Culture Shock! Bolivia - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

Settling In 127

will be considerably less than comparable tuitions in Europe
or North America. The higher the child’s grade level, the more
Spanish will be fi ltered in.
Private schools run by foreigners must follow core
requirements of both Bolivia’s Ministry of Education and the
education system of the country of origin. Pre-teens will pick
up Spanish through playground communication with other
children and via television.
However, the two-tiered education system fosters an
enclave mentality, a type of ‘gated community’, and some
children more sensitive to elitism and prejudice have been
turned off by a type of caste-system mentality. Even in such
schools where the teachers are remarkably in tune with
concepts of social justice, the daily image of segregation is
more powerful than so much verbiage of equality.
A ranking of the major variables of potential culture shock
for children includes (1) adjusting to the altitude; (2) the
radical change in eating habits, for even something basic
such as milk tastes quite different, and having soup to start
a meal seems to be a universal problem for children of many
cultures; (3) and language adaptation. Among the private
school options, parents may choose either total immersion
in an all Spanish-language programme (the kids will easily
maintain their English at home) or bilingual education, where
English is one of the two languages of primary instruction.

Endless Language Possibilities

Our son was subjected to double total immersion, having had to

rediscover his forgotten French and put together the dispersed pieces

of his limited Spanish-language background at the Colegio Franco-

Boliviano. He had no problem remembering his English. With the

help of TV (fi nally a practical use for this apparatus!), the Spanish

came relatively fast. Whichever the language option, adults should

not impose their language learning phobias on their children.

If language is a long-term project, food can be a nagging
daily tribulation. Certain transition foods may help with
adjustment, such as marraqueta, the crusty Bolivian
bread, pasankalla (sweet popcorn), cold cuts and choclo