A cross-cultural fiesta: Area teachers create bilingual children's book

By: JOEL D. AMOS - For the North County Times | Monday, October 29, 2007 12:00 AM PDT ∞

After 20 years of enlightening second- and third-graders at Jefferson Elementary in Carlsbad, Marta Arroyo retired in 2006. She had always envisioned writing a book, and with "La Fiesta y el Mariachi" (Booksearch.com, $11.99), she has accomplished that life goal.

Arroyo said she felt compelled to create a story from the multicultural festivals that peppered have surrounded her career, and the self-published bilingual book for children was the perfect opportunity.  

"For many years I've been thinking about this short story," Arroyo said. "It's something I've always wanted to put down (on paper), because you don't see books that are bilingual all that often." 

Jefferson art teacher Marsha Hawes provided the paperback picture book's illustrations. "She had mentioned that she had a dream about writing a book," Hawes said of Arroyo. "I had no idea, though, she was going to be so fast to jump on it right after she retired."  

Reflecting on her teaching career, Arroyo said she found herself recalling classroom situations where sensitivity was continually required. "What we were really talking about was culture. We can learn from each other's culture and respect each other's culture," Arroyo said. "And my book is a cultural story about a little girl going to a fiesta with her parents, where she sees the mariachi." 

The author said there is something endearing about the mariachi band and how it personifies Latino cultures. "I'd always loved the mariachi music since I was little," she said.

Arroyo expresses her thoughts through the character of little Lupita, a composite of thousands of children Arroyo has taught.  

Hawes, too, saw the mariachi band as more than musicians. "The mariachi exemplify the cultural arts," she said. "The color of their outfits embraces the visual arts; their movements reflect dance and performance. Then the poetry of the lyrics showcases language arts, and then there's the music. Knowing about a person's art helps you know about their culture." 

The 36-page book features English on the top of the left pages and Spanish just below. Facing pages hold Hawes' artwork, also reflected in the border surrounding the text.  

As Spanish literature major at UC Santa Barbara, Arroyo was a member of a dance troupe that performed frequently with mariachi bands, "a wonderful time," she said. The energy of those performances permeates her pages. She said she took that energy of diversity and brought it to two decades of classroom instruction.  

Arroyo recently read "La Fiesta" to a Jefferson Elementary first-grade class. She was delighted with the children's response. "And how they loved the pictures," she said.  

The students asked questions whose answers provided further cultural understanding ---- precisely what Arroyo hoped for when she set out to write the book. "When it came to retirement, I really wanted to have this story exposed," she said. "It came from a lot of love for my school and community at Jefferson, and I wanted to have something to give back, out of respect." 

Hawes believes her and Arroyo's shared compassion for elementary-age children and their potential has created something magical. "I wanted to equal Marta's enthusiasm, but that's tough," Hawes said. "She was trusting of me and gave me free license to express myself." 

The artwork came fluidly, she said. "It's easy to feel it because we've lived in this area for so long," Hawes said. "Our school has some five generations of Mexican-American citizens. We try to make our children feel comfortable in the schools. And I think that is a great message for adults, too ---- that if you can celebrate your culture, then you can understand other people's cultures." 

Still glowing from the response to her first book, Arroyo is ready to climb another literary mountain and create another. "When people understand something, they can appreciate it better," she said. "It's amazing that we can talk with the kids about these details of other cultures that they love."

Joel D. Amos is a freelance writer. Contact him at joeldamos@yahoo.com.