Teaching Children

Teaching children a foreign language. Who knew it could all devolve into utter, utter chaos.

I haven't gotten my hold on the class yet, and this is the problem. As my friend once said to me, teaching children requires a careful finesse between games and structure. If you run your class like a cross between Mother Goose and a Nazi you're golden.

Or in the words of my mom -- Nothing works better on little children than blackmail and bribery.

Top it all off with the fact that when I'm sick I become impatient and little Spanish children absolutely love to SCREAM their little heads off at the top of their lungs, it can make for some very hectic days.

This was all until I came up with a brilliant little strategy. 

Every class I give the class three points. If I have to tell them to hush, minus point. "For the love of God sit down!", minus point. No more points? You get to to copy the names of the States ten times each in alphabetical order. No, it's not fun, which is why you should sit down and shut up.

And then you have the kids who know everything. And you're thrilled that they know everything. My god, you understand what I'm saying and it's fantastic and I love that you know what's going on... but I absolutely cannot have you answer every question. I'm sorry, don't look at me like that because I'm not calling on you. I know you want to show off how awesome your English is, but I have to get little Carlota to participate as well, and she only does when I call on her.

But there are good times, as well. Take for example my private tutoring class where in I teach 6 third graders who know absolutely no English. In one hour I got all six of them to recite the names of the months, and they could introduce themselves, say how old they are, and when their birthday is. 

Oh, and then there's the magic of the high five.

Kids go nuts for high fives. They think they're the coolest thing in the entire world. Sure I don't have any candy on me, but I'll give you a high five and you're just as content that I'm proud of you! It's all very fantastic.

Okay, two quick posts and I'm done for the evening. This coming week should be rather busy. I've been organizing everything to finally apply to grad school for when I get back to the states and I need to finish my statement of purpose about how ohmygod I'm the BESTEST grad student EVER (p.s. give lots of scholarships)!!!! All so I can move to San Diego when I get back to California and go to a Campus that -- literally -- borders the beach!

¡Qué emocionante! (How exciting!)

A quick little story about Edgar Alan Po-ey

So with being sick, busy, birthday madness having come and gone, and finally settling into a bit of a groove over here, and of course the ever necessary siesta, I haven't had much time to write again in this. The days pass by much more quickly than when we first arrived. At times it's hard to believe it's already been over a month that I've been here -- other times it's hard to believe it's ONLY been a month.

Work is fine. The kids think I'm totally awesome which is just way too much fun. I need to wear my sunglasses and cowboy hat to school more often so I can feel like a foreigner. A couple other tricks that work include wearing flip flops and long woolen scarfs. Then people just stare at you like you're nuts, it's fantastic.

Take, for example, this past weekend. In the small, sleepy town of Fernan Nuñez up on a hill just outside Córdoba there was a reading of various Edgar Alan Poe stories (or as they call him, Edgar Alan Po-ey). Briana informed that this would be a monumental event for Fernan Nuñez, as they've never had TWO foreigners in their city before.

This was pretty much obvious. Walking down the street women and children watched us with an amused curiosity. They know we're not from around here, and we know they know we're not from around here, and so whenever we had to ask for directions they responded with kind, slightly embarrassed smiles and very helpful instructions.

Ah, to get away from the big city!

So we make our way to La Casa de la Cultura where the readings are to be held (having stopped on the way for some coffee. Upon entering the coffee shop all conversation suddenly came to a halt and everyone's heads swiveled around to look at us. You could hear crickets chirping in the background) where we joined a meager crowd of 20 or 30 people who found themselves with nothing to do or like us, hopefully, had a genuine interest in Po-ey.

They begin with The Tell-Tale Heart (read beautiful, with an intense passion that made my heart want to swan dive out of my chest to hide in my pocket) and followed it up with several poems and the Fall of the House of Usher (at least I think it was Usher -- I think a cat was involved, along with some guy's wife). Afterwards when they had finished we asked to take pictures with the three readers and, lemme tell ya, we made their day.

Oh where are you from?

The United States!

Oh hey they're American!

And a lengthy conversation about Poe ensued. I hope that the next morning during coffee with their friends they were able to brag about how two foreigners came to their show to hear their readings. Lord knows I would.

And it was free! Can't top that.