I thought I had made a big mistake starting the year off understanding my kids' Spanish, and was beginning to think they'd never speak to me in English since they knew I understand them. I brought this up with some colleagues, and one of them suggested that I joke, persistently, with the kids that over vacation, I bumped my head and no longer understand Spanish. So, a few weeks ago I told them we had to have a little chat, that I had bumped my head, and I forgot all of my Spanish, so they'd have to try to speak English to me.
I thought it was clear that this was a joke, but a couple of days later, one of them asked me, in Spanish, why I didn't just bump my head again so I would remember my Spanish! It was all I could do not to laugh. About a week later, another student pretended to bump me on the head so she could tell me the elaborate story of how her friend made her sad, in Spanish. This same student once "caught" me understanding Spanish, because one day in Computer she complimented my hair and I wasn't even really aware that it had been in Spanish and just said, "Aw, thank you!" in English and she said, "You understood! The teacher understood Spanish!! I caught you!" Hard to back out of that one.
Then, last week at a different student's Pizza Hut birthday party, I was talking to a parent about my "amnesia" and the "English Dollars" rewarded for English effort, and she said, "I don't think my daughter understood it was a joke; she came home concerned and was wondering, how is the Miss going to relearn all her Spanish?" Sometimes they are too cute.
Another cute student story: today, we were talking about the "value of the month" (schoolwide program), friendliness/amistad. We talked about how to be a friend (students suggested, "help", "hug", "share", and other cute ideas), and then they drew pictures of friendliness, or being a friend as I put it for them. So one little guy, who sometimes is SO serious, drew two people playing futbol (soccer) on half of his sheet. I said, "That's great! But you are done early, and you have half your sheet left, so why don't you draw another example?" He stared at me seriously. I thought he hadn't understood. I repeated, and got the same look. Then I said in spanish, "un otro ejemplo de amistad" and he said, SO seriously, "El FUTBOL ES amistad. [pause] Hay muchos jugadores." This in English is "SOCCER IS friendship. There are many players." Since I "don't remember" Spanish with my kids, I couldn't crack up laughing, but I'm still smiling about it hours later. :)
The pictures here are drawn by one of my students using the computer program paint. Usually part II of our computer room assignment is to depict something to do with what we're learning in class, and this week one of the words in the book was "birthday". After this student finished, I gave her free time with Paint, and she "painted" me.
Apparently Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, making Tuesday Mardi Gras, and making ahorita (right now) Carnaval. I don't know if Carnaval is celebrated in Tuxtla, but I was told it is done up in Coita, so today Jenn and I headed out there to check it out. We knew that there are combi busses that run up there, and found out where they pick up on the Avenida. "Coita?" I asked. "Si, pero ya no hay lugares." No seats left. The man then explains, standing room only. I nod that this is ok, he thinks I am saying ok, no thanks, and starts to pull away; I make him stop, and Jenn and I head into the corridor.
Me: Can I take a picture? It's illegal to drink in a car in the States, even if you're not the driver.
Not of the day, or of the month... just some new Spanish words I thought I'd share with anyone who might be interested.
