer Program. Here is a photo of Wa. She is very busy giving so much of her time and energy to help others. We encourage anyone who has photos of interest to our Spanish Language Outreach bloggers to submit them to the blog. This fall I have plans to attend nearby schools during Parent-Teacher nights to "reach out" to those folks of Hispanic heritage. I will provide them with information on all we offer at our North Valley Public Library. I will even do my best to communicate in Spanish! Amy Ling

Earthquake in Chile on our minds

Shortly after our last blog, Chile experienced the most devastating earthquakes ("terremoto") in its history. Two of our North Valley Public Library (NVPL) SLO group, Erika and Alfonso Schumann, are Chilean natives. The family of Alfonso (his nephew or "sobrino") was affected in so many horrible ways, that their lives will never be the same. As they fled their home during the first tremors, the walls crumbled around them, crushing the nephew, his wife and 10 year old son. The nephew somehow managed to carry his wife outside; we don't know how the son escaped. The young wife was killed by the collapse of the house. The nephew and his son had broken bones, including compound fractures, and were impaled by debris. The nephew had to leave his wife while he desperately sought emergency transportation for his son to go to a hospital. Imagine the trauma to this boy who watched his mother crushed by the falling house, screaming in pain, then dying. By some herculean effort, the nephew managed to secure a ride in the back of a crowded truck bed, carrying his son, having several broken bones in his feet himself. When they finally arrived at the location of the hospital, they found the building had also collapsed. Imagine the pain and anxiety of having broken bones, a huge piece of wood sticking out of your son from his back through his shoulder exiting his chest AND the boy having a compound fracture of his leg, broken bone exposed, through open wound. Alfonso and Erika and their two daughters wired money from Montana to Chile to pay for an ambulance for transportation to the closest working hospital. The nephew was relentless in his pursuit of a coffin for his wife and was successful in bringing her to a final resting place on family land. I am writing this very early in the morning, waking up with these images on my mind, after hearing the details last night at our SLO conversation group. The horror of this situation for this family and so many others haunts me. I just can't stop thinking of the emotional and physical trauma to that young boy and his father. Our discussion last night led to brainstorming of ideas to help these people. Our hearts are heavy with sadness but we are determined to express our care to somehow help in some way.

It suddenly occurs to me that I don't even know their names, but, then... does it really matter?

I will report further details as I learn more. Amy

Day One of Spanish Language Adventure in Montana

Wonder who this will appeal to?