She's Getting Bossy...And I Like It.

One of my newcomers last year, Angelica, has undoubtedly been one of the biggest joys in my life in the past 1.5 years. She is so hard-working, self-motivated, & is a very kind person. She has learned English so quickly & jumped so many proficiency levels in one year, it's simply shocking.

I would like to brag on her for a moment (as if I haven't already). She says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Well, I've got news for everyone... She's already acting like one in my classroom, and I like it.

Either we share a brain, or she has an uncanny ability to know exactly what I'm thinking, OR all teachers think alike. Which means she's chosen the perfect profession for herself. This girl is becoming more & more vocal as the days go by & her peers are getting used to her (borderline) scolding them, (constructively) correcting them, & asking them questions to check themselves. Sometimes, I feel like I should give her part of my salary. It only seems fair.

Last week, the students took a spelling test & we did a peer check afterwards. Angelica asked me to come over & recheck one of Erik's words because she couldn't read it (ie, his handwriting wasn't his best performance.) As I reviewed the word, Erik became defensive & said, "What?! I write small, ok?! It's right, the word is right, I just write small." Angelica & I both looked at him & as I opened my mouth to respond, this little girl ever-so-slightly raised her voice & said,"Then, you need to write big." Literally, took the words right out of my mouth.

Again, it's simply a joy.

"I Break My Brain"

One of the best things about learning another language is hearing the outcome of of a student translating an expression that is unique to that culture. For example, Coraima, one of my Spanish-speaking students, has screamed out "I'm breaking my brain..." on a couple of different occassions, usually after she's been thinking a lot & working very hard. ;) (The equivalent for us would be, "I'm racking my brain.")

Recently, Coraima had been working hard & another girl in the class looked at her paper, scooted closer to her, & began copying down a response. Coraima slams her fist on the table & bursts out, "Meees! Ugh! I break my brain & then she copies me! It's no right!" It was pretty awesome.

The expression in Spanish is "Me estoy rompiendo mi coco," meaning, "I'm breaking my coconut." I give her credit for changing the word coconut to brain.

A Gentleman & A Lady

2 years ago, an unplanned brainstorm session (about the characteristics of a "gentleman" & a "lady") occurred in one of my classes & I really enjoyed hearing their thoughts. Yesterday, I decided to ask my advisory to think about this same topic for 24 hours & report back to me. This morning, their assignment was to create a T-Chart to outline those qualities. (Below, I have written exactly what was on the poster...)

GENTLEMAN
have good manners.
wears glasses.
Men.
strong :)
nice to ladys.
he is doing jobs.

LADY
wears a dress.
Have a long hair.
women.
wears earings.
she respect other people.
She is sensetive.*

*Sensetive is all they could come up with because the literal translation of the Spanish word they kept saying was "weak" & there was a big argument about how that wasn't what they meant. The word "dainty" is the equivalent to the Spanish word they kept saying, but I wasn't going to tell them that.

Quote of the Week

We read an article about "Developing Healthy Eating Habits," so naturally, that was the title of our Key Topic on our worksheet. The students had to finish the statement, "Developing Healthy Eating Habits is about..."

A Japanese student wrote, "...is about how to fix fat to healthy."

In her summary of the entire article, she wrote, "big (fat) is not healthy...eat less oil things."

*The article never said anything about being or becoming big or fat if you did not follow the Healthy Eating Habits. I thought that said a lot about her observations & perceptions.

The Digital Translator

This year I have been blessed with a very diverse group of kids from around the world. There are 4 different continents represented. :)

I have two Japanese students (a brother & sister pair) who each have digital translators that they use throughout the day in all of their classes. It is extremely useful for them!

Last week, in our tutoring session, the three of us began discussing how long it takes them to walk home. The sister said that it took their dad about 25 minutes to walk the route, while it usually takes them about 45 minutes to walk to school. She then explained that it's because her brother walks so slow.

FYI, the entire time we're talking about this, sister & I have our bags on our shoulders (ready to walk out of the room) & are waiting on the brother, who is now taking everything out of his backpack & putting it on the floor. He is looking for his other glove before he goes out into the cold weather that faces him on his bike ride home.

He finally chimed in & simply said, "Yes, I don't do things... Uh...hmmm...I don't....I don't know how to say..."

I kept trying to "help" him by saying, "fast? rapidly? quick?"

He reached into his backpack (which was close to empty at this point) for his translator, as his sister & I continued to figure out the word he was looking for. He scrambled to type out the word so he could show me what he was thinking. When he shows me the screen on the translator, I read the word "hastily."

I started laughing & said, "Yep, you're exactly right!! You don't do anything hastily!! That's a great word. Remember that one." ;)