Volando bajito

Spanish Lessons

23 Spanish Lessons I. I write on the blackboard: gourd mate tango gaucho disappeared cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires 30,000 Falkland Islands Gabriela Sabatini secret detention camps Evita Maradona military dictatorship torture The syllabus clearly indicates: Language lab— Video 1: A Stroll Through Latin America First section. Subject: Argentina 24 II. Este semestre el programa exige enseñar al estudiante el verbo “ser” en los distintos tiempos del modo subjuntivo: Si fuéramos o fuésemos una generación que no hubiera o hubiese sido destrozada, si yo no fuera un grito caminando, si no estuvieran (verbo también prescripto este semestre) mis venas anudadas por el dolor de la pérdida de amigos, hermanos, compañeros . . . si fuera mi demanda: “que la justicia sea” al menos escuchada . . . no hubiera sido, alumnos, necesario inquietarlos con este par de clases impregnadas del tufo de la muerte. 25 II. This semester the syllabus requires teaching the students the verb “to be” in the various forms of the subjunctive mode: If we were or had been a generation which weren’t or hadn’t been destroyed if I were not a walking scream if it weren’t (“to be” in the continuous present: verb also required this semester) my veins knotted with pain, with the loss of my friends, brothers, compañeros . . . if my demand: “that justice be” had been heard . . . it wouldn’t have been necessary, my students, to disturb you with these couple of classes impregnated with the stench of death. ...