Every year from mid October through mid January, children in Guatemala enjoy their summer vacation. This past year, staff and volunteers at New Hope Village were asked to provide activities for the kids. Classes were offered in art, latin dance, aerobics, cooking, etc.

I offered an English class to kids past the 6th grade, and I really enjoyed getting to know the kids in that age group. We learned the alphabet, numbers, family members, salutations, parts of the body, and colors.

The library at New Hope has several books in two languages-the same story, with English on one page and Spanish on the opposite page. I often included these books as part of our class time together.

The last day of class, we read a book about some janitors who were Mexican and living in Los Angeles. The child in the story was describing his day, and when I read his description of what he usually ate for lunch, the kids in my class started giggling.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

Well, the kid in the story eats burritos. The kids in my class had never heard of such a thing. To them, a burrito is a little burro, a little donkey! I had to explain that burritos are also a very common Mexican food: all sorts of things wrapped up in a flour tortilla. (The kids here eat corn tortillas.) We all had a good long laugh about it-and learned something new, too.

Now that the school year is in session again, I have two roles. One is to be the assistant to the second-grade teacher. The other is to tutor 1 st and 2 nd graders in reading, writing, and arithmetic. I sure have been enjoying it. One student, Daniel, especially likes to read, and I regularly have to go to the New Hope library to get more books to have at my little desk. The last time I went, I found Chicken Little ... in Spanish!

"So Foxy Loxy led Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey across a field and through the woods ... and straight into his den."

But instead of Chicken Little and her friends, we read about Pollita Chiquita, Gallo Rayo, Pato Chato, Gansa Mansa, Pavo Bravo, and Zorro Vivo. The sky was falling, but even in this book, they never made it to go and tell the king.

Sheryl Passarge is a long-term volunteer at Common Hope ’s second site. “ New Hope Village ” is just north of Guatemala City (between Chinautla and San Pedro Ayampuc if you’re looking on a map). She plans to spend a year and a half in Guatemala, and half a year in El Salvador before returning home to Seattle, Washington.

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