Different Cultures Coming Together

They came dressed in bright green shirts and long flowing dresses. The whole school watched as they sang and danced in the courtyard. Each dance told a story. During the last dance, one of the students got into a make-shift bull costume and ran around the others as they chased him with red cloths and yelled "ole!" At the end of the number, the ninos went around and shook hands with all of the students at my school and prepared for their respective classroom visits. Our guests had finally arrived.

On Friday a group of sixteen students from the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos center in El Salvador came to St. Isidore School in Danville to share in each others' cultures. This particular group of students is part of the Father Frank's Kids Organization, which dedicates itself to providing housing and education for abandoned children in countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Out of around 500 students in the center in El Salvador, only these sixteen had been chosen to come to the United Sates to showcase their culture and abilities. One of the kids, Mario, informed a class of 8th graders that their selection was based on grades, singing and dancing abilities and overall standing in the center.

I introduced myself to some of the visitors and then watched quietly as my two eighth grade classes asked them questions (through a translator) about their favorite sports, movies, television shows and other aspects of their lives. I was proud to see some of my students take out their notes and ask the questions in Spanish. Our hard work crafting the questions had paid off, I thought to myself.

Later, after the ninos had changed out of the dancing outfits, they met both of the eighth grade classes at the soccer field. At first, I noticed that my students were a little uncomfortable in approaching our visitors but as the games continued, they became more confident in playing together. My students passed the ball to the ninos and vice versa. Since soccer is probably the most universal of sports, it wasn't hard to see why it was easy for all of the kids to get along and play together.

Our last event of the day was Spanish Bingo. I was asked by my principal to facilitate. As soon as we had all of the students settled at the tables eating their lunches, I proceeded to call out the letters and numbers on the Bingo Balls in Spanish. Some of my students were having trouble knowing what I was saying so I urged them to pay better attention. Playing Spanish Bingo is a good example of using our Spanish letters and numbers in real life and my own students soon caught on. We were only able to play 3 games because of a hurried schedule.

After my students said their goodbyes and took one last picture with our friends, I went on an outing with the ninos. We went to a local grocery store that had donated a bunch of socks to the NPH center in El Salvador. The ninos got a tour of the store from a native Spanish-speaking employee and I could see them smiling as they ate the complimentary meat and fruit given to them by the store. Our last stop was the Yogurt Shack, where the ninos got free frozen yogurt.

I enjoyed the day immensely. My favorite part was being able to speak Spanish all day with our visitors and then seeing the joy on their faces as they interacted with all of my students. I was happy to have my students ask me when they didn't know how to say something in Spanish and then see them turn around and ask our visitors so that they could better understand them.

After researching the web for more information about NPH and Father Frank's Kids, I've come to understand how special these organizations are. I came across this letter written by Father Ron Frank, who was present on Friday, detailing how simple donations like chairs, books and toiletries will make all the difference in the world to these ninos. I am impressed with the way our two cultures interacted and am very happy for the ninos who can benefit from the NPH center in El Salvador.