Puppetry in Spanish

            Recently I got back from our Early In Service Training (EIST) which is a bit of a landmark in terms of the peace corps volunteer journey, for it means that its about time to get working. Its also a time to listen to the stories from the other people in your training group and although everyone says ‘don’t compare sites’ the human instinctual thing to do is of course deeply pick apart and compare sites. What types of food does your host family serve? Who’s dealing with the most extreme weather? What types of community partners do you have? Is your municipality supportive? Do you exercise frequently? Have you cried? And of course the most enjoyable stories are the have you pooped in your pants stories. There is a deep black hole of site comparison that is like an addiction nagging at you to ask the questions and try and see how your site sizes up, or where you can brag about your conditions being harsher than someone else's. During this reunion I often found myself knee deep in a story about my site and then half way through thinking back to a This American Life episode that talked about conservation topics that nobody cares about and realizing the story I was describing was exactly one of those. My inner voice would scream ‘nobody cares Maddy’ and I would have to find the quickest exit out of my boring story about how I had strep throat for two weeks but didn’t want to call the med doctors. It was an interesting challenge for me to try and find stories from my last three months of an intensively different life, that I really wanted to share with others, but I didn’t want to come off as someone who just likes to hear themselves talk.

            I got back to site re-energized with many new project ideas to get started on. I have always been one for education for as much as I’ve denied wanting to become a teacher it is what seems to come naturally to me. I went into the school and asked the director if I could teach environmental education once or twice a month in every grade pretty much from kindergarten to high school. He immediately agreed and went to arrange a time for each elementary school class for the coming week. Once again I was surprised at how efficient and willing he was to have a random person come and teach in his classes, but I am grateful for the trust in my abilities weather its wise or not! After that meeting I realized I better figure out what to teach as it appeared I was jumping right into this. Our technical trainer during my first couple weeks here was a strong promoter of  puppets and she brought in some amazing puppets that she uses to teach environmental education. Motivated by this, I found a pair of smart wool socks that I have had for over five years, which where the heel should go is just a hole, and decided it was time to re-purpose these socks. For the next three days I vigorously worked on creating characters out of these socks that could talk about animal homes to 5-8 year olds. My host family laughed and thought it was very curious that I had made my socks into animals, and I felt pretty proud of my resourcefulness using plastic bags, an old rubber bouncy ball, and sea shells to make my socks come alive.

            I wrote out a script and then tried practicing it once through right before my first class. I found it impossible to hold the script up, and put two puppets on my hands. This detail I had not thought through fully, but I was out of time to plan so I headed to class realizing I would just have to figure it out as I went. The first class only had 10 students in it and they loved the puppets. They laughed and bared with me as I switched hands of puppets and let the script fall to the floor several times, but we all made it through.

            Feeling confident from my improvisation during the first class, the following day I went into my second day avoiding anymore preparations. This class had 15 students with clearly a lot more energy. I first had them draw pictures of make believe animals, to which they did at a remarkable speed. Then I brought out my puppet friends and I watched as some fell in love and some were deathly scared of these new characters. They listened attentively to the story and my confidence was once again rising. At the end of the story I put the puppets down to sleep and we dove deeper into what it means to have a house and why animal’s houses look different. This is when the train started to derail. The students were eager to answer my questions but were also bouncing off the walls with energy. We drew houses for their make believe animals but when I tried to have a discussion about the essential things that all homes must have there was very little focus, and many requests to wake my puppet friends up and bring them back. After three deep breaths as a whole class, and a bit more drawing I gave into their pleas and brought back out the puppets to teach them Old MacDonald. As soon as I put Rosita, the puppet, on my hand they all went quiet and were entranced by her. She was able to lead them through the wrap up discussion and they all listened attentively, rose their hands one by one, and actually engaged. I found myself standing up in front of the class becoming jealous of my own puppet for being able to get them all to listen. Later reflecting back on this I laughed at the fact the I was envious of Rosita and I suppose that is the beauty of puppets. Now when I walk through the plaza the students run up asking where Rosita is and when she will come back.