Monday, August 27, 2007
All for the greater good
First day of school. It went well. Still only have half my students, but I'm sure it'll all work itself out in the end.
I had a few students who decided they'd try to convince me that chewing gum and drinking sodas/eating food in class was allowed.
So I got to teach the idiom "pulling my leg." I had several opportunities to reinforce their learning of that phrase throughout the hour. And my lighthearted (bouncy, and almost gleeful) response to their attempt at arguing definitely defused them.
"Mr. __ allowed us to drink in class last year!"
(I know Mr. ___ so I could confidently say, )"You're pulling my leg!" and then "OOH, do you know what THAT means?! Any guesses???"
By the end of the hour all I had to do was mime my leg being pulled and they knew they weren't getting away with it.
I think they might be scared that I'm one of those language teachers. You know the type I'm talking about, the ones who constantly teeter on the verge of insanity. If you've ever taken high school French at my Alma mater, you know what I'm talking about! (All the French teachers were crazy. Mdm H was BEYOND crazy.)
I kind of like being one of those teachers in their minds (as long as I don't hit Mdm H. levels of insanity, I'm still a bit bitter towards her for unfairly giving me the lowest grade of my high school career). Their biggest complaint about last year was that they were "bored." By the end of this year, they'll only WISH they were bored! MWAHHAHAHAHA... [Igettobeacrazylanguageteacher, Igettobeacrazylanguageteacher...]
Oh, yeah, the Latin teacher at the school is crazy, too.
"WHAT?" you say, (that was S's reaction)... Yes, we do have a Latin teacher. She's crazy. Her wall is now painted from ceiling to floor to look like the Roman countryside. (She didn't paint it herself, she installed wall panels.)
I'm in good company.
I had a few students who decided they'd try to convince me that chewing gum and drinking sodas/eating food in class was allowed.
So I got to teach the idiom "pulling my leg." I had several opportunities to reinforce their learning of that phrase throughout the hour. And my lighthearted (bouncy, and almost gleeful) response to their attempt at arguing definitely defused them.
"Mr. __ allowed us to drink in class last year!"
(I know Mr. ___ so I could confidently say, )"You're pulling my leg!" and then "OOH, do you know what THAT means?! Any guesses???"
By the end of the hour all I had to do was mime my leg being pulled and they knew they weren't getting away with it.
I think they might be scared that I'm one of those language teachers. You know the type I'm talking about, the ones who constantly teeter on the verge of insanity. If you've ever taken high school French at my Alma mater, you know what I'm talking about! (All the French teachers were crazy. Mdm H was BEYOND crazy.)
I kind of like being one of those teachers in their minds (as long as I don't hit Mdm H. levels of insanity, I'm still a bit bitter towards her for unfairly giving me the lowest grade of my high school career). Their biggest complaint about last year was that they were "bored." By the end of this year, they'll only WISH they were bored! MWAHHAHAHAHA... [Igettobeacrazylanguageteacher, Igettobeacrazylanguageteacher...]
Oh, yeah, the Latin teacher at the school is crazy, too.
"WHAT?" you say, (that was S's reaction)... Yes, we do have a Latin teacher. She's crazy. Her wall is now painted from ceiling to floor to look like the Roman countryside. (She didn't paint it herself, she installed wall panels.)
I'm in good company.
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