Read How Tía Lola Learned to Teach Online
Authors: Julia Alvarez
How Tía Lola Learned to Teach
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Julia Alvarez
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alvarez, Julia.
How Tia Lola learned to teach / by Julia Alvarez.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Juanita and Miguel’s great-aunt, Tía Lola, comes from the Dominican Republic to help take care of them after their parents divorce, and soon she is so involved in their small Vermont community that when her visa expires, the whole town turns out to support her.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89584-5
[1. Great-aunts—Fiction. 2. Dominican Americans—Fiction. 3. Family life—Vermont—Fiction. 4. Community life—Vermont—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. 6. Divorce—Fiction. 7. Vermont—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A48How 2010
[Fic]—dc22
2010004964
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
for
Tía Rosa,
beloved aunt, second mother,
alive in our hearts forever
1928–2008
contents
BEFORE WE BEGIN
Coser y cantar, todo es empezar
Sewing and singing, beginning is everything
Lesson One
Buenas razones cautivan los corazones
Good intentions win hearts
Lesson Two
En el país de los ciegos, el tuerto es rey
In the land of the blind, the one–eyed man is king
Lesson Three
Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente
The sleeping shrimp is carried away by the current
Lesson Four
Con paciencia y con calma, se subió un burro en una palma
With patience and calm, even a donkey can climb a palm
Lesson Five
Los tropezones hacen levantar los pies
Stumbling makes you pick up your feet
Lesson Six
En todas partes cuecen habas
Everywhere, people cook beans
Lesson Seven
Quien tiene boca llega a Roma
If you have a mouth, you can get to Rome
Lesson Eight
Nunca es tarde cuando la dicha es buena
It’s never too late when you’re in luck (or something like that)
Lesson Nine
En la unión está la fuerza
In unity there’s strength
Lesson Ten
Ser contento es gran talento
Being happy is a great talent
before we begin
Coser y cantar, todo es empezar
Sewing and singing, beginning is everything
In the middle of winter in Vermont, Tía Lola feels lonely out in the country all by herself all day long.
In the early morning, she is happy, waking up Miguel and Juanita, getting them ready for school. She races down the driveway to the waiting bus and waves goodbye to them, and later to their mother as she leaves for work.
“¡Adiós! ¡Adiós! ¡Adiós!”
Tía Lola calls out. Her breath fades in the cold air. The snowy fields stretch all around her. She closes the door to the big, cold, empty house.
Suddenly, she can hear her heart beating, the refrigerator humming, the radiator clanking, a little bird
pecking seeds from the feeder hanging out the window. She turns on the television for company. But Tía Lola doesn’t know much English, so she can’t understand what all those little people inside the box are saying.
When the phone rings at noon, Tía Lola snatches it up after one ring. Mami is calling to check on how Tía Lola is doing.
“¡Bien! ¡Bien!”
Tía Lola says, pumping up her voice as if it were a flat tire. She is just fine. She does not want Mami to worry. Or for Miguel and Juanita to think their aunt from the Dominican Republic isn’t happy to be staying on in Vermont to take care of them.
But Tía Lola needs something to do.
That is why when the phone rings one cold January night with a surprising request from the school principal, Tía Lola says,
“¡Sí, sí, sí!”
before she even knows what exactly she is agreeing to do.
“She says yes,” Mami translates. “She’d love to come to school every day with Juanita and Miguel.”
“She’s going to do what?!” Miguel can’t believe his
mami
would accept Mrs. Stevens’s request without first checking with him and his little sister, Juanita. Now he
will
be the laughingstock of Bridgeport Elementary. This time it won’t be because his last name, Guzmán, sounds like “Gooseman,” or because he looks different from everyone in his class. It’ll be because he has brought his own personal, wacky, babysitting aunt who doesn’t speak English to school. “But what’s Tía Lola going to do there all day?”
“Coser y cantar, todo es empezar.”
Tía Lola chants one of
her sayings: Sewing and singing, beginning is everything. No matter what you do, you just have to jump right in! “I’ll go every day and clean the rooms or cook or paint the building a nice bright color,” she offers in Spanish.
Mami shakes her head at each of these suggestions. “No, no, no, Tía Lola. What Señora Stevens wants you to do is teach the children some Spanish.”
Tía Lola’s mouth drops open, but no words, Spanish or English, come out of it.
“It turns out there are several new Spanish speakers at Bridgeport,” Mami goes on explaining, “besides you two.” She nods at Juanita and Miguel. “Mrs. Stevens said they’re from Mexico.”
“One of them’s in my class,” Juanita speaks up. “Her name’s Ofelia, but everyone calls her Ofie.” Actually, Ofie is in second grade and Juanita is in third, but this year at Bridgeport, second and third graders, as well as fourth and fifth graders, have combined classes. Something to do with how few kids are enrolled in these classes and how much money the principal has to hire new teachers.
“It’s such a great opportunity for all the children to learn some Spanish,” Mami is saying. “But
la señora
Stevens doesn’t have funding to hire a teacher. That’s why she hopes you’ll volunteer, Tía Lola. Just go and teach the kids some words, and dances, and songs, and tell a few stories.…” Mami is trying hard to make it sound easy and fun. But the panic on Tía Lola’s face makes even Miguel want to persuade her not to worry.
“¿Qué pasa, Tía Lola?”
Juanita cocks her head as if from a different angle she’ll be able to tell what’s wrong with her aunt. Tía Lola has been saying she wants something to do during the long days in the United States of America. So why isn’t she happy about this wonderful news?
“I can’t be a teacher.” Tía Lola looks the most alarmed any of them have ever seen her.
“¿Por qué?”
“Why not?” “
Por qué
not?” They all ask her at the same time, Mami in Spanish, Miguel in English, Juanita in Spanglish.
“Porque …”
Because … Tía Lola bows her head and cannot continue.
“Remember what you yourself said, Tía Lola,” Mami says gently. “Sewing and singing, and even teaching—”
“Todo es empezar,”
Tía Lola mutters, like she doesn’t believe it anymore.
“The only way to learn is by starting,” Mami adds, throwing another log in the fire. “Look at us. A year ago, when we moved here, who would’ve thought this drafty old farmhouse would become our warm, cozy home? A few weeks later, when you came to visit, Tía Lola, none of us ever thought you’d stay on to live with us. All these changes began without any of us knowing anything about how to make the next move. And here we are!” Mami smiles enthusiastically.
The fire crackles happily. Outside, a soft snow is falling. Soon the world will be as blank and white as a clean sheet of paper right before you begin to write.
lesson one
Buenas razones cautivan los corazones
Good intentions win hearts
“Mami, why is Tía Lola so scared to be a teacher?” Juanita wants to know. Mami is tucking her into bed. Juanita has been pleading for five more minutes so she can read another chapter in her book. But Mami has ruled that Monday through Thursday, lights must be out promptly by eight p.m. Otherwise, Juanita is too tired to pay attention the next day in class.
Mami sighs. “I think Tía Lola doesn’t feel confident because she never went past fourth grade.”
“I haven’t gone past fourth grade either,” Juanita reminds her.
“I know, Juanita.” Mami smiles fondly at her daughter. “But you’re only eight. And Tía Lola, well, she’s past fifty. She thinks she’s not smart enough to teach the kids at your school.”
“But that’s ridiculous, Mami!” Juanita says importantly. It feels so grown-up to be able to pronounce something ridiculous. “Tía Lola knows so much. All these stories and songs and sayings. And she knows how to cook and make friends and …” Juanita runs out of breath before she has run out of things Tía Lola knows how to do.
“Would you do me a favor, Nita
bonita
?” Her
mami
always calls Juanita by her nickname and then adds the Spanish word for “pretty” when she is asking for something that will take extra effort. “Could you tell your
tía
Lola what you just told me? Tell her you’d love for her to come to your school. That it’ll be just like taking care of you and Miguel, except that you’ll have a few friends along.…”
“Like seventy-four—sorry, seventy-six, counting Nita and me.” Miguel is at the door. He must have overheard Mami discussing Mrs. Stevens’s invitation.
Mami looks at Miguel in that careful way, trying to figure out what he is feeling. She works at the college, counseling students who feel confused or troubled. Except Miguel isn’t confused or troubled. He just thinks that adults should go to work somewhere besides where their kids go to school.
“Do you
not
want Tía Lola to volunteer at Bridgeport?” Mami asks carefully.
Miguel squirms. He’s not sure he wants Tía Lola at his school every single day. But his mother is looking disappointed. “How about if Tía Lola just comes sometimes?” Miguel suggests.
“You know, Miguel Ángel Guzmán, you might just have hit on a brilliant idea!”
Miguel blinks in disbelief. “I have?”
“He has?” Juanita echoes.
Mami nods, ignoring the sparks flying between brother and sister. “I think it’ll be less scary for Tía Lola to start by volunteering once a week, say. She can think of it as just visiting, not teaching. Then, once she gets used to it, she can go more often.”
Like in a year and a half, when I’ll already be at the middle school, Miguel thinks. But he knows better than to say so. He doesn’t want to upset Mami, who can still be super sensitive. A year ago, at Christmas, his parents separated. His father, Papi, stayed behind in New York City, but Mami moved to Vermont with a job at the college, bringing Miguel and Juanita with her. That’s why their aunt came from the Dominican Republic to help take care of them. Miguel has to admit that ever since Tía Lola arrived, Mami is a lot happier. It’s Tía Lola who seems sadder.