Eighth Graders Talk Live with Spanish Author

Students in eighth-grade Spanish recently got the chance to meet a children’s author from Uruguay and hear her read one of her books.

The author, Andrea Olatunji, was born in Uruguay and now lives in the Dominican Republic. A Spanish teacher herself, she discovered early in her career that it was challenging to find authentic children’s books in Spanish at appropriate reading levels for her students. She thought to herself, “I bet I could write a children’s book!” She proceeded to do so, and Olatunji’s first book, Guillo, el armadillo, was soon published.

Olatunji’s books both tell an engaging story and offer lessons about endangered flora and fauna in Latin American countries. The author illustrates her own books, using paper collages for the background and hand-drawn pictures for the animals.

Omar, el jaguar, her second book, is the one that Olatunji read in Spanish to teacher Tessa Sundaram’s classes. Appearing via Zoom, Olatunji asked comprehension questions while she read and students had the opportunity to ask questions, some that they had prepared and practiced ahead of time and others that occurred to them during the session.

Some of the students shared their thoughts about conversing with Olatunji:

“My favorite and most memorable part of the interaction was learning about her journey as a writer and talking to her about what it was like being a writer.” –Harper B. ’28

“I thought it was really cool that Andrea Olantuji was able to convey a message about deforestation towards a young audience while still keeping the book vibrant and upbeat. She was able to tie her passions (writing, art, and Latin American fauna) with an important message (deforestation) and deliver it in a way that is accessible to all audiences.” –Alina K. ’28

“My favorite and most memorable part of this interaction was probably just getting to speak with a native Spanish speaker. I feel like it challenged me to hear the way she was talking, and be able to use all of my previous Spanish knowledge to respond and ask questions. It was definitely a new experience for me. Not only being able to speak with a native speaker, but to be able to ask questions about her life in a Spanish speaking country, which was very captivating.” –Madan D. ’28

Sundaram said she enjoyed helping the students prepare for the visit, practicing the usted form (formal ‘you’) and noting linguistic differences in both accent and vocabulary. For example, Olatunji refers to sloths as osos dormilones (“sleepy bears”) rather than perezosos (“the lazy”).

“I’m so proud of my students!” said Sundaram. “It was fantastic to see them take risks and interact with our guest. All their work with in-class conversations and listening practice with various accents really paid off in real time. They did great!”

The students are looking forward to writing their own children’s stories for their year-end Spanish project. And a few of the students have expressed an interest in becoming professional authors themselves. Andrea Olatunji’s third book, Ronda, la anaconda, will be published soon.