Teaching Alberto Fractions
Como se dice ‘least common denominator?
Mi espanol es muy poquito. Triste.
Silent Alberto looks flatly into my face.
He’s composing my liver spots into lucky constellations.
He’s looking blandly through me towards lunch.
Deseo matimaticas? I ask.
Comprende fractions?
See these problemas. Son fractions.
See--los nombres en las bottoms—
They have to be the same. Comprende?
Hey guys—how do you say ‘bottom’?
Across the table, little girls giggle behind their hands.
“Bunyo.” They titter.
Okay. Okay then.
Los nombres en el bunyo son mismos—see?
Si.
To add—the bottom numbers have to be the same.
Y subtraction tambien.
Hey guys—how do you say ‘subtraction’?
Nevermind.
Here—I’ll draw you a pizza.
Como se dice pizza?
“Pizza.”
Okay then. There. Pizza pieces.
Alberto is watching my eyebrows grow.
He is watching my pupils work.
One half of el pizza is el mismo as dos quarters—
El mismo as quatro eighths.
Alberto looks at my pencil point.
He follows its quirky spurts and jags
with great sincerity and interest
Like you might watch a colorful snake moving in the grass.
He watches the pencil tip
fiddle with the numerator and denominator
Nudging them into something new,
bringing them up to snuff,
Until they’re finally fit to meld
with numbers from a different tribe.
Brilliante! Perfecto!
ReplyDeleteYour best ever! Verdad!
ReplyDeleteLove this one!
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