Sayings and proverbs are among the freest and least regulated elements of a culture. Without any rules or official institutions to preserve them, they survive nevertheless across time, being passed on from mouth to mouth. They exist in all languages and in all countries. As Sandra Cisneros writes in her introduction, “dichos will fill you with a wise and foolish laughter.” There’s an appropriate dicho for each occasion, and they remind us that we are not alone, but that we share a wealth of communal experience.

Gonzalez and Ana Ruiz’s fascination with dichos prompted their adventurous travels throughout Mexico and the United States. With a small tape recorder in hand, the author/artist pair traveled together interviewing folks they met about their favorite dichos. They collected hundreds of them, some of which they easily recognized while others were not so well known. Together they discovered that dichos are, in essence, a form of distilled wisdom –– a summation of life's lessons. With this book, they wanted to bring together the wisdom and charm of these proverbs and to be accomplices in the magical process of passing on their wisdom. The artwork, with its original style and unusual characters, is also a joint collaboration.

Mexican American

Cultural Heritage:
folklore; Mexican and Mexican American popular culture, oral traditions

Artistic Traditions:
folk art; arte popular; surrealism

	Ralfka Gonzalez and Ana Ruiz are both self-taught artists. Ralfka, born in San Antonio, Texas, is deeply involved with popular culture and his own Mexican roots. His work creates an important bridge between folk art traditions and contemporary art, and between the art seen in galleries and art that appears in every day life. For this reason his artwork runs the gamut from the pieces he has created for galleries and private collection to his designs of public spaces. His favorite dicho is Donde hay gana, hay maña (“Where there’s a will, there’s a way”). Ana Ruiz was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1959. She is a painter, writer, and sculptor. She has also collaborated with Ralfka in the design of various restaurants. Multifaceted, she has also organized art exhibitions, cultural events, and art workshops, and conducts ongoing and intensive research on the relationship between color and culture. Her own favorite dicho is Chiquito pero picoso (“Small but very hot”).
	Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek, writes the introduction. These two works, as well as her collections of poetry and her book for children, Pelitos/Hairs, reveal Ms. Cisneros’ main concerns: the Mexican American community that she grew up in, children, and feminism. In the introduction to My First Book of Proverbs/ Mi Primer Libro de Dichos Ms. Cisneros says of dichos: “Whether you are a big child or a little child, whether they are familiar or new, dichos will fill you with a wise and foolish laughter.”

	Guide students towards the realization that proverbs are not unique to either English or Spanish, but are a language phenomenon across frontiers in nearly every culture. Have them identify which of these Mexican and Mexican American proverbs are also familiar to English-speakers. If you have students of Latino heritage, encourage them to participate as a resource for communicating culturally appropriate or sensitive information to the other students. This will validate the experience of the Latino students, and enrich the lesson for all students.
	Use the text in English to help students realize that the Spanish text conveys the same information. For example, have students look at the proverbs “The early bird gets the worm,” and “A bird in the hand is worth a hundred in the air.” By finding the repeating word in each of the two English, and then Spanish, proverbs they can deduce which word in Spanish means “bird” (pájaro).
	Have students look at the Spanish text and find cognates. Explain that English and Spanish share many words, which often come from a common Latin root. You can point out, for example, that the word sol (in Después de la lluvia sale el sol) is evident in the English word solar, which refers to the sun, and that the word fuerza (in A fuerza ni los zapatos entran) is similar to the English word force.
	If there are heritage speakers of Spanish at your school, invite them to read the book to the class and, if they wish, provide their own translations and their own proverbs.

	Team up heritage speakers of Spanish with heritage speakers of English and encourage translation activities.
	Use the heritage speakers of Spanish as a resource to explain any issues of language and/or culture that may arise. Their expertise may surprise you, delight and inform other students, and serve to validate and encourage the speakers themselves.
	Invite family members of heritage speakers of Spanish to participate in end-of-unit activities, in classroom reading, and as resources for all students. One of the activities in this guide suggests that students get information about proverbs from family members. Use this as a springboard to tap more widely into this valuable resource.

While this book will be helpful in consolidating knowledge that students already have, you might also wish to use it as a way of introducing information about the United States. Guide students towards the realization that proverbs are not unique to either English or Spanish, but are a language phenomenon across frontiers. Encourage students to interview heritage speakers of English to find out which of the proverbs in the book are familiar to them and to collect new proverbs for the class collection.

Have students read the text in Spanish first, and when they are comfortable with it, have them work on decoding and understanding the English text. Some teachers prefer to have students hide the Spanish while they are reading the English, while others prefer to leave it available as a comprehension tool.