Tag Archives: ecuador

In A Non-Niche Niche

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Barb Knowles

When I started this blog, I intended it to be about teaching. Particularly about the crazy things that happen in a classroom that are wholly unexpected and that education courses never talk about. Which would make a pretty good college … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blogging, culture, ecuador, Education, essays, kichwa, memoir, niche, opinion, Peru, Quechua, TEACHING, United Nations, writing | 47 Comments

Successful Quechuans: Benjamin Bratt

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Barb Knowles

Originally posted on The New York Quechua Initiative:
Benjamin’s father is European and his mother is Quechuan. In 1969, when Benjamin was a child living in San Francisco his mother took him to participate in the Native-American Occupation of…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Benjamin Bratt, celebrities, ecuador, kichwa, kichwa hatari, language, Peru, Quechua, The New York Quechua Initiative | 2 Comments

BICS is okay, but CALP? Forget it.

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Barb Knowles

Wait, what? I uttered this in our office the other day and everyone laughed. To help you understand why this could remotely be funny while not putting you to sleep instantly, here’s a quick, so-don’t-stop-reading, crash course on learning a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BICS and CALP, bilingual, culture, ecuador, ell, ENL, esl, high school, kichwa, language learning, languages, Spanish | 11 Comments

My Conflict With Religion

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Barb Knowles

Religion used to be a definitive part of my life. I was following the rules or I wasn’t. I was accepting God’s love or I wasn’t. I was respectful to people of all religions. My religion wasn’t worse or better … Continue reading →

Posted in religion | Tagged alaska, Catholicism, christianity, culture, ecuador, heaven, inuit, judaism, kichwa, lifestyle, religion, respect, Russian Orthodox, Seder, spirituality | 8 Comments

Archaeology, History and Impatience

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Barb Knowles

What isn’t cool about archaeology? A while ago, I realized that archaeology is really the study of the history of people. How self-absorbed are we? How ADD am I? Those are intrinsically interesting questions. At least to me. I’m not … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Uncategorized | Tagged add, archaeological digs, archaeology, China, culture, ecuador, Education, history, Humor, national geographic, reading | 33 Comments

Elmendorf AFB + Pentagon+ Chappaqua,NY = Ecuadorian Kichwa

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Barb Knowles

A road less traveled. The only location I left out was my 4 years in Ohio for college. With the exception of Ohio, which wasn’t 100% my choice since my parents had to agree to foot the bill, I didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in education, humor, languages | Tagged Chappaqua, ecuador, Elmendorf AFB, Humor, kichwa, kichwa hatari, language, New York Times, ossining, Ossining UFSD, radio el tambo stero, TEACHING | 1 Comment

Grocery Cart Wheel

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Barb Knowles

It took me a few minutes to come up with this title, because I wanted to write “Grocery Cart Wheels.” But then I realized that it usually is just one wheel on the grocery cart that makes me want to … Continue reading →

Posted in humor | Tagged ecuador, metaphors, shopping, TEACHING | Leave a comment

Alli Chishi Mashikuna

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Barb Knowles

Once upon a time there was a high school ESL teacher who couldn’t understand why so many of her students from Ecuador had such a hard time in their native speaker Spanish classes. Native Spanish speakers take Living Environment and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ecuador, Education, esl, high school, kichwa, teachers | 1 Comment