Lo de Everett
This past Wednesday we had our second day of Computación Básica para Adultos. It’s the third installment of the class I teach to Hispanic parents of Everett students and has been coming together well. I’ve finally worked up good content and lessons for them now that they can manage Microsoft Word and have a basic introduction to Internet. We go onto Google and I let them pick any search topic on which they must type up an informative paragraph and copy/paste a picture. Even with my assistant Natalie—a Wesleyan Spanish major—this can eat up our ninety-minute time frame. But you’ve got to hand it to them—before this class ninety percent of them hadn’t used a computer. Ever.
Another ninetieth-percentile statistic is their search topics. They always search their hometowns, which has me thinking of some project we could develop to enhance this nostalgic Internet experience. Email accounts are on tap for next class so I’ve got to ask them how ‘connected’ these hometowns are. Who knows, anything from emailing pictures to video chats with faraway cousins could be in their future. ¡Andale!
