July 30, 2016
Raul Houlstan: Lawyer, Teacher, Historian and Poet I finished writing and working on school work about five today. There wasn’t time to safely go to the beach, nor did I feel like eating out. I decided to ride my bike to town and buy a bracelet to replace the one Iost yesterday, sometime during the work day. There is a small art dealership on main road that always seems to be closed. It was open, so I went inside. Raul Houlstan, the proprietor, and I started talking immediately. He was born in Bocas in 1952. As a young man he moved to Mexico to study Political Science at UNAM. He left because of political difficulties after he won a position a councilman in Bocas. While he was in Mexico he met his wife, whose artwork I fell in love with today. I might spend some money I don’t have to buy a piece. He was in Mexico at the same time as Jorge Chojolán and for similar reasons. My life seems to be taking me through the same path from different directions with Mexico City as its nexus. ENGLISH in PANAMA When Raul returned to Panama he wasn’t finished studying law. He didn’t have the money to finish, so he decided to work as a “profesor” of history at a local school. This was in 1975 or 76. A law was passed in 1972, during the dictatorship, which made Spanish the official language of Panama and forbade the use of English in schools. The local black students spoke English in their homes. Raul used English with students because it seemed natural to use the language of their fathers. The director of the school heard him ask a student to “take out a piece paper.” Raul received an official letter telling him he was breaking the law to use English in the classroom. He was young and didn’t have any children or need the money to feed them, so he took the letter to the principal and told him he was quitting. The principal begged him to stay, pleading that it would take four months to find another history teacher.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Kelly TurnerI participated in Panama Teacher Match 2016, a program funded by the US Embassy in Panama and implemented by the non-profit organization, Partners of the Americas, based in Washington, D.C. The program supports the work of Panama Bilingüe, a national initiative enacted by the President of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, to improve English teaching nationwide though extensive teacher training. Archives
September 2016
Categories |