A Universe Of Proverbs:

An Orillas Global Learning Network Project

 

Students in Rosa Hernandez's computer-writing- class at Abelardo Di'az Morales Elemtary School in Puerto Rico, are proud of their computer lab with its eye-catching bulletin board walls. These walls, covered with photographs of students and their teachers, flags of Mexico and California, illustrated maps, richly colored students artwork, a collection of Yaqui legends from the Southwest United States, and issues of the student-produced newspaper, Cemi, trace the history of the school's participation in Project Orillas.
In the Orillas International Proverbs Project, telecommunications made it possible for Spanish-, Portuguese-, and English-speaking communities from diverse regions to collaborate rapidly in a wide-ranging investigation of proverbs. Ms. Hernandez's class, like others in the Orillas network, gathered proverbs from family, friends and neighbors. Little by little the list grew. "Nearly a hundred animal proverbs, alone!" the class exclaimed.
Sorting the proverbs wasn't easy. The students debated the meanings of the proverbs, identified different versions and regional variations and compared notes about the contexts in which their parents and grandparents used the proverbs. As they gathered and analyzed, they stayed in touch with other classes on the network.

In Watsonville, California the proverbs project helped increase parent involvement in the bilingual program. A migrant farmer and his kindergarten child wrote the following critique:

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

"We don't agree with this proverb because people shouldn't be satisfied with what we have but instead should struggle and make an effort to make each day better."

In a bilingual fifth-grade class in Connecticut, students wrote fables based on their own experience to illustrate the proverbs:

The Same Dog But With A Different Collar

"Once there was a teacher named Ms.Caraballo who taught her students multiplication.
'Okay, students,' said Ms. Caraballo. 'How much is 2x3?'
A student raised her hand and said 'six'. Everyone understood except Pedro.
'Teacher', said Pedro, ' I don't know how to do that.'
'Well, Pedro,' said Ms. Caraballo in a friendly way, ' it's like saying 3+3 but in a different form. Just as 3+3+3 and 3x3 and 9 are all different ways of saying the same thing.'
'Now I understand', said Pedro. 'It's just like the proverb my grandfather taught me: The same dog but with a different collar.'"

 In other classes the project evolved into sophisticated editorial writing. Proverbs are controversial by nature because they are linked to inequities within the social fabric. Students drew on their own experiences to critique proverbs they felt were unfair.

A Woman's Place Is In The Home

"I, Martha Prudente, do not agree. This kind of thinking is old-fashioned. This is how my parents thought, but not me because I am a rebel. Yes I will have a home, but if I want to work I will work. I hope to be a nurse before I get married and afterwards continue working in my career."

Cervantes referred to proverbs as "short sentences drawn from long experience." The International Orillas Proverb Project grew from a long-standing interest Orillas's teachers had in exploring folklore in networked classrooms. These teachers felt that proverbs are an excellent vehicle for students to share cultural and linguistic knowledge because:

• Proverbs are universal.
• The families of students are involved, encouraging oral histories. Immigrant children can build links to their ( in some cases, disappearing) culture, and take pride in their rich proverbial heritage.
• Analyzing proverbs encourages discussion, critical thinking and an appreciation of culture.
• Students studying a second language gain from the cultural knowledge embodied in proverbs.
• Young students can participate since the actual amount of text is small and easily typed.
• Proverbs can encourage much longer writing, such as opinion statements or modern fables. Categorizing proverbs by themes facilitate cross-cultural comparisons.
• Collecting proverbs is a provocative yet discrete task resulting in a rich concrete product.
Folklore collections of all kinds can be instrumental in building bridges between schools and families and within the wider community of a particular language. Telecommunications make it possible for students from diverse regions to collaborate readily in a wide-ranging investigation of proverbs. In this way cross-cultural awareness and language skills can be developed in students who otherwise would never have access to people from distant lands and other world views.

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This description of the proverbs projectby Kristin Brown appeared in an article on global networking in Virtual Power published by the
Center for Language Minority Educational Research (CLMER).