Washington

Some of the children currently staying at the rancho Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico, were asking to get classes in English again.
Over the many of years this has become one of the activities while staying with the Gonzales: teaching the kids some rudimentary English.

It is extraordinary to experience children who are wild about learning.
Who desire very much to be educated.
It looks like it is a fantastic adventure to them.
And it makes them feel so proud of themselves when they notice they have actually mastered something.

The classes are held under the large roof made of leaves of palm trees.
Seated around the large table usually only in use on special occasions like the Christmas dinner.

This time the students are Rosillo and Edgar.
They are the children of Norma and they have different fathers.

Edgar, now 13, is entering his adolescence and has this depressed attitude.
He can’t care less about anything.
He only loves to watch TV laying lazily on the floor.


He doesn’t walk; he moves his body like it is a tremendous job.
He is a good boy but struggling with several serious issues.
A great student for a motivated teacher therefore.
How to make Edgar wake up?
Ignite interest for learning and make him feel good about himself?

Rosillo, now 10, is a most bright girl.
Optimistic, helpful, active and talented.


A great girl who loves to dance and sing and who is of great help to her mother.
Of course, she makes Edgar more depressed and that makes him act rather nasty towards her.
Rosillo is easy to teach because she is so bright and willing: the challenge is to teach her in the presence of her big brother.

One aspect of the method used is to give structure to the teaching.
That the students can oversee what is happening.
Therefore, always the same two things happen.
One is that each day 5 new English words are taught.
What they mean and how to pronounce.
The other is that each day 5 difficult questions and its answers are given.
The students write the 5 new words down in an exercise book.
The next day they have the test.
Separately, they have to come and repeat all the words they have learned.
The test is made individually because if a word is asked at Rosillo, Edgar can’t stop himself giving quickly the answer.
The difficult questions are more like a game.
When this stage is reached they are both together in the class.
Doesn’t matter who answers first.
Competition in that case is good.

It feels like a privilege to teach these kids.
To see the face of Edgar when he is overjoyed remembering the words.


To see the happiness of Rosillo when she has passed the test.


They run to the kitchen and scream:
“Mama, mama, we passed the test successfully!!!!”
Next, the teacher goes to the kitchen and says very seriously:
“Norma, today your children were excellent.
Both passed the very difficult test gloriously”.
Everybody radiating and proud and happy.

There is another way to give the kids a fantastic feeling about learning things and that it is good and fun.
When we are all sitting in the kitchen eating and chatting, suddenly the teacher asks the 22 year old uncle of Edgar and Rosillo, watertruckdriver Ismaël:


“Ismaël, what is the capital of the United States?”
Ismaël gets instantly nervous because he doesn’t know.
To safe his face he replies:
“Los Angeles?”.
The kids start to laugh.
Now the teacher asks:
“Edgar, what is the capital of the United States?”
Proudly he replies:
“Washington”.
Everybody of the family laughing that young Edgar knows something the older Uncle doesn’t know.
Edgar feels smart and boosts his self-confidence what is very much needed.
But to keep things in balance and Ismaël as a friend, a new question is asked by the teacher!
“Edgar, how many gallons of water can Ismaël transport in his truck?”
This Edgar doesn’t know of course.
He says, but it is a wild guess:
“Thousand gallons?”
Now Ismaël has the opportunity to feel superior.
He says:
“My truck takes 3.000 gallons of water!”

And that is the new truck Ismaël started using only yesterday.
The family bought this truck from a friend in Tijuana, at the border with the USA.
A friend who deals in vehicles.
It is a truck that was imported from the USA and a water tank was build and mounted on it in Mexico.


It is a truck from March 1988 and it is amazing that a vehicle of almost 20 years old still finds a useful role to play.
For the Gonzales this truck is like a fantastic new thing.
It has 164.000 miles on its odometer and the Gonzales believe this is because over the last 20 years the truck has not been used much.
But now it transports over 60.000 litres (16.000 gallons) of water to the surrounding houses every day.

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