encounter along the way : “ Some people open their doors to us , inviting us to eat and sleep , while others won ’ t even look us in the eye ”.
At the grave , a local elderly man approaches Ariadna to tell her that his former teacher , a Catalan named Antoni Benaiges , might be buried there . The elderly man , Emilio , was once a student of Benaiges at the school in Bañuelos de Bureba . Emilio plays a dual role in the story , appearing both as a young schoolboy and as a warm-hearted elderly man who helps with Ariadna ’ s investigation .
Antoni Benaiges was born in Mont-roig del Camp ( Tarragona ) in 1903 . After graduating as a teacher , he consolidated his implementation of the Freinet method in his classes while teaching in Vilanova i la Geltrú . There , he crossed paths with Patricio Redondo , a libertarianminded teacher and a strong proponent of this educational approach in Spain . After passing the civil service exam , Benaiges was appointed to Bañuelos de Bureba ( Burgos ) in 1934 , where he taught until the end of his life .
The story ’ s central moment comes with the discovery of a notebook titled “ El Mar : visión de unos niños que no lo han visto nunca ” ( The Sea : A Vision of Children Who Have Never Seen It ). The elderly Emilio accessed the notebook thanks to contact with Antoni Benaiges ’ s family , who had preserved some keepsakes of the teacher . The small notebook , created by Benaiges ’ s students , was printed on a press that the teacher himself had acquired through the cooperative of Freinet educators he belonged
2 . Bañuelos School in Bureba today , with a superimposed historical photo | Picture by Sergi Bernal
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Observing Memories Issue 8