Teaching Anecdotes, Week 11: "You Should Go to the Hell"

Word of the Day:
el entierro- burial

I actually taught school this week. Well, the majority of the classes!

Class cancellation of the week: In San Miguelito, a teacher's grandfather died (He was at least 90), and since he was an elder in the community, the first two classes were cancelled so that the students and teachers could go to the funeral mass and then the burial. We didn't actually fit inside the church, so we all hung out nearby. Before they went up to the cemetery, which is a very beautiful place overlooking Lake Nicaragua, the funeral procession circled around the town, which I found very symbolic, as if saying goodbye to everything before moving on.
Runner Up: My teacher had to get a tooth pulled and was super drugged up, so we didn't have class.

Best "original student thought expressed in English": I came into class to find that my 10th graders had written "You should go to the hell" in giant letters on the board. This statement is rather indicative of their attitude towards English class. But the fact that they correctly used the modal "should" was awesome and shows that they are learning. I spent the entire class laughing and grinning proudly.

Runner Up: We played "2 Truths and a Lie" with 7th graders to practice verb "have."
One of my students wrote this:
I have two babies. (False)
I have three lambs. (True)
I have one love. (True)
I gave him a high five because I thought it was awesome and had a great poetic ring to it. Also, he correctly remembered the y to ies plural spelling rule. Boss.

Best Student Sass: I was talking about the future "will" with my 11th graders and as an example I used "I will get married in 5 years." This is not even remotely a plan of mine, but it popped into my head. One of my students who knows a lot of English and likes to be a wise guy yelled out "You're gonna be really old then, teacher!" By that estimation, I will probably be ancient by the time I actually settle down, if that ever happens.

Props: I brought my groceries for the week to 8th grade to teach them about food. This was a lot of fun. In addition to doing my favorite mini dialogue (below) and singing a song (also below) we did a critical thinking/shopping activity where I gave the kids a list of food pictures and prices and they had to try and buy as much as they could with C$120 (about $5 US).

A: This is a squash.
B: A what?
A: A squash.
B: O, a squash.

Endless amounts of fun...

Youth Group: Kids actually came to youth group this week! On Monday, we learned the phrase "What _____(insert noun) do you like?" and learned vocab about colors, music and sports. We did a lot of Total Physical Response (TPR), a teaching technique where you use physical movement to teach new vocab. The kids liked class a lot and that simple phrase really drastically expands their possibilities for basic conversation, which is super cool.
On Friday, there was no school and a rainstorm, so no one came to class. This was unfortunate, because I had delayed a trip to Managua. Instead of taking the bus, I decided to take the 12 hour ferry ride so that I could give class. Rookie mistake. But the boat ride was lots of fun. I caught up with my sister and my parents on the phone, stargazed, hung out with my neighbor and her friend, and watched "I am Legend." The ferry operator really seems to have a thing for zombie movies. The only thing that sucked was that we got attacked by a giant swarm of horrible little insects called chayules during the night.

Teachers and Other People Who Know a Lot of English Class: This week, I didn't really feel like planning a structured lesson per say, so I adapted a card game to practice conversation skills, talking about the past and vocabulary. To play an odd card, players had to answer questions, such as "Describe your favorite teacher when you were a child" or "Describe your favorite memory of hanging out with a good friend." To play an even card, players had to ask a follow up question about another player's story. To play a face card, the player had to initiate a game of categories. It was a fun time and I learned a bunch of things about everybody.

Nerdy Song of the Week (To the Tune of Frere Jacques): I am Hungry
I am hungry, I am hungry
Please bring me, please bring me
Rice and beans and chicken
Rice and beans and chicken
Thanks a lot, thanks a lot.