Abrimos una ventana a nuestro colegio. ¿Te vienes? Nos disponemos a echar un vistazo dentro de nuestras paredes y observar qué es lo que ocurre tras ellas. Ya les avisamos de que lo que van a encontrar es de todo menos sorprendente o quizás sí lo sea. 

Let’s open a window of our school. Are you coming with us? We are about to have a look inside and observe what goes on behind its walls. We have to confess that what you are about to find is everything but surprising or perhaps it really is.

Nos asomamos con curiosidad y los reconocemos. Son nuestros hijos caminando. No nos sorprende, al mirar a través de esta ventana, descubrir a aquella niña en su aula de Infantil coloreando con una sonrisa una hoja caída del árbol. Descubre lo que es el otoño y levanta su cabeza para escuchar el consejo de su maestra: “Quizás sería mejor usar algo más de marrón en este dibujo”. La dejamos moviendo su cabeza en gesto afirmativo a su profesora intuyendo su proceso mental. Cerramos esta ventana y abrimos otra. Vamos a Primaria en búsqueda de sorpresas, o no.

We peek out curiously and we recognize them all. Those are our kids walking. It’s not surprising, as we look through this window, to find that little girl in her classroom coloring a leaf fallen from a tree. She is finding out what Autumn is. She raises her head to listen to her teacher’s advice: ‘what if you add more brown to your picture?’ We left her moving her head saying ‘yes’ to her teacher. We infer what she might be thinking now. We close this window and proceed to open a new one. Let’s go to Primary and look for surprises or not.

Abrimos una nueva ventana y observamos risas nerviosas, ojos abiertos como platos y manos dispuestas a recibir algo que esperan. Escuchan su nombre uno a uno. Un niño al fondo se levanta al escuchar el suyo. Extiende sus manos y ahí está. “¿Puedo encender mi ipad ya profe?” Classroom, webs, Genially, apps, subir deberes, descargar, escuchar, visualizar son conceptos que les acompañarán a partir de ahora.

We open another window. Now we can listen to kids laughing nervously, eyes wide open and hands ready to get something they have been waiting for. They listen to their names one by one. A boy at the bottom of the classroom stands up as soon as he listens to his. There it is. ‘May I turn my ipad on, teacher?’ Classroom, websites, genially, apps, uploading homeworks, download something, listening, watching. Concepts that are going to be part of their routines from this moment on.

Cerramos esta ventana también con una sonrisa en nuestras bocas contagiados por la ilusión de estos niños. Vamos a por la última ventana. Escaleras rojas, están vacías. Espera, ahí viene un grupo de estudiantes. Parecen nerviosos intentando recordar algo. Ahora los escuchamos “…. in the future I would like to be a surgeon….. I’ve been reading about some famous hairdressers….” Son alumnos de tercero y los acompañamos a realizar su exposición final en Inglés. Bajan un piso, dos. Se asoman a la puerta: “Hi teacher! May I come in” Los nervios comienzan a desaparecer.

We now close that window with a smile in or face feeling like those kids. Let’s go for the last one. A red stairway, empty space. Wait! There is a group of students going down. They look pretty nervous, trying to remember something. Now we are able to listen to what they are saying (in English) ‘….. in the future I would like to be a surgeon….. I’ve been reading about some famous hairdressers…’ They’re students at 3ESO and we go with them to do their final speeches in English. They go one floor down, two floors now. They knock at the door: ‘Hi teacher! May I come in?” The nerves start to fade.

Cerramos esta última ventana y recordamos a estos alumnos. No nos sorprende verlos caminar, o quizás ahora sí, en estos días sí. Satisfechos dejamos atrás en nuestra cabeza la sensación de percibir la sorprendente normalidad que se vive dentro de nuestros muros. Y sonreímos porque es lo que queremos para nuestros hijos. Que caminen en busca de su futuro.

We shut this last window with all those students in our minds. We are not surprised watching them walk towards, or perhaps we are. These days we should be. Satisfied, we left behind inside our minds the feeling of normalcy which is being lived inside those walls. And we smile because that’s exactly what we want for our kids. We want them to walk towards their future.