| BARRIOZONA |
| Bilingual Community Expression Published by the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues |
Metaphorical stories and parables result in an indirect language more
effective than the direct language of reason, affirms in her new book Carmen
Filipi, a Phoenix educator with several decades of experience in the school
system. In her new literary work titled The marvelous fountain and other
stories my grandma told me, Filipi recovers and presents the oral tradition in
which narrations communicated and taught ethical, moral and civic values to
children, mainly told by grandmothers and other family members in the past.
“Teachers, social workers and parents notice a great emptiness in the civic,
moral and ethical development of today’s children”, explains Filipi, an
elementary and music teacher for the Roosevelt School District, in Phoenix.
“We all agree that children desperately need a guide for such an education.
But how to do this without giving pretentious lectures or long-winded
speeches about what they should or should not do or creating new
punishments to force them to change their behavior?” —questions the writer.
+Based on her extensive experience in working with hundreds of children,
the author considers that all these sermons, speeches and punishments
seldom have an effect on children.
The marvelous fountain and other stories my grandma told me, is a bilingual
book that Carmen Filipi conceived based on her own experience. Having
grown up in an isolated, remote military outpost in the Paraguayan Chaco,
near the border with Bolivia, Filipi spent her childhood with no TV, radio, toys
or books. Her only distraction was listening to stories told by her
grandmother and other grandmothers of the area. It was through these
stories that Filipi learned many valuable lessons that guided and enriched
her life.
“More than entertaining me, the stories taught me. Their purpose was to
teach children life lessons and moral lessons of ethics, civics, and justice.
Through these narrations we were taught how to be good members of the
community: honest, honorable, just and compassionate” —reflects Filipi
about the benefit these stories had in shaping her character. Her motivation
in writing the book was to preserve this tradition, as well as to deal with the
social tendency in which the majority of grandmothers no longer live close to
their children or their children’s children. “Many mothers must work away
from the house to support their children —laments Filipi— and their children
spend many hours in front of the TV, playing videogames or on the street.”
The marvelous fountain and other stories my grandma told me is a children’s
book that blends oral tradition, the strength the English and Spanish
languages, and the beauty of digital art to illustrate it. The author includes
activities and suggestions for educators and parents. Published by the
Arizona-based Hispanic Institute of Social Issues, this literary work
documents one of the most distinctive cultural costumes of Latin America,
and contributes to fill in the need for bilingual texts of schools, institutions,
and families who seek not only teach moral values and character-building
lessons, but also to maintain the tradition.
effective than the direct language of reason, affirms in her new book Carmen
Filipi, a Phoenix educator with several decades of experience in the school
system. In her new literary work titled The marvelous fountain and other
stories my grandma told me, Filipi recovers and presents the oral tradition in
which narrations communicated and taught ethical, moral and civic values to
children, mainly told by grandmothers and other family members in the past.
“Teachers, social workers and parents notice a great emptiness in the civic,
moral and ethical development of today’s children”, explains Filipi, an
elementary and music teacher for the Roosevelt School District, in Phoenix.
“We all agree that children desperately need a guide for such an education.
But how to do this without giving pretentious lectures or long-winded
speeches about what they should or should not do or creating new
punishments to force them to change their behavior?” —questions the writer.
+Based on her extensive experience in working with hundreds of children,
the author considers that all these sermons, speeches and punishments
seldom have an effect on children.
The marvelous fountain and other stories my grandma told me, is a bilingual
book that Carmen Filipi conceived based on her own experience. Having
grown up in an isolated, remote military outpost in the Paraguayan Chaco,
near the border with Bolivia, Filipi spent her childhood with no TV, radio, toys
or books. Her only distraction was listening to stories told by her
grandmother and other grandmothers of the area. It was through these
stories that Filipi learned many valuable lessons that guided and enriched
her life.
“More than entertaining me, the stories taught me. Their purpose was to
teach children life lessons and moral lessons of ethics, civics, and justice.
Through these narrations we were taught how to be good members of the
community: honest, honorable, just and compassionate” —reflects Filipi
about the benefit these stories had in shaping her character. Her motivation
in writing the book was to preserve this tradition, as well as to deal with the
social tendency in which the majority of grandmothers no longer live close to
their children or their children’s children. “Many mothers must work away
from the house to support their children —laments Filipi— and their children
spend many hours in front of the TV, playing videogames or on the street.”
The marvelous fountain and other stories my grandma told me is a children’s
book that blends oral tradition, the strength the English and Spanish
languages, and the beauty of digital art to illustrate it. The author includes
activities and suggestions for educators and parents. Published by the
Arizona-based Hispanic Institute of Social Issues, this literary work
documents one of the most distinctive cultural costumes of Latin America,
and contributes to fill in the need for bilingual texts of schools, institutions,
and families who seek not only teach moral values and character-building
lessons, but also to maintain the tradition.
| Traditional children stories promote values |
Latina teacher from Phoenix asserts in new book
Author: Carmen Filipi
Illustrated: Dave Long
Títle: The marvelous fountain and
other stories my grandma told me
Size: 25.5 cm
Pages: 55
ISBN 13: 978-0-9797814-0-7
Price: $14.95 (+ 3.00 shipping and
handling; add 0.75 for each
additional book)
Language: Bilingual in English and
Spanish. For more information,
please visit this link:
THE MARVELOUS FOUNTAIN
Illustrated: Dave Long
Títle: The marvelous fountain and
other stories my grandma told me
Size: 25.5 cm
Pages: 55
ISBN 13: 978-0-9797814-0-7
Price: $14.95 (+ 3.00 shipping and
handling; add 0.75 for each
additional book)
Language: Bilingual in English and
Spanish. For more information,
please visit this link:
THE MARVELOUS FOUNTAIN
| Hispanic Institute of Social Issues © 2006-2007 All rights reserved. webmaster@hisi.org |
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