The knowledge of the mother tongue, Spanish, is a priority in Cuban education and activities are planned in each educational center for this purpose. The contests are an open door to knowledge and the discovery of talents. At the Orlando Pantoja Tamayo Semi-boarding School in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, the dream of preparing the men and women of the future is becoming a reality. This educational center won 12 medals in the recent provincial event.
Samuel Batista Quintana, a sixth grade student, is one of the gold medal winners in the Provincial Mother Tongue Contest. His deep voice contrasts sharply with his smiling face that harbors a never-ending thirst for knowledge.
Samuel: … I am very grateful to my teacher, the methodologists and my family because they gave me a lot of support and helped me to win this contest, I think it will help me a lot in the future to participate in other contests for my professional life, to be able to have a career and help my family. Reading is going to help me a lot to improve my spelling, to know about the history of my country, everything will help me a lot in the future.
Spelling is one of the biggest problems facing the Spanish language and one of the reasons Samuel’s mother is proud.
Samuel’s mother, proun of her son
Samuel’s mother: …I feel proud of him, a boy who worries about his handwriting, about his spelling is something I think is praiseworthy, a tribute to the integrated effort of the school, home, family, classmates, it is the result of the demand and the work in common.
To foment the habit of reading is one of the needs of the Cuban Education according to Aimé Ramírez, Samuel’s teacher.
Samuel’s teacher: … a very good student, words are not enough to explain it, from the beginning he was inclined towards this subject and began to change his handwriting, until he achieved excellent strokes, from there he moved on to writing, he makes beautiful texts and achieves very good interaction with the components of the subject.
Caring for and cultivating talent in our students will always be a gateway to success and to the future, that door will be open for Samuel who will eventually make his triumphant entrance.
