How Tia Lola Learned to Teach

by Julia Alvarez

  Finally, Milton delivers the fateful blow. Down rain dozens upon dozens of folded-up notes. “What in the world is that?” Milton asks, sounding disappointed. Every other piñata he has ever hit was full of candy and party favors.

  “No son fortunas tampoco,” Tía Lola says, shaking her head. These are not fortunes either, but sayings in Spanish. Talk about great minds thinking alike! Each person should take one and learn it, so that the town will not only become bilingual, but doubly wise as well.

  Meanwhile, so as not to disappoint the children, Tía Lola pulls out several shopping bags she has tucked under the food table. As if she were scattering birdseed, she flings handful after handful of candies and dollar-store trinkets. The children scramble to get their American treats and their Spanish sayings: one disappears immediately, the other one is for keeps.

  On the drive home from the picnic, Mami and Tía Lola, Miguel and Juanita, reminisce about the picnic. What fun they all had! What’s more, the fun isn’t over.

  Following behind them in a rented van are Papi and Carmen, Abuelita and Abuelito, and Víctor—all of whom will be staying at the big house tonight. “There’s plenty of space!” Mami had offered generously. Every time Papi and Carmen have come in the past, they’ve had to stay at the less-than-friendly B&B down the road.

  Tía Lola approves of Mami’s change of heart: “Amor con amor se paga.” Love is repaid with love. Look at all that Carmen has done for their family.

  “Víctor, too,” Mami adds.

  Speaking of Víctor, he has already made plans to come back later this summer with his three kids to look around. It turns out that he is thinking of relocating to Vermont. This seems a wonderful place for a widowed father to raise a family.

  “Wasn’t that funny about the two piñatas?” Mami asks, looking in the rearview mirror to make sure her guests are following.

  “My favorite was the nest,” Juanita says, giggling all over again. Mrs. Stevens looked so silly with it sitting on her head.

  “It’s a good thing it was empty.” Mami laughs. “I don’t think she would have appreciated an egg shampoo.” They all laugh.

  “That judge has the appetite of a giant,” Tía Lola remarks after the laughter dies down.

  “Maybe he didn’t get much to eat as a kid.” Miguel reminds them of the story they heard from Colonel Charlebois about the judge’s tough childhood.

  “Good point, Miguel.” Mami looks in the mirror, glowing with pride at her thoughtful son. “Wow, Tía Lola! I think all your sayings have actually made my children wiser.”

  “And I myself will grow wiser, with all my new sayings in English.” Tía Lola pats the big plastic bag crammed into the front seat beside her.

  “You sure we can’t put that in back?” Mami offers again. But Tía Lola refuses to lose sight of her treasure.

  “El ojo del amo engorda el caballo,” Tía Lola explains. The eye of the owner fattens the horse.

  “That’s gross, Tía Lola!” Juanita wrinkles her nose. It sounds totally yucky to be feeding a horse your eyeballs! Juanita rolls down her window, thinking she might get carsick.

  “No, no,” Tía Lola says, laughing. “The saying means that when you keep an eye on things, they prosper.” She pats the bag again, as if it were a horse.

  Maybe because they are talking about sayings, Tía Lola asks if everyone has had a chance to look at their sayings from her piñata.

  Juanita isn’t sure where she put hers. For a few frantic moments, it looks like they might have to pull over and look inside her backpack in the trunk. But finally, she finds it tucked in her own pocket. She unfolds it sheepishly.

  “So what does it say?” Miguel asks. After so much fuss, it’d better be good.

  “I don’t know how to read Spanish.” Juanita tries handing the piece of paper to Tía Lola.

  “Of course you do,” Tía Lola encourages her. “Just remember, in Spanish you sound out every syllable.”

  “Camarón que se duerme—Wait a minute!” Juanita cries out, as if she has won the lottery. “I already know this saying.” After her initial delight at the serendipity, Juanita feels cheated. “I wanted to learn a new one.”

  “Maybe you still have a lot to learn from that saying, you think?” Mami suggests.

  “I suppose.” Juanita sighs. How does Mami find out these things? Ever since Ofie’s departure, Juanita has had trouble keeping her mind on her schoolwork. But it’s almost summer. Even shrimp have to sleep sometimes! Next year she’ll be in fourth grade, with tons more work. Her brain needs a vacation. “What about you, Mami?” Juanita comes forward in her seat. “Which one did you get?”

  “Oh, let’s see,” Mami says airily, even though she checked her saying when she and Víctor reached for the same piece of paper. “Mine says, El amor lo vence todo.” Love conquers all. The very saying Tía Lola used to disarm the policeman up at the immigration office.

  “Oh, that’s such a good one, Mami.” Juanita looks down disappointedly at her own saying. “Want to trade?” she asks, as if the sayings were baseball cards, not little pieces of paper.

  “Sure,” Mami says. “But first, let’s hear what Miguel got. Maybe we can make this a three-way trade?”

  Although Miguel had glanced at his saying at the picnic, he only vaguely remembers it. There was so much to do and eat and plan with his friends. Already, on Monday, his summer baseball team is coming over to try on the new uniforms Tía Lola has almost finished making. Afterward, they will go out in the field behind his house and play until it’s too dark to see the bases.

  Miguel reads his saying out loud now. “Ser contento es gran talento.” He doesn’t even have to ask Tía Lola what it means. Being happy is a great talent.

  “Good job!” Mami compliments Miguel’s Spanish. “We’re going to have to send you both down to the D.R. so you can impress la familia with all the Spanish you’ve learned with Tía Lola.”

  “Oh, can we, Mami, can we?” Juanita has forgotten her lackluster saying. “Maybe we can all go again for Christmas? Maybe stop in Disney World on the way?”

  “We shall see,” Mami says in a voice that makes Miguel and Juanita feel hopeful.

  And there’s lots to be hopeful about: Colonel Charlebois has been talking to Mami about selling her the big house, with the monthly rent turning into installments. They won’t have to come up with a big down payment. Maybe they won’t have to move out after all.

  “Why don’t you reach in your bag and pick out one of yours, Tía Lola?” Mami suggests. “Let’s see what your first English saying will be.”

  Tía Lola plunges a hand into her bag, swishes it around, and fishes out a neatly folded piece of paper. Carefully, she opens it up. Someone who could not come up with any more wise words for Tía Lola has drawn a big heart that says it all:

  As Tía Lola says:

  Todo lo bueno se acaba.

  All good things must come to an end.

  about tía lola’s spanish

  Tía Lola asked me to be sure and explain why, when she speaks only Spanish, you are reading her words in English.

  This is the wonderful thing about stories and about the imagination. The impossible is possible. You can read a story about a magical aunt who doesn’t know any English, and even though you don’t speak a word of her language, you can totally understand what she is saying! It’s why I love stories. They remember what we often forget and what Tía Lola reminds us: we are all one human family, even if we speak different languages and come from different countries.

  But just in case you wondered, one of the ways we recognize that a word belongs in another language, otra lengua, is that we put it in italics. Sometimes when Tía Lola is speaking, I’ll throw in a few palabritas, a few words, in Spanish. That’s just to remind you that Tía Lola really and truly is speaking in Spanish, but because it’s a story, you have the magical ability to hear her Spanish in English.

  Whenever I use a Spanish word, I always give you its English translation or make s
ure you understand what the word means in that scene. I wouldn’t want you to feel left out just because you are not yet bilingual! But my hope (and Tía Lola’s) is that what you can do magically in a story—understand Spanish—will make you want to learn that magic in real life. Being bilingual is a wonderful way to connect ourselves with other people from other countries and understand what it means to live inside their words as well as their world.

  Maybe you can find a Tía Lola in your neighborhood who can come to your school and teach everyone how to speak Spanish in español.

  acknowledgments

  Just as Tía Lola got a heart

  from a secret admirer,

  I am sending

  each of you

  who inspired me

  or helped me write this book

  a heart

  full of thanks and gracias

  from your not-so-secret admirer.