Last Class

I had my last class with one of groups of students. We played Taboo, which is always a good time. They were befuddled by words like ´´broom´´ and ´´penguin,´´ but ´´Micheal Jackson´´ they got right away. At the end of class, they gave me this box of chocolate and thanked me. I love teaching.

Stress

Whew. My students today were stressed out. We were reviewing for a test they were about to take. Though it was a taxing subject, (Prepositions. You try explaining the difference for when we use in, on, and at.) I could tell something was up. One student had his head in his hands and was rubbing his eyes. I actually said "time out" right in the middle of an exercise and asked if they were stressed. Rodrigo told me about his coworker getting fired and having to do her work in addition to his own. Dani works in finance and said there was a huge problem with closing the books for October, and Alejandra said she has personal problems, specifically financial. I told them it looked they all needed hugs. I don't think they really understood because they just stared at me glumly until I got up and hugged each of them, and then they smiled and laughed. We played games for the rest of class, and I gave them the test for homework.

Another group of my students is always stressed. They work for a pharmaceutical company. Every day before class I hear about the latest craziness at the factory and how Pablo's boss doesn't listen to what he tells him, only panders to the bigger bosses.

My private student Maria Ines is a doctor and works at an insurance company. She is a supervisor and said she and her team are crushed by the relentless amount of work they have to do.

I feel for my students, and at the same time it makes me thankful for and proud of how I changed my life so that I wouldn't live in a way that didn't make me happy.

Ricardo Strikes Again

Ricardo, my student who called me "classmother" last week, entertained me again during class. I am learning what a character he is. Today my students were writing a few practice sentences and he saw another student glance at his paper. Then he covered it with his hands and arms like he was a second grader taking a spelling quiz. We laughed and he told me that his is a "lown." I stared and blinked for a second and he told me the word in Spanish. OH, clown. Yeah, he is one. We proceeded with the lesson about the names of the months. He started singing "Do you remember?" from September by Earth, Wind, and Fire. I asked him if he dances to this song at the discoteque, because he told me last class that he goes dancing every Saturday. He answered in the affirmative. He's about 60 years old.

Juicy

I love eating and drinking normal things in unexpected flavors.

I bought these juices at Lider, a grocery store near where I live. The pear one tastes like Bartlett in a bottle. And the raspberry is sweet, sweet nectary ambrosia. Today after my second class I was suddenly desperately hungry. I stopped by a little shop and had a spinach and cheese empanada and fresh kiwi juice.

Today one of my students had to leave class a few minutes early. As he was leaving, he said, "Good-bye, classmother." I said, "Mother?" The other students and I looked at each other and one said, "What happened?" And we all burst out laughing. I think he meant classmates, but there's no way for me to tell.

First Class, Pass

I taught three students today. I love them. They are so happy. We shared some laughs and learned vocabulary words related to team work. We worked on the different pronunciations of passion and patient. I never realized how similar they sound.

Alejandra told me her favorite song is "Let Her Go" by Passenger. She said she has listened to it 100 times, trying to understand the words. Dedication.