Interview with Claudia Pérez, librarían at the Santa Rosa College, Managua.

11th May 2017

(In the Ben Dalton Library, with the noise of children in the background.)

Martin:
Recording an interview with the librarían at
the Santa Rosa School. First, could you give
me your full name and a little about the
background of your work here please?

Claudia Pérez:
Yes, my name is Claudia Isabel Pérez Rey. I
am the new librarian at the Santa Rosa
College and have been here for one and a half
years since I came here as the librarian. I’m
also a primary education teacher in Special
Needs. And I find it very enriching with the
children here at this place, in both language
and literature, because I’ve done
examinations in tongue-twisters and riddles,
poems and competitions. I’ve learnt more
about the work and poems of Rubén Darío,
and also about Nicaragua and what is
exceptional about it; everything in the area of
social studies that the students have a tendency to investigate regarding Nicaragua and
all of Central America.

Also with our pupils we prepare all the passing events of the month. For example,
right now we are preparing for Mother’s Day which is coming soon. We’re already
organising for the pupils to learn this poem about mothers. So we’re giving
bibliographical help to them on the theme of Mother’s Day, and we’re going outside
the College to give courses. The Ministry of Education usually sends us on follow-
ups. Last week we were in an Essay Festival with a lecture by the teacher Gabriel in
which the pupils from here, Santa Rosa, shone in an examination of Language and
Literature at District level.

Also another competition we were involved in was the Mathematics Olimpiad in

which a pupil in the library here prepared himself or herself by going through the
guide which they send. So they come to revise here and to search through and use the
mathematics books that we have here. If there aren’t the books or if the information
isn’t in the books, we use other media like the internet. But we are always giving
follow-up and further work to the children so that they study and get into the habit of
reading, the habit of researching, and not simply of sticking with a search of the
internet. It’s important that they read and make use of the books which MINED has
provided. That’s the experience.

Also, it’s a great experience and a great discovery here in the Santa Rosa College, also
with children who have special educational needs – that is those who have difficulty
reading, but who can read with the help of special sheets. We’ve discovered that these
sheets are very important for the children with different disabilities; and they do their
reading by means of these sheets. So here, using the telephone I’ve recorded the
children reading – those who are weak at reading – and we can get them to read with
the help of these sheets.

We also make use of the televisión and the USB stick on which we present stories
from books which we also have on video. We’ve downloaded the story of Little Red
Riding Hood, all the stories of Rubén Darío, the legends, the poems, including all the
poems dedicated to all the months of the year. And we present them on video too. But
at the moment we’ve got a little difficulty with the DVD because it’s damaged and we
can’t use it. So the tool that we’re using at the moment is the USB stick, and so I’m
working with that. … But we look for other ways of doing things that we can offer if
things go wrong.

- Martin
Do you need a technician for the repairs?

- Claudia Pérez
Yes, they already came to repair the two that we have, but we don’t have the tools.
Anyway, they love learning so well. We make socio-dramas with them. We look for
costumes for them to use in their socio-dramas. Also we’re preparing for various
festivals. There’s one for the pre-school, like those we already do so well. There’s
music and their work. We video it all, and they also learn visually and through
hearing.

- Martin
OK. And at times is the library used for meetings with the parents?

- Claudia Pérez
Yes. Here we have use of the library from Mondays to Fridays from 7 in the morning
to 3 in the afternoon which is when I leave, after 8 hours each day. I arrive at 7 in the
morning. So during that time we can also give attention to the parents – we try to see
them if they come here to the library from 8 am. They might come to borrow a
particular book, and we make loans. If we have pupils in the library and there’s no
space for the parents inside, we’ll take them outside and move a table there for them.
Similarly, when the afternoon pupils arrive to make use of the books, if the library is
already busy with pupils from the morning school, we’ll take the tables outside and
they can work outside. But if the library is free and there are no children here from the
classes, like today, they can look after themselves inside.
Anyway, we have a timetable for each day. On Mondays we give special attention to
the pre-school children, both mornings and afternoons. On Tuesdays we have the first
grade pupils, again both morning and afternoon. Third grade students have
Wednesdays. Fourth grade and fifth grade students we have on Thursdays. And the
other grades have Fridays, but we also have them on Thursdays too. And Fridays we
always give special attention to selected pupils from each classroom who are good at
reading and can memorise the long poems. We try to make the most of their abilities,
their talents and they come here to strengthen those abilities. They can read aloud and
it helps their understanding. So they are timetabled here in the library for Fridays.
They’re always more than pleased to come to the library. The day when I’m not here
in the library is because the Ministry of Education runs a training course that we have
to attend, so activities are suspended on those days. But the pupils are always asking
can we go to the library Miss? But I have to explain to them why we can’t go to the
library.

- Martin
And finally, do you enjoy your work here?

- Claudia Pérez
I love it. The teachers support me a lot. We coordinate with the teachers, we get
training from the Ministry of Education as librarians. The training takes place on the
last Friday of each month. We do courses on the library, on how to encourage the
habit of reading, how to classify the books, how to use the shelves, the rotation of
books and their categorisation and assignation to categories – all from the Ministry of
Education. They choose the places. I’ve already had five training courses this year –
outside of Managua. So, yes, there’s a real follow-up for the library.

- Martin
That’s great.

- Claudia Pérez
So, it’s about not letting the pupils lose the habit of Reading, because the truth is that
children don’t like to read. So, people don’t foment and encourage this habit of
Reading in children.

- Martin
Many thanks Claudia. And thank you for your work. It’s good work here. And
congratulations that you enjoy your work – that’s excellent. Many thanks from the
Santa Rosa Fund.

- Claudia Pérez
Thank you.

- Martin
OK.