Cheat Sheet for Episode 9, Season 2

Cheat Sheet for E09S02

Listen to the episode here!

• Migraciones: The Migrations Department. All foreigners aiming for permanent residency have to deal with this entity, located in Retiro.
• DNI: Documento Nacional de Identidad:Any person born in Argentina gets one, alongside a DNI number that is the lifeline with functioning as a citizen in the country. You need it to vote, get married, get a passport, sign up at Social Security, etc.

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The Two Moms

Marty Karlin: Dan’s Mother, a Stanford-graduate educator  in a Catholic School in Portland, Oregon.

Marta Penín: Fer’s Mother, a UBA-graduate Psychologist and an advisor at a Public School, in a very poor area of Temperley, Greater Buenos Aires.

Política Educativa de “Los Niños todos en la Escuela”…Igualar para Abajo (Downward Standardization): Fer’s Mother is making reference to a policy of giving priority to maintaining kids at schools, at the expense of letting academic standards to drop. Basically, the idea is to keep kids off the streets, and give them some kind of protection. But this doesn’t mean they’ll learn anything. She gives the example of Elemmentary School graduates who can’t read nor write as a result of this. This policy enables the Government to boast figures of school attendance that doesn’t mean education is being given to Public School students.

“La Epoca de Menem”:  Marta tracks down the origin of Argentine education’s decline to the presidency of Carlos Menem (1989-1999). His administration had downsizing and privatization at the core of its plan. In the field of education, all schools were downgraded from Federal management to provincial and even municipal, which means severe cuts in budget and a subsequent drop in quality.
Familias con “Planes Sociales”: She’s refering to families in which the main income is constituted by social programs or subsidies the government pays to have-nots. One of the most important is the AUH: “Asignación Universal por Hijo” (Universal Child Allowance) that grants poor families a monthly payment of 270 pesos per child, provided children receive mandatory vaccination and  attend schools. The impact in the sign-up rate at schools was good, it increased significantly.

2300 pesos: basic salary for a teacher for a 4-hour shift. Practically all teachers do at least 2 shifts, many times in different schools.

“Retar al Niño”: To reprimand a child.

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Registro Civil / Nacional de las Personas: The State Agency that issues DNIs, among other tasks like marrying people and registering changes of address.

Constancia: a temporary document that says your permanent one is in the making.

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Spanglish Playground: Ways of the Ass or words for the back part of a person in Argentina

• Trasero
• Cola
• Nalgas
• Traste
• Tujes
• Culo
• Orto
• Siete
• Ojete
• Marrón
• Ocote (Cordobeses’ word)

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Julian Polito is the interpreter of the Chau Tune for this episode. His latest album “Viejo Nuevo Mundo” merges Baroque tunes with Argentine folk. Here’s more information on the artist

You can find his CD in Buenos Aires at

• Miles – Honduras 4912
• Zival’s – Callao 395 – Serrano 1445
• Oíd Mortales – Corrientes 1145 – local 17