Hola (Hello)! My name is James Smith. Originally, I'm from LaGrange, a small farming town in eastern North Carolina. But I've spent the last four years away at college in Northfield, Minnesota, another small town that's about 19 hours of driving from my house. While I was in school, I studied linguistics (the science of how we learn and use language) and literature, with a focus on their application in elementary literacy education. I am particularly interested in the way that picture books can help students learn how to look at and interact with the world around them in different, kinder ways.
Looking for an opportunity to study how different cultures address early language and literacy education, as well as a chance to use and improve my Spanish language ability, I applied for and was awarded a U.S. Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to work with primary school students in Puerto del Rosario on the island of Fuerteventura, Spain. Now I’m living and working for a year in (yet another!) small town, extending my understanding of how another culture teaches its young children. And I’m thrilled that I get to learn beside all of you!
