About this Site

Tema // Theme: La naturalez

You may notice that this site includes many pictures and mentions of nature. There are several reasons for this:

• Nature is all around us, though sometimes we can forget about it when we are staring at a screen all day. As we partake in technology and learning, this site can offer a small and humble reminder that the world beyond our screen is large, diverse, beautiful, and even magical.

• Plants and their life cycle can be a wonderful metaphor to the learning process we all experience. We, as well as seeds, need to be nurtured and supported. Just like seedlings, us humans can be both resilient and tender - learning anything new can present us with a mix of emotions, challenges, and milestones. Furthermore, the richer the soil, the stronger the plant. This platform serves as a way for us to cultivate an environment through which we can grow together as learners and citizens. We can use it to practice and showcase the 'fruits' of our studies as we blossom into people with inclusive and creative perspectives.

• Nature offers us an abundance of gifts including flowers, foods, water, and sunshine. Incorporating nature into our daily routines and learning environments not only enables us to draw connections beyond the classroom but it can also help us to feel better! When we are healthier, we can learn more effectively. Nature is a brilliant (and free!) teacher, tool, and ally to help us live happy lives.

• Gardening, hiking, crafting with plants, traveling, and cooking are some of my favorite hobbies - they not only all relate to nature but they are also wonderful ways to experience and learn about diverse languages and cultures.

• Lastly, I aspire to be a small-scale farmer and to some day produce enough food to nourish my family and community. Farming is much more than planting seeds and hoping they grow - it requires patience, grit, and practice, not to mention listening skills and humility. Just like wishing for a seed to sprout, we can dream to be fluent in a language; however, it is when we make the effort to get out of our comfort zone - asking questions, connecting with others, and even making mistakes - that we begin to see the fruits of our labor. Farming showcases our place as humans in this very large world; we cannot control everything but we can certainly learn how to mitigate risks, to leverage our positions to help others, and to enjoy life's cycles, creations, and systems. Sharing my farming dreams with you, as well as my own Journey with Spanish, is one way that I hope to inspire and support you as you pursue your own growth, dreams, and destiny.