Finding local, authentic field trips for a Spanish class is somewhat of a challenge. However, the Georgia ⅞ Spanish classes were able to find two gems right in Barre, VT.
The VT Granite Museum is a fascinating glimpse into the operations of the stone quarries, sculptors, and immigrants who moved from Europe to Barre from the 1890s until the 1950s.
Museum director Scott McLaughlin was knowledgeable and generous, giving us a tour of the warehouse complete with the immigrant experience, the methods for cutting granite, an intimate glimpse into the lives and challenges of the sculptors, and a demonstration by a real stone sculptor.
Chris, the sculptor, has the advantage of air purifiers and masks, which unfortunately was not the case for the early quarry workers. He is also moving to Mexico soon and is brushing up on his Spanish skills!
For lunch, we visited the Arandas Mexican Restaurant, attached to the Thomas Greenhouse. This lovely Mexican family immigrated to the U.S. four years ago, and Lulu, the mother, was a teacher in Mexico who now runs a greenhouse and restaurant. Lu and her son Juan Pablo, shared in Spanish about the challenges of moving to a new country and provided wonderful tacos, burritos, and a tres leches cake at a discounted price.
Here’s what the students had to say about the trip:
Would you recommend this trip to future classes?
“I would definitely recommend this field trip to future Spanish classes because of how fun it was to learn about everything from granite to all the families.”
“Yes. The trip was interesting and educational.”
What do you remember about Lu (who gave us the tour of the greenhouse) and Juan Pablo (her son)?
“They come from Mexico and they have a cat named Squeaky. It was hard for them to adjust to the language and temperatures.”
“I remember they were really sweet and her son is going to college.”
What are some major differences between the Thomas family and the immigrants to Barre back in the early 1900's?
“The immigrants probably knew less about the language and culture of the US because there was less media and also they had to find any job they could but the Thomas family was a little more stable.”
“A difference between them was that, with making food the Thomas family had it better because they had more spices to use than the immigrants.”
“The immigrants who came to work in barre with granite had to move away from conflicts and bad things, and then the Thomas family chose to come to America? Maybe?”
What food did you try? What did you think of it?
“I tried the fried chicken taco. The crunchy outer shell and the meat in the middle of the taco was good.”
“I had chicken tacos I liked them but they were really different, I loved the tres leches cake”
“I had the potato tacos and I thought they were delicious!”
“The steak and cheese burrito was very good.”
We also got to relax with lawn games!
The Scottish immigrants played Quoints (similar to horseshoes). The English played croquet. The Spanish played “Bolos Palma” which is a type of bowling where you toss a ball to knock down pins. The Italians played Bocce. We all enjoyed relaxing with lawn games on a hot day, and some of us even fell asleep on the ride home!
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Laura Mathieu
GEMS Middle School Spanish Teacher