Spanish views from a small town

So much has been said and discussed in this past year of lockdowns about education. That online classes are good, that they're bad, that they're safer. What I'm pretty sure of is that they most likely helped save lives by cutting down contagion from school age children within the families. What I do know is that people have short memories. I was surprised this week when, perusing Facebook, I came across a post that mentioned radio classes during a polio epidemic in the United States. That there were epidemics before the polio vaccine was created, in which children were recommended to stay home during the summer, I do know, but polio is a disease that tended to be passed around in summer, rather than during winter and the school months.  In August of 1937, the epidemic of polio was so bad in the Chicago area, that the school committee and the city hall decided to postpone the opening of school. However, so as not to cut much into vacations and weekends during the coming mont...

Presencial teaching has certain pitfalls, especially when there are two students of different age. Yet, it has its advantages. You can always pick up what the student is writing on, take up a red pen, and point out their mistakes, explaining the issues. You can also take chalk and graphically try to explain a point on what passes for a blackboard. You can look at them as they write, and stop them when you can tell they're doing something wrong because they don't understand. When they speak, you can correct them while looking over their shoulder at the text. One isn't always sitting nor standing, either, and if something comes up in the kitchen, you can always pop out of the study to check out if the cats are breaking all the kitchen glassware. Even though on the worst day, in which I stand up almost all afternoon and my back later hurts, I'm not standing absolutely still. Online learning doesn't have those advantages. It becomes artificial, difficult, and uncontroll...