Lost in Translation
Some of my favorite memories from my first week at the Carman School:
1. I have a tendency to get red in the face when I get hot. One young student asked, "Why is your face red?" I said, "Because I'm hot," fanning my face for emphasis. "When you're not hot anymore, will your face look like this," he asked, pointing to his own brown skin. We had a little conversation about diversity after that.
2. My favorite student (yes, I know, you're not supposed to have them, but I do) is an eight-year-old from Nepal. He talks non-stop, but in very good English. He asks lots of intelligent questions, some that I don't even know the answer to. He asked me what the national animal of America is. I said the bald eagle. He said, "Ma'am Lindsey, that's your national bird. What is your national animal?" Damn kids. Does anyone know the answer? I thought it was the bald eagle.
3. Same student...he asks me everyday how many days more I will be here. Every time I tell him he says, "Ma'am, when you go back to America, I will miss you. I will cry for you." Can I bring him home? I don't want to make him cry.
4. Teaching all my girls the Moose song from my camp counseling days (My AU friends will appreciate this. The rest of you are shaking their heads at my cornball-nature). But hey, it's English, right? They love it. They ask to do it daily.
5. The other day I was assisting a first grade teacher with her class. She took the students to the computer lab to show them some cartoons that I assumed would be educational. She proceeded to show them a cartoon death match of Britney Spears v. Bill Clinton where Britney suckerpunches the former president several times before kicking him in the crotch for the knockout. The other cartoon was a prank phone call between neighbors where one repeated over and over "I will fucking kill you." This was definitely getting lost in translation because it really wasn't appropriate for the six-year-olds. Then we had to leave the computer lab when one of the computers suffered a small explosion and the room filled with smoke.
Some of my favorite memories from my first week at the Carman School:
1. I have a tendency to get red in the face when I get hot. One young student asked, "Why is your face red?" I said, "Because I'm hot," fanning my face for emphasis. "When you're not hot anymore, will your face look like this," he asked, pointing to his own brown skin. We had a little conversation about diversity after that.
2. My favorite student (yes, I know, you're not supposed to have them, but I do) is an eight-year-old from Nepal. He talks non-stop, but in very good English. He asks lots of intelligent questions, some that I don't even know the answer to. He asked me what the national animal of America is. I said the bald eagle. He said, "Ma'am Lindsey, that's your national bird. What is your national animal?" Damn kids. Does anyone know the answer? I thought it was the bald eagle.
3. Same student...he asks me everyday how many days more I will be here. Every time I tell him he says, "Ma'am, when you go back to America, I will miss you. I will cry for you." Can I bring him home? I don't want to make him cry.
4. Teaching all my girls the Moose song from my camp counseling days (My AU friends will appreciate this. The rest of you are shaking their heads at my cornball-nature). But hey, it's English, right? They love it. They ask to do it daily.
5. The other day I was assisting a first grade teacher with her class. She took the students to the computer lab to show them some cartoons that I assumed would be educational. She proceeded to show them a cartoon death match of Britney Spears v. Bill Clinton where Britney suckerpunches the former president several times before kicking him in the crotch for the knockout. The other cartoon was a prank phone call between neighbors where one repeated over and over "I will fucking kill you." This was definitely getting lost in translation because it really wasn't appropriate for the six-year-olds. Then we had to leave the computer lab when one of the computers suffered a small explosion and the room filled with smoke.
posted by Lindsey at 10:03 AM
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