Lorianne Tenove | Article and Photos

I have been waiting for them to come for two years , and they finally arrived in early January 2022 for a month — my oldest son Brendan , my daughter-in-law Kaitlynn , and their three children .

The initial plan was that Lachlan , age 5 , and Sterling , age 3 , would attend Colegio Rex to be immersed in a Spanish bilingual program for a month and have a taste of what a school is like in Mexico . However , Plan B was called into play when the never-ending pandemic sent our students back online in January . I decided to bring the grandsons to a school of two , and I would be their mémé ( short for mémère or grand ’ mère ), teacher , principal , and field trip planner .

Each morning , Lachlan would knock at the door , indicating that they were ready for school , in school uniform with backpacks , water , and snacks , and off we went , flagging down a pulmonia ( half golf cart , half Volkswagen ) for a ten-minute drive to school . Over time the boys became very accustomed to flagging down their own pulmonias or red trucks ( aurigas ) for a delightful drive along the harbour . Cars and taxis were not allowed because they were too boring , although we did take the odd bus .

I was excited about this experience but planning school days for a three-year-old and a five-yearold who happen to be brothers is not exactly easy . We did , however , have a whole school to ourselves , along with the maintenance staff .

I know routines and structure are important for children , so I arranged for a learning space for each of them with similar but differentiated activities .

Each morning , they had to write in their learning journals and draw about their experiences the day before . Lachlan would write , “ Yesterday , I went swimming in the alberca ( pool )” and drew pictures of what he did in the pool . This took about fifteen minutes . Sterling did the same and it took him about one minute . He loves to say , “ I ’ m done !” and I love to say , “ No , you are not !” Thus the differentiation part !

I incorporated some math , science , art , Spanish , and outdoor play . We observed lots of different insects , which they did not like , and looked for lazy iguanas in trees and fences , which they did like . Snack breaks started outside and progressed to inside where we were bug free !

The maintenance staff were intrigued with these two Canadian dynamos who had more energy than all of us . A thousand holas , buenos dias , como estas , gracias , and muchas gracias were said throughout the day , much to the delight of the staff . I know many adults in Mazatlán who will not even attempt this simple etiquette within another culture . They have a lot to learn from my grandsons , I tell you !

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