VOZ/Jornaleros play

So it is things like this that motivated the play...I was very interested in the sociodramas that Proyecto Voz 日雇民の声計画was doing. They did a really fun one about the Sessenbrenner Bill for La Reunión y la Marcha del Inmigrantes, but I was too busy to get in on that one.
Nowadays my schedule is a bit lighter... So we went over to the office of Proyecto Voz 日雇民の声計画 and I met everyone over there and more or less jumped right in. I can't convey the full flavor of total immersion Spanish スペイン語 but I was a bit rusty not having used it in quite awhile...but it's coming back nicely. The experience is a good side note to all this ESL theory. As a second language learner, I'm coming into L2 (Spanish スペイン語) from a preproduction/limited emersion phase (Entiendo alguno, pero hablo poco), but as the saying goes it's a context rich environment with built-in motivation. Okay, no more torture with educationese, I promise.

So we're doing 4 scenes. We came up with "Mean Streets (waiting in the cold", "Room For One More" (The employer/el patron only wants one worker)", "The Rip-off" (The workers don't get paid fairly), "ESL Class", and "Work Center 授産所". The method was to dramatize these incidents for a minute then freeze like a snapshot of the situation.

The General Sequence:


1. Mean Streets: ふるい の ひ市街 Everyone 日雇い is standing out in the cold complaining how cold it is. ふるい の ひ は 日雇いは 市街 で まって いる...さむい と いう こと で はなす. Maria is over in the corner hustling tamales. マリァ は [タマレス!] と いいます(Snapshot--everyone freezes in uncomfortable poses)









2. Room for One More: ひとりだけ The employer 手配師 pulls up in a truck but only wants one worker ひとり日雇いだけ. There are 5 jornaleros 5日雇い there and they desperately try in vain to be the one chosen. It's hectic, so el patron 手配師 is shouting "I only need ONE worker ひとりだけ! Just ONE! ひとりだけ!" (Snapshot--crowd surrounding el patron 5日雇い/手配師)






3. Rip-off: The workers 日雇いare waiting to get paid, but the boss 手配師 refuses. しごとが でつて, けど おかね が もらわない "Your work is no good." "I'm not paying you." A lackey translates for the boss 手配師 and tries to hold the worker's back. (Snapshot--el patron is withholding the money)








4. ESL Class: 日雇い は えいご を べんきょする, せんせい は えいご を かいてする I am teaching basic English to workers at the work center. (Snapshot--I'm writing on the board)








5. Work Center 日雇い授産所: An employer 雇い主comes in to the work center 授産所 and puts in a request for workers 日雇い. The interviewer comes and explains that there is a job available and what the pay is. 2 of the workers 日雇い volunteer to do the job.
(Snapshot: shaking hands)




It was a lot of fun practicing. On the day of the performance we went to city hall, and walked into a zoo. We had no idea there were going to be so many people there...and here we all are in our work clothes, and everyone else was dressed for the opera. It was like a circus in there! Fortunately we were in a space where I couldn't see everyone so I didn't get completely nervous and freeze up. People seemed to enjoy our play, although I don't know how much of the dialog they heard, but being that the play was so visual, I'm sure they got the idea.