How Tía Lola Learned to Teach Read Free Page B

awesome: earning money like an adult while going to school like a kid.
    “Miguel?” Mrs. Prouty is asking. “What would your tía Lola like to do for her first day as our Spanish teacher?”
    Oh no! Miguel can’t really translate what his teacher has asked or Tía Lola will realize she has been tricked. One good thing about being the only one in his class who knows Spanish is that he doesn’t have to translate exactly what Mrs. Prouty says and get into trouble.
    “What do you want to do today, solamente hoy ?” Miguel asks his aunt in Spanish.
    “I am your special object !” She winks at Miguel, which is embarrassing in front of all his classmates. “And so whatever you want me to do on this Bring a Special Person or Object to School Day, estoy a tus órdenes .” I am at your service.
    “Whatever you want her to do,” Miguel pretends to translate.
    “My oh my!” Mrs. Prouty scratches her head. “It sure takes a lot more words to say something in Spanish than in English. Tell your aunt that we would love for her to tell us a little bit about what lies ahead for us in Spanish class. Will we need any special materials, say?”
    Miguel is sweating bullets! How to translate and still not let Tía Lola know she is now their Spanish teacher? Miguel might not look like a dumb orangutan, but he sure feels like one right this moment.
    “What did your teacher say?” Tía Lola prompts him.
    Miguel looks up at his aunt. Her eyes are full of love and forgiveness. Good intentions win hearts, he reminds himself. He hopes Tía Lola will forgive him when he finally tells her the truth. “My teacher wants to know how our class can learn some Spanish.”
    “How?” Tía Lola looks surprised by the question. “Why, I can teach them! It is so much easier than English.”
    “Tía Lola says you don’t need any special materials because Spanish is so much easier than English.” Miguel wipes the sweat from his forehead.
    “Oh, I don’t know about that,” Mrs. Prouty says. “Anyhow, if you would tell your aunt …”
    Miguel glances up at the clock. Fifteen minutes down and fifteen more to go before he can translate the one word that will free him from this big, dark, messy lie: ¡Adiós! Tía Lola says goodbye!

    “How was school today?” Mami asks before even taking her coat off. They are the first words out of her mouth when she gets home from work.
    “Muy, muy bien,” Tía Lola says, smiling broadly. “But the most curious thing: I was the only guest in the whole school.”
    Miguel has been waiting for this moment all day. It’s time to tell Tía Lola the truth. “We didn’t mean to lie to you,” he begins.
    “We had good intentions,” Juanita adds. “And everybody in my class just loved your visit! They want you to come back.”
    “Let me, children,” Mami intervenes. “It’s really my fault, Tía Lola. I was the one who encouraged them. I knew you’d be great. You just needed to get over worrying about not knowing enough to teach the children. Didn’t I tell you that they’d love you?”
    Tía Lola looks around at all of them, a loving, forgiving smile on her face. “I didn’t tell you the whole truth either,” she admits to Miguel and Juanita. “Your mami knows how very poor our family was. We lived way out in the campo , in the middle of nowhere. So I didn’t get much schooling. I didn’t even advance to your grade, Miguel. I meant to go back. In fact, when my older sister died …” Miguel and Juanita know that part of the story. Mami’s parents died when Mami was a little girl, and her aunt Lola moved to the capital to take care of her. “In the city, I started night school. But I couldn’t keep attending.”
    Mami reaches for Tía Lola’s hand and squeezes it gratefully. Tía Lola is not saying so, but she was working long hours as a seamstress and also taking care of her little niece. She had no extra time to be a student.
    “I have had a beautiful life.” Tía Lola wants to be